Tony Rezko is the Obama fundraiser charged with Federal corruption. The trial has just concluded, and the Jury has a verdict has just come in as we type this. Rezko was found guilty on 16 of the 24 counts brought against him. The 10-woman, 2-man jury deliberated for 13 days before convicting Rezko in the recent verdict of scheming with Stuart Levine, a longtime Republican insider, to extort millions of dollars from firms seeking state business or regulatory approval. The 53 year old has decided to immediatly start serving his sentence even though a sentence has yet to be decided upon.
Below you will find verdict on each count against Tony Rezko
* Count 1: Mail fraud. Scheme to extort $375,000 from Glencoe Capital of Chicago in exchange for $50 million investment from the state Teachers’ Retirement System (TRS). Guilty
* Count 2: Mail fraud. Scheme to extort $375,000 from Glencoe Capital. Guilty
* Count 3: Wire fraud. Scheme to extort $250,000 from LLR Partners of Pennsylvania in exchange for $25 million TRS investment. Not Guilty
* Count 4: Wire fraud. Scheme to extort $850,000 from JER Partners of Virginia in exchange for $85 million TRS investment. Guilty
* Count 5: Wire fraud. Scheme to extort $850,000 from JER Partners. Guilty
* Count 6: Wire fraud. Scheme to extort $850,000 from JER Partners. Guilty
* Count 7: Mail fraud. Scheme to extort $250,000 from Sterling Financial of Northbrook in exchange for $25 million TRS investment. Guilty
* Count 8: Mail fraud. Scheme to extort $250,000 from Sterling Financial. Guilty
* Count 9: Wire fraud. Scheme to extort $4 million from Investors Mortgage Holding of Arizona in exchange for $200 million TRS investment. Not Guilty
* Count 10: Wire fraud. Scheme to extort $4 million from Investors Mortgage Holding. Not Guilty
* Count 11: Mail fraud. Scheme to extort $1.5 million bribe in exchange for approval by the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board of a new Mercy Hospital in Crystal Lake. Guilty
* Count 12: Mail fraud. Scheme to extort $1.5 million in exchange for approval of Mercy Hospital. Guilty
* Count 13: Wire fraud. Schemes to extort $1 million from Stockwell Capital of Chicago, $4 million from Investors Mortgage Holding and $1.5 million to $2.2 million from Capri Capital of Chicago. Guilty
* Count 14: Wire fraud. Schemes to extort $4 million from Investors Mortgage Holding and $1.5 million for the Mercy Hospital approval. Guilty
* Count 15: Wire fraud. Schemes to extort $850,000 from JER, $4 million from Investors Mortgage Holding, $1.5 million to $2.2 million from Capri Capital and $1.5 million for the Mercy Hospital approval. Guilty
* Count 16: Attempted extortion. Scheme to extort $1.5 million to $2.2 million from Capri Capital. Not Guilty
* Count 17: Aiding and abetting bribery. Scheme to extort $375,000 from Glencoe Capital. Guilty
* Count 18: Aiding and abetting bribery. Scheme to extort $250,000 from LLR Partners Not Guilty
* Count 19: Aiding and abetting bribery. Scheme to extort $1 million from Stockwell Capital. Not Guilty
* Count 20: Aiding and abetting bribery. Scheme to extort $850,000 from JER Partners Guilty
* Count 21: Aiding and abetting bribery. Scheme to extort $4 million from Investors Mortgage Holding. Not Guilty
* Count 22: Aiding and abetting bribery. Scheme to extort $1.5 million to $2.2 million from Capri Capital. Not Guilty
* Count 23: Money laundering. Scheme to extort $375,000 from Glencoe Capital. Guilty
* Count 24: Money laundering. Scheme to extort $375,000 from Glencoe Capital. Guilty
Well that was quick. The same day that Obama becomes the Democratic presidential candidate, there is a petition to have Obama team up with Hillary Clinton and make her his Vice Presidential running mate. The grassroots organization called “Women for Fair Politics” has created a website (womenforfairpolitics.com) which strongly supports Hillary Clinton through and through.
