Rezko's Cool Quarter-Million

Tony Rezko, a Chicago millionaire and one-time contributor to Senator Barack Obama's Illinois political campaigns, has been the subject of some news coverage in recent months, as the disgraced businessman is now "on trial in federal court on mail fraud, wire fraud, money laundering and attempted extortion charges." The AP has a good primer on the somewhat complicated Obama-Rezko relationship.

Today, word came out that Rezko may have raised more money for Obama than originally expected, a sum that now approaches $250,000. Ken Vogel at Politico has a story about the new revelation coming from the Obama camp, the beginning of which follows:

Barack Obama on Friday acknowledged that he had substantially underrepresented the cash raised for his earlier campaigns by indicted businessman Antoin “Tony” Rezko.

But Obama's campaign said it could not donate to charity as much as $90,000 in newly acknowledged Rezko-linked contributions because the old campaign accounts were closed and the money spent.

Obama's acknowledgement that Rezko raised as much as $250,000 for earlier campaigns, initially made in an interview with The Chicago Tribune and confirmed later to Politico, came after a year-and-a-half-long trickle of admissions about Rezko’s fundraising role and more than a month after Obama’s aides contended they had identified and jettisoned all Rezko-linked cash. It also came as Rezko’s trial on corruption charges, underway in Chicago, brought increased scrutiny of Obama’s ties to the real estate developer, fast food magnate and political insider.

Today has certainly not been the best day for Obama, and these stories have and will continue to serve as a good test of the campaign's ability to respond quickly and effectively respond to these events. But the more this story comes up, the more it stands to pose potential harm to Obama's "squeaky-clean" image he's displayed thus far.

As an example, Obama has made it a hallmark of his presidential candidacy to not accept money from lobbyists or Political Action Committees (PACs) in an attempt to limit corporate influence on potential policy-making. BUT, the Columbia Journalism Review (and several other sources) note that the claim is somewhat disingenuous... From the article:

Consider the sector called lawyers and law firms. Clearly, lawyers and law firms lobby on behalf of their own interests—like fighting malpractice reform, which could again surface as a thorny issue for the new administration. Clinton and Obama have raised similar amounts from lawyers and law firms—$11.8 and $9.5 million. McCain and Huckabee have taken far less. The health sector has also given to Obama, Clinton, and McCain. In the pharmaceutical and health product industries, contributions to Clinton total $349,000 and $338,000 to Obama. Again, McCain trails in donations at about $98,000, an indication that the sector sees the real action on the Democratic side of the ballot. Health professionals, which include doctors, nurses, and dentists, have given Clinton some $2.3 million and Obama $1.7 million.

Barack Obama, one of the gang, or exuding a "different kind of politics?" Follow the money.