Rezko-Obama 11-2-07 "OBAMA BUYS PARCEL OF QUESTIONS

Obama's dealings with Rezko buy a parcel of questions
November 2, 2006
BY MARK BROWN Sun-Times Columnist

Sen. Barack Obama may have thought a wrought iron fence would give him all the separation he needed from indicted Wilmette businessman Antoin "Tony" Rezko.
But before everything is said and done, our star senator is going to wish he'd done a lot more a lot sooner to distance himself from his longtime political supporter.
On Wednesday, the other newspaper reported to our surprise that Obama and Rezko, in effect, are neighbors, having separately purchased adjoining parcels of the Kenwood estate where Obama lives. Adding to the strangeness of the coincidence is that they each closed their purchase on the same day.
Since their original purchases, Rezko has sold Obama an additional 10-foot strip of his lot (1,500 square feet total) to give the senator's family extra elbow room and erected an architecturally correct wrought iron fence fence to match the historically significant one that already surrounded the properties.
There's no known quid pro quo here. Obama said he's done nothing to benefit Rezko through his government activities, and I don't know otherwise. Obama appears to have paid a fair price for the land he bought from Rezko.
To fully appreciate, though, what a cozy arrangement this is, you'd practically have to see the site for yourself.
Unfortunately, it's probably not fair for me to print the address of Obama's home, given the security risk to his family that has been created by his growing celebrity status.
So I'll just describe it for you. I drove down there Wednesday morning to see for myself.
'I don't recall'
The Obamas' mansion, which they bought for $1.65 million in June 2005, sits on a not-so-quiet corner amid other mansions. They purchased it after Obama struck his $1.9 million book deal with Random House and Crown Publishers, a loophole in the ethics laws that limit how members of Congress can make money on the side.<
It's an impressive place from the outside, a stately Georgian revival built in 1910 with the tall wrought iron fence encircling an ample side yard. The fence has a three-foot concrete base that also wraps around the property, and inside that, a row of tall evergreens that help provide a degree of privacy.
The previous owners treated it all as one estate, but chose to offer it for sale as two separate properties with the side yard becoming the second parcel. It's this parcel that Rezko came to purchase for $650,000.
From the street, you still wouldn't know these are now separate properties unless you spotted the newly erected fence that divides them. Some neighbors didn't notice before Wednesday.
How exactly it came to pass that Rezko bought this parcel needs a better explanation.
All I know is what Obama told the Tribune. He didn't have time to come to the phone for me.
"I don't recall exactly what our conversations were or where I first learned, and I am not clear what the circumstnces were where he made a decision that he was interested in the property," Obama reportedly said.
"I may have mentioned to him the name of [a developer and] he may at that point have contacted that person. I'm not clear about that," he said.

A question of judgment

You'd get the impression that the normally glib Obama was dissembling.
It would appear to me that Rezko was trying to do Obama a favor by buying the property, the extent of the favor dependent on whether or how Rezko developed his parcel.
Obama said it was always his understanding that Rezko, a real estate developer, intended to build on the lot. It would be more of a favor if he didn't. Rezko definitely did Obama a favor by selling him the 10-foot strip of land, making his own parcel less attractive for development, although still legally buildable.
Rezko is somebody who collects politicians, doing them favors in hopes of a future return on his investment. His main foot in the door is political fund-raising, but he also looks for a more personal approach, such as steering real estate business to the wife of Gov. Blagojevich.
The only thing that separates Rezko from other insiders who play this game is that he seems to operate under a longer time frame, not necessarily seeking an immediate payback.
Rezko's MO is such that any smart, honest politician should have kept him at arm's length long before last month's indictment, wherein may lie Blagojevich's excuse.
But what of Obama, the political wunderkind from whom so much is expected because so much talent and promise has been given? What's his excuse?
I'm one of those who nominated Obama for his place in American history before he even got to Washington.
People ask me what he has accomplished to deserve all this attention, and what I tell them is that it's not what he's done as much as what he could do. His potential is vast and undeniable.
But now we must question his judgment -- no small matter in a man who would be president.