Blagojevich trial, Retrial hearing, October 22, 2010
The Chicago Tribune reports.
“Prosecutors and defense attorneys are scheduled to appear in federal court as the sides prepare for retrial in the corruption case against ousted Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
Friday’s status hearing comes a week after prosecutors filed a response to defense claims that multiple legal errors led to Blagojevich’s conviction for lying to the FBI.
The government countered that it was overwhelming evidence that led to the conviction in the first trial and that allegations of prosecutorial misconduct are baseless.”
“A former business partner of convicted influence-peddler Antoin “Tony” Rezko was sentenced to three years of probation Tuesday for his role in a bank fraud scheme over the sale of Rezko’s pizza restaurants.
Abdelhamid “Al” Chaib had pleaded guilty to a single count of obstructing the Internal Revenue Service for his role in securing a $2.6 million loan from GE Capital Corp. to finance his bogus purchase of Rezko’s string of Papa John’s pizza franchises. The loan was in fact a scheme to obtain loan money to prop up Rezko’s businesses while Chaib would have no meaningful ownership of the pizzerias.”
Now for the rest of the story. Once again I would like to thank Evelyn Pringle for the fine work that she did early on to expose the truth about Obama. The highlighting is mine.
As you read the following, remember that it was written in mid 2008.
“Curtain Time for Barack Obama – Part 4 (Mansion Deal)”
“The solution to the problems arising from the unsuccessful attempts to shut down Operation Board Games would be for Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) to become president and issue a bipartisan pardon to all members of the “Combine” who funded his seat in the US Senate. The scam worked when Scooter Libby took the fall for the Bush administration.”
“Rezko-Obama Real Estate Deal
When Obama started setting up the purchase of the $2 million mansion with Tony Rezko in December 2004, he did not know he would be the presidential candidate in 2008. He therefore did not think about the repercussions in a presidential campaign. The Combine’s plan was for Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich to be the candidate at that point. Operation Board Games put an end to that plan.
Mike McIntire and Christopher Drew tracked Rezko’s “financial maneuverings” during the year that Rezko and Obama were entering into the real estate deals through an examination of lawsuits, documents in the Board Games cases, and land records, for a report in the March 8, 2008 New York Times.
They discovered that Rezko was fighting off lenders and investors trying to collect on defaulted loans and failed ventures the whole time. “But he side-stepped that financial dragnet by arranging for the land to be bought in his wife’s name, making it the only property she owned by herself,” they report.
As a result, when the Obamas bought part of the lot in January 2006, “the money they paid was beyond the reach of Mr. Rezko’s creditors, including one conducting a court-ordered hunt for his assets to recover a $3.5 million debt,” the Times notes.
Obama claims he had no idea Rezko was broke. During his March 14, 2008 Sun-Times interview, he said: “I was shocked – as I think a lot of people in Chicago were shocked – to find out the difficult financial straits he was in because I don’t think anybody suspected that at the time.”
Obama told the Tribune on November 1, 2006, that the lot next door had to be sold separately because, “It was already a stretch to buy the house.” However, affidavits filed in the Rezko case in November 2006, show the Rezkos had no money. Rita’s only income was a $37,000-a-year job when she paid $125,000 in cash and obtained a half a million dollar mortgage at the Mutual Bank to buy the $625,000 lot.
When documents unsealed in the case revealed a $3.5 million loan made to Rezko a month before the real estate deal, the money transfer raised “the question of whether funds from Nadhmi Auchi helped Mr Obama buy his mock Georgian mansion in Chicago,” a February 26, 2008 report by James Bone and Dominic Kennedy in the Times of London noted.
Obama claims he got the money because he pulled off a marketing coup for book sales with his speech at the July, 2004 Democratic National Convention and got elected.
“Because of the attention I received during Senate campaign and the convention, my book sold well,” he told Sun-Times in an interview on March 14, 2008. “I came into a sizeable amount of money that allowed us to move,” he said.
The way Obama set up the deal, the mansion and the strip of land were placed in a Land Trust with the Northern Trust Corporation. The price of the mansion was $1.65 million, and Obama came up $330,000 to obtain a $1.32 million mortgage at Northern Trust Bank.