On this site located at womenforfairpolitics.com, there is a petition by Lanny J. Davis asking Barack Obama to request that Clinton be his running mate for the 2008 Presidential election.
Here is an excerpt from the site.
“Loyal Hillary Supporters,
We have been asked to post a new petition by Lanny Davis, an old friend of Hillary and Bill Clintons. Each one of us will have to make the painful decision accepting Senator Obama’s nomination or asking Hillary to fight on to the convention! He feels out of respect of her 17,000,000 million voters that she at least deserves the VP slot on the ballot. Mr. Davis would like all of you to sign his petition to ask Senator Obama to place Hillary in nomination for VP. Although we are not endorsing this idea, we respect his opinion as a dear friend of the Clintons for over 40 years.”
As I was writing this article, MSNBC told viewers about this website, and the site almost immediately went down. I’m sure there will be a lot of web traffic going to this site for days to come, so there may be downtime. However if you are a strong Hillary supporter, you may want to join the “Women for Fair Politics” and sign the petition whether you are a woman or not.
Today the AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) heard something from Senator Obama that they have been waiting for. Obama today stood in front of the AIPAC and stated “We will also use all elements of American power to pressure Iran. I will do everything in my power to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. That starts with aggressive, principled diplomacy without self-defeating preconditions, but with a clear-eyed understanding of our interests. We have no time to waste. We cannot unconditionally rule out an approach that could prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. We have tried limited, piecemeal talks while we outsource the sustained work to our European allies. It is time for the United States to lead. ”
Obama had taken heat from McCains campaign the last few weeks when he commented that he will negotiate with the Iranian regime without pre-set conditions. McCain as well as the Bush administration said that such a comment shows Obama’s inexperience. This also threw up a red flag for members of the AIPAC, who normally are in favor of the democratic candidate. The speech today shows that Obama knows he need the Jewish vote, and is fearful that many Jews, led by the AIPAC may be considering McCain who has shown he has a hard lined approach towards the Israeli threatening regime in Iran.
Obama also told the AIPAC mreo of what they wanted to hear in that He proposes giving Israel foreign aid without requiring that Egypt get similar aid. And he also pledged to support keeping Jerusalem as the undivided capital.
Ok, well we are just hours away from a possible acceptance speech by Obama. Of course I don’t have a link or youtube video of an Obama Nomination speech since its only 7:15 pm ESt on June 3rd as I write this. Having said this, I have included a rather funny and pretty realistic sounding rendition of an Obama Nomination acceptance speech performed by comedian and actor Eddie Murphy. For Obama supporters, please don’t take this hard, I like the man, this speech is just for entertainment purposes only, and should not take please of the real speech Obama is sure to elegantly deliver upon his nomination purhaps as early as this evening
Well, we are on the Eve of yet another Primary, this time one of the less populated states in the nation, South Dakota. Early polls in South Dakota indicate that Clinton has a fairly large lead among democrats.
Hillary Clinton has a 60 percent to 34 percent for Barrack Obama, according to the American Research Group Inc., an independent polling company based out of New Hampshire. Six percent were undecided. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percent. The sample size, according to the American Research Group, was a random sample of 600 Democratic voters likely to vote in the primary. 600 is quite a small sample, and the state could poll differently in different counties. Even if Hillary wins, liek the poll suggest, the lead by Obama is almost too much for Hillary to overcome. Because of South Dakota’s size it will not really help Clinton in terms of delegates but she is hoping a decisive win will sway the super delegates her way.
Well, the democratic nomination seems to never be headed towards a final conclusion. Today Looking at the Puerto Rico exit poll results, Clinton seems to have blown Obama away. CNN is projecting that Hillary Clinton will win Puerto Rico by a landslide and that nearly 340,000 people have voted in that state. The polls have just closed on the island, but CNN is basing their results on exit polls. Those exit polls show that Hillary won all demographics across the board, and are simple polls given by the voting stations after the person leaves the real poll booth.
Here are some of the numbers out of Puerto Rico:
Clinton 69%
Obama 31%
Men actually gave Clinton 69% where women 68%
Clinton liek other states performed worse by those with the most education. The results in Purto Rico still is not close to enough to swing momentum back in Hillary’s direction.
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