Rezko Sings

Let's make a deal

I don't always agree with Rick Moran at RightWingNutHouse as he is often a bit pessimistic for my taste. But he has pulled together some interesting threads that when looked at create a very suggestive tapestry. There are a number of links to this story and I would suggest reading them all.

What's interesting here is that there is a potential new development, as Moran indicates. Not about Rezko himself, but rather about Obama's ties with south side Broadway Bank. This bank is family owned. Think Soprano family. And guess where this story indicates that Obama got his first loan for his first home? (Not the one that Rezko got him; that came later. Were talking about a whole different deal here) If this pans out, it could be very bad for certain Illinois politicians including Obama.

First up is a story from Yahoo News on the Rezko situation. It seems that his sentencing has been put off indefinitely and that he and his lawyers are having regular meetings with the authorities. That wouldn't happen unless he was providing them with information.

Next up is a short article on the owners of the Broadway Bank, the Giannoulias family.

Then there is this post from HillBuzz that looks at the possible relationship between Obama, Alexi Giannoulias and Broadway Bank with regard to Alexi's run for Illinois State Treasurer. Alexi was endorsed by Obama. Put these all together and we have a very interesting story. I wonder how long it will take dinosaur media to notice?

(It should be noted that the Chicago media have generally been better than the national media at covering this sort of thing as it relates to Obama, but somehow the New York media mavens have yet to do the same sort of digging.)

4) The Giannoulias family was involved with Obama as far back as his first state senate campaign in 1996. It has been long rumored here in Chicago that Obama obtained a sweetheart deal on his first town home here in Chicago — which he could not have afforded otherwise — and guess who the financing came from for that house? We’ve been told it was Broadway Bank, the Giannoulias bank. Now, this sets up a scenario where the Giannoulias family helps Obama with his campaign finances and gets him deeper in their pocket with his sweetheart mortgage deal (for the first home he owned that he could not afford) – all in exchange for quid pro quo to be determined later.

(5) One favor political Chicago claims Obama did for the Giannoulias family was in 2006 when, out of the blue, 29 year old Alexi Giannoulias, with no experience, and without ever having voted before, decides to run for State Treasurer of Illinois. Also out of the blue, Barack Obama endorses Alexi Giannoulias for State Treasurer. This was a SHOCK to everyone in Chicago — and Giannoulias would have never become State Treasurer without Obama’s help. In political circles here, it has always been believed that this endorsement was bought years ago with that sweetheart mortgage deal Broadway Bank arranged for Obama to buy his town house.

(6) So, the Tony Rezko sweetheart deal was not the first magic home loan Obama ever received to buy a house he could not afford.

There’s more to this that looks like it will break soon. We were STUNNED when we read Sneed’s column because we never in a million years believed Fitz would actually be able to take down Obama.