Cook County land records show the deed for the lot to Rita was recorded on June 20, 2005 and she conveyed the land to Northern Trust Company Land Trust #10209, on January 11, 2006. According to a web site for Marquette Bank’s Trust Services, a Land Trust provides shared ownership protection when real estate is owned by more than two people, and divorce, legal disability or the death of one can hinder the sale of the property.
With the establishment of a Land Trust, a judgment against one beneficiary cannot create a lien on real estate held in trust and ordinary legal proceedings against one will not cloud the title, according to Marquette site.
The investigation by the New York Times found that between November 2002 and January 2005, at least 12 lawsuits were filed against Rezko and his businesses, including one by the General Electric Commercial Finance Corp.
In fact, GE obtained a $3.5 million judgment in November 2004, but put off collection in the first half of 2005, while negotiating for payments with Rezko, the Times reports. The lawsuit involves loans Rezko obtained for the sale of Papa John’s pizza parlors.
Papa John’s cancelled its franchise agreement with Rezko in 2004 because he was behind in payments. Rezko then transferred the pizza chains to companies owned by “personal friend(s) and long-time business associate(s),” to operate under trade names such as Papa Tony’s and Pizzeria Zia, according to a lawsuit filed in 2005 by Papa John’s.
Papa John’s alleges Rezko controlled the chains and the associates were running “front” companies. The companies in the lawsuit include AR Pizza, Chaib Investments, Newco Pizza and LayaZia. AR Pizza, Newco Pizza and LayaZia have their principal places of business at the same location as Rezko Enterprises.
Auchi’a firm, General Mediterranean Holding, owns 50% of AR Pizza and Rezko owns 50%. Auchi’’s lawyer told the Times of London the $3.5 million loan to Rezko in May 2005 was to “assist the financial position” of AR Pizza.
His attorney told the New York Times that Rezko was supposed to use the money for his pizza business, and said, “as far as my client is aware, Mr. Rezko used the loan for its intended purpose and not for any other purpose.”
However, the Times review showed Rezko only made a $1 million payment to GE months after he received the loan. GE finally obtained a court order in October 2005 and began seizing even the smallest assets. As the Times explains:
“The company’s lawyers filed a claim against the Rezkos’ home and began issuing subpoenas to banks where Mr. Rezko had accounts, finding very little cash.
“Court records show that G.E. was due to be in court on Jan. 5, 2006, for example, obtaining an order to seize $1,297.39 from one … checking accounts.”
“Less than a week later,” the Times wrote, “Mrs. Rezko sold a 10-foot-wide strip of the empty lot to Mr. Obama, for $104,500.”
Now Obama claims he never knew the lot was in Rita Rezko’s name until he read about it in the media. During his March 14, 2008 interview, the Tribune asked him: “When Tony sold the garden lot in his wife’s name, didn’t that strike you as odd?”
“You know,” he said, “I have no idea why he did it. I don’t think he was intending to hide something, because if he was then, you know, using your wife’s name, Rita Rezko, probably wouldn’t have been the best way to do it.””
“Did he ever explain to you what he was doing?” the Tribune asked.
“No,” Obama replied, “I didn’t discover it until the issue of him purchasing this lot broke through, uh, through you.”
Next trial will focus on pizza parlor schemes
Rezko’s next trial will focus on the fraudulent financial transactions with GE and the mystery of what happened to the missing $3.5 million from the loan made to Rezko the month before the mansion deal may be resolved.
The corruption in this case involves the Illinois Finance Authority. The IFA was established, “to support the Governor of Illinois’ economic development agenda,” and “IFA approves about $3 billion in project financing each year,” according to its web site.
Co-schemer Ali Ata was appointed to lead the IFA. He made a $5,000 donation to Obama on June 30, 2003.
Talat Othman was appointed to the IFA Board, and he donated $1,000 to Obama on June 30, 2003.
David Gustman was made chairman, and his wife, Lisa, also gave Obama $1,000 on June 30.
Co-schemer Abdelhamid Chaib is the former the director of Rezko Concessions. Chaib’s wife was appointed to the Department of Employment Security Review Board. Obama received $5,000 from Chaib on June 30, 2003.
This indictment alleges that Rezko fraudulently caused GE to extend more than $10 million in loans to finance what Rezko portrayed as sales of two different groups of Papa John’’s pizza restaurants in the Chicago and Milwaukee areas.
After closing on the loan for the Chicago stores, the loan became delinquent, and Rezko caused additional false financial information to be submitted to GE in asking for forebearance on the default, the indictment says. It also alleges that Rezko defrauded investors by concealing that he was transferring the company’s assets to himself and a straw purchaser.
As part of the scheme, Ata signed a letter on Finance Authority letterhead that falsely made it appear that Dr Paul Ray had applied for financing with the IFA for acquisition of the pizza restaurants. The letter stated that Ray’s financing would be recommended for approval by the IFA Board on March 15, 2004, and that the IFA would guarantee 50% of the total $16 million.
Ray contributed $3,000 to Obama on June 30, 2003. Ray also gave Obama $2,000 on October 2003, on top of a donation of $1,000 on December 31, 2002. Ray was an investor in Riverside Park.
During the Rezko trial, Ata testified that he told Rezko that IFA board members were worried over the approval of financing for the Papa John’s deal because there could be negative publicity due to Rezko’s association with the pizza businesses
But Ata said Rezko scoffed at the concerns. “He said as far as the publicity, he will get the governor’s office to approve the transaction, and as far as the board,” Ata told the jury, Rezko said, “We put them there.”
Rezko eventually called Ata and dictated the language of a letter that said IFA was guaranteeing half of the purchase price. But before the deal could go through, Ata brought the chairman, David Gustman, and the board’s financial advisers to Rezko’s office to tell him they did not believe the financing was good for IFA. Ata said Rezko seemed to agree, but he never gave back the letter Ata wrote on Ray’s behalf.
More Combine members throw in the towel
Testimony in the first trial opened the door to evidence in other Board Game cases and more Combine members threw in the towel. Ali Ata entered into a plea agreement in the GE case a week before the trial was set to end and he was the last witness to testify.
Ata pled guilty to charges that included tax fraud, and lying to the FBI in saying he received nothing in return for $50,000 in contributions to Blagojevich when according to the plea agreement, he did “receive something for those contributions, specifically employment with a state agency … with an annual salary of approximately $127,000.”
According to court filings, Ata also lied when he “intentionally concealed that he paid Rezko approximately $125,000 in cash … during 2003 and 2004 so that he could obtain a state appointment and then ensure its continuation.”
On his last day on the stand, Ata told the jury he finally agreed to cooperate with the Feds after a person delivered a threat to him. He told prosecutors he lied to the FBI because he was encouraged to be a “team player” by people acting on Rezko’’s behalf and when he received a grand jury subpoena in late 2005, people contacted him in an effort to stop him from cooperating.
Ata testified he gave Rezko the money because he wanted to keep his job. He told the jury he used to drop by Rezko’s office and would see other top officials waiting to see Rezko and in order to keep their jobs people had to follow orders and become a team player.
For instance, Ata said, he often saw Kelly King Dibble, a former Rezmar employee, who became director of the Illinois Housing Authority. But when Dibble balked at hiring a Rezko relative, Ata said, Rezko passed a message to Dibble “congratulating her on her new assignment,” and the new assignment was unemployment.
“It emphasized that you need to be a team player and follow the rules if you’re going to be a part of the administration,” Ata told the jury on May 1, 2008.
Dibble donated $250 to Obama on June 30, 2003, $250 on January 23, 2004, and $250 on April 25, 2007. She is now an attorney with the Northern Trust, Obama’s Land Trust holder. On September 30, 2007, Dribble donated $1,000 to Obama presidential campaign.
Ata testified that he and Rezko once delivered $50,000 in cash to the home of co-schemer Christopher Kelly and left it in the car while they went inside. Ata said Rezko told him, “there’s somebody from Downstate that’s coming to pick up the money.”
Ata said he delivered another $25,000 to Rezko in early 2004, because Rezko said it was needed to pay contractors to stop them from filing a lien on Blagojevich’s home.
Ata also explained that Rezko made a problem with a state lease disappear in exchange for a 25% ownership in a real estate partnership. When Rezko’s attorney pressed for details about how that worked, Ata said Rezko had gone to Michael Rumman to get the matter resolved, the head of the Department of Central Management Services.
Ata says that after he met with the Feds for the first time, he got a voice-mail from Rumman saying Rumman was traveling with “our friend,” meaning Rezko, asking Ata to delay the meeting with investigators.
The other person who pressured Ata was Orlando Jones, the godson and former chief of staff to the deceased former Cook County Board President, John Stroger. Jones was a former vice president of Rezmar development company and an investor in Riverside Park.
Prosecutors say Jones also wanted Ata to lean on another Rezko associate to get him to stop cooperating. Ata told prosecutors that Jones reassured him that Rezko was working to kill the Board Games investigation by getting the Bush administration to fire Fitzgerald. “Don’t worry, the plan is still in place,” Jones told Ata.
Jones committed suicide in September 2007, after news of a pending indictment in a pay-to-play scheme reaching all the way to Las Vegas hit the media. “The discovery of Jones’ body came just two days after FBI agents approached Jones,” FBI spokesman Frank Bochte told the Sun-Times. Jones “cordially declined” to speak with Chicago agents.
The scheme in Las Vegas involved a company called Crystal Communications, lead by Martello Pollock. On June 30, 2003, Pollock donated $1,000 to Obama.
According to the Sun-Times, Jones had been interviewed by federal authorities a while before his death about fees he received from pension fund deals approved by the Illinois Board of Investments.
Allison Davis, Rezko’s real estate partner, and Obama’s former boss at the Davis, Minor & Barnhill law firm, was appointed to serve on the Board of Investment. Davis is president of the Davis Group. On January 29, 2003, the group donated $2,000 to Obama and on June 30, 2003, it made a contribution of $6,000. Obama also received donations from the group of $2,000 on July 7, 2004, $2,000 on January 29, 2007, and $2,300 on June 30, 2007.
Prosecutors allege that another member of this pension Board, Joe Carriatore made a deal with Rezko where his brother would get a seat on the Board for a $50,000 contribution to Blagojevich. He donated $1,000 to Obama on June 30, 2003. Carriatore was an original investor with Rezko in Riverside Park.
Velma Butler was recommended for this Board, but did not get the job. She gave Obama $1,000 on June 30, 2003, and donated $25,000 to Blagojevich three weeks later on July 25, 2003. Butler was also an investor in Riverside Park.
Combine members of Middle Eastern Descent
Ata is a former president of the Chicago Chapter of the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. He represents “a deeper corruption” in the Arab American community, “an aspect of the story that has not received much attention,” according to a May 2, 2008 report by Ray Hanania in the Southwest News-Herald.
Hanania points out that many in the Arab community are calling Ata a “rat.” But he’s not alone, Hanania says:
“The real rats are those who used their positions as “leaders” to rape and pillage their own community. The real rats are the so-called ““leaders” who worked to benefit themselves pretending they were doing it for the benefit of the community.”
In his report, Hanania explains how Ata and others would help organize political dinners attended by Arab Americans from the suburbs at which politicians where “honored.”
“These Arab community “leaders,” he says, “would tell the community that if they bought tickets to their “candidate’s nights,” their organization fundraisers or donated through them to local politicians, these politicians would respond by giving the Arab American community empowerment.”
“In truth,” Hanania says, “these political leaders lied.”
“They did get jobs, contracts and clout,” he notes, “but the people who benefited were not members of the community but rather the relatives, children, friends and business associates of these leaders.”
Ata has done well as a member of the Combine. In 2004, his net worth was $12 million, according to the Tribune. In one state deal, Ata and partners, Faysal Mohamed, Fuad Mohamed and Refat Zayed, “took in more than $3.2 million from taxpayers by leasing a West Side office building to the state over 10 years,” the June 6, 2005 Sun-Times notes.
Rumman is also of Middle Eastern descent. He left his $120,900-a-year job in April 2005, after “Auditor General William Holland accused CMS of wasting taxpayer money, skirting state purchasing laws and failing to document hundreds of millions of dollars in alleged savings the agency attributed to its hiring of high-priced consultants,” the March 11, 2007 Sun-Times reported.
Rumman went on to become a major investor with the Iraqi-born Auchi and Syrian-born Rezko in Riverside Park and Rumman was the point man on a now canceled $200 million power plant contract in Iraq.”
Illinois anti voter fraud campaign, Tea Party, Republicans, Chalice
“The past, he reflected, had not merely been altered, it had
actually been destroyed. For how could you establish, even
the most obvious fact when there existed no record outside
your own memory?”…George Orwell, “1984″
From Mother Jones October 18, 2010.
“The Tea Party Will Be Watching You”
“Republican groups and tea party activists unite to block Democrats…err, voter fraud, at the polls.”
“When the Illinois Republican Party launched its anti-voter-fraud crusade this year, party leaders knew who they could count on to whip up a fervor about rigged elections. Together with a conservative political action committee, the state GOP has teamed up with a infamous anti-Obama birther who’s helped to recruit tea party activists to oversee the vote as official poll workers and independent poll watchers—part of a campaign against election fraud (real or imagined) that’s being whipped up by Republican leaders and activists across the country.
Every election season, the right revives its battle against voter fraud, depicting it as a rampant threat to honest electoral outcomes. (See the previous assault on ACORN, the beleaguered community organizing oufit.) This year, the Republicans have a tea party army on hand to fight this supposed peril. And they’ve taken their campaign a step further. Political parties and outside groups typically dispatch independent poll watchers to keep tabs on any suspicious activity. However, recruiting activists to serve as election judges and poll workers—the people who actually administer the vote at polling stations and are responsible for ensuring that election laws are enforced—is not a routine practice. But that’s what’s happening this year in Illinois, Texas, and elsewhere, with the GOP looking to tea party and conservative grassroots activists to fill key slots.”
“In Minnesota, the North Star Tea Party Patriots have teamed up with two other conservative groups to spearhead a far-reaching anti-fraud operation to recruit and train spotters at the polls, offering $500 for tips leading to voter fraud convinctions. In Illinois, meanwhile, the state GOP has joined with a political action committee called Illinois Republican Renaissance to form an “election fraud prevention task force” that aims to turn right-wing grassroots activists into official election workers and privately paid watchdogs. “As you know, ballot integrity will be a key ingredient to our success, and we need your help,” GOP state chair Pat Brady says on the party’s website. This effort has placed Brady in league with one of the tea party movement’s more unusual characters. The project’s coordinator, Sharon Meroni, is an infamous anti-Obama birther who filed objections against 32 Illinois candidates for failing to provide adequate documentation of their citizenship.
Meroni, who blogs under the pseudonym “Chalice Jackson,” also helped launch a petition demanding Obama’s resignation for “high crimes and misdemeanors.” “Who truly would have believed…that there was ANY chance America could be in the hands of a usurper government?” she wrote in another court filing to contest Obama’s citizenship, which the McHenry County Grand Jury dismissed. Meroni is now helping to select the election judges—as official poll workers are called in Illinois—and poll watchers that the joint project will dispatch on Election Day. (Campaigns have jumped on board the Illinois Republican Party’s effort as well: In a secretly recorded private conference call, GOP Senate candidate Mark Kirk said he was pushing to deploy “lawyers and other people” to two predominantly black Chicago neighborhoods to oversee the voting process.)”
“Conservatives do point to a handful of isolated incidents to gin up fears about voting shenanigans. In Texas, an 81-year-old San Antonio woman has been charged with using her dead sister’s identity to vote in 2008. In the Houston area, a tea party-linked non-profit called True the Vote claims to have discovered “most likely tens of thousands, of incomplete, inaccurate, or false voter registration” in one of the city’s poorest black neighborhoods. (The progressive group facilitating the effort has acknowledged that a small number of the registrations were faulty.) In Missouri, a group of Somali immigrant voters was accused of receiving improper assistance during the primary election this year. But while election experts acknowledge that voter fraud certainly exists, some point out that only a tiny handful of fraud cases have ever been proven. And they say conservative activists risk suppressing or intimidating eligible voters by hyping the potential fraud.”
“But there are already warning signs that tea party-related anti-fraud efforts could slip into dirty tricks territory. In Wisconsin, the state Republican Party had been accused of plotting with local tea party groups to disenfranchise voters whose ballots were returned because of a wrong address—an illegal technique known as “vote-caging.” Given the polarized political climate, overzealous activists working the polls could end up overstepping the bounds, intentionally or not. Referring to the GOP and tea party efforts to recruit poll watchers and workers, Wendy Weiser of the Brennan Center for Justice says, “We haven’t sent this degree of heightened activity for years. It’s just a higher risk situation for voters.””
“We haven’t sent this degree of heightened activity for years. It’s just a higher risk situation for voters.”
Wendy Weiser, et al, allow me to jog your memory.
I will not waste time on the obvious Orwellian (and probably Alinsky) style comments in this article designed to divert attention away from the intent of poll watchers, to make them appear as having more sinister motives. I will respond to the following statement made about Chalice:
“The project’s coordinator, Sharon Meroni, is an infamous anti-Obama birther who filed objections against 32 Illinois candidates for failing to provide adequate documentation of their citizenship.”
I have known Chalice for several years, spoken to her on a number of occasions and been a guest on her radio show. She consistently comes across as a concerned American, who believes in the US Constitution and rule of law, like most of you. She deeply cares about this country and has fought bravely and persistently to save it. The far left continues to smear good people like Chalice and elevate and defend the likes of Obama, a usurper and Chicago Pay to Play corrution crony.
By the way, have you seen any Tea Party members carrying a night stick lately?
Taxes, Unemployment, Businesses don’t pay taxes people do, Citizen Wells open thread, October 18, 2010
The far left, in ignorance, or as part of their agenda of the end justifies the means, perpetually bashes business and the so called fat cats. They believe that anyone making more money than they should pay more taxes. They believe that corporations are evil.
Here is the truth about taxing business and increased business expenses.
Rush Limbaugh, for many years has done an excellent job of explaining the impact of tax increases on American business and ultimately the American public. He explains that corporations do not pay taxes. This also includes non corporations, all business entities. This is the huge message that you never hear from the left, the business bashers. We already have a seious unemployment situation due to Obama and his far left socialists. I am concerned that tax hikes or hidden cost increases that will begin kicking in 2011, coupled with out of control government spending , will take us over the edge. Our new Congress will have to work fast to deactivate the tax and spend Health Care Legislation, cut taxes and provide a more business and jobs friendly envioronment.
Businesses ultimately do not pay taxes. Taxes become part of the cost of doing business. They are passed on to consumers and impact employment and the overall econo. When a business incurrs higher taxes or other increased costs, some combination of the following occurs:
The increased costs are passed along to consumers. This could be a local family run dairy farm. The cost increases are reflected in higher milk prices. When higher inheritance taxes are in effect, the children of the dairy farmers could be forced to shut down. That would, of course, diminish supply.
The increased costs prevent more hiring from occuring. The spectre of tax increases is causing that now.
The increased costs can lead to layoffs and schedule decreases. Our high unemployment rate is witness to that.
The increased costs can lead to pay freezes and pay cuts.
The increased costs prevent bussinesses from spending money on expansion and new technology, futher putting a damper on the economy.
And don’t forget, people with money start businesses. Questions they must ask are is it feasible, will it make money and where do I locate. Taxes always influnce those decisions.
So when you are encountered by a brain dead, far left sheeple, educate them on higher taxes and business bashing.
Vrdolyak prison sentence, Fast Eddie sentenced to 10 months
From the Chicago Tribune.
“Former Chicago Ald. Ed Vrdolyak was long known as “Fast Eddie” for his ability to work the angles in city politics and remain clear of criminal probes. He burnished that image last year when a judge spurned prosecution calls for prison and sentenced him instead to probation for a fraud conviction.
But his day of reckoning finally came Friday when Vrdolyak, forced by an appeals court to be sentenced again, was given 10 months in prison — followed by 5 months in a work-release center and an additional 5 months in home confinement. He was also fined $250,000.”
“The legendary dealmaker had thought he had escaped prison time after U.S. District Judge Milton Shadur sentenced him to five years of probation for setting up a $1.5 million kickback on a Gold Coast real estate deal.
But prosecutors objected, and the 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ordered that a different judge resentence Vrdolyak, calling Shadur’s punishment a “slap on the wrist” that ignored Vrdolyak’s status as one of Chicago’s most influential insiders and gave too much weight to dozens of letters attesting to his acts of generosity.
On Friday prosecutors again sought about 31/2 years for Vrdolyak. Federal sentencing guidelines called for a minimum sentence of 21/2 years in prison. But U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly said the guidelines were too stiff a punishment for Vrdolyak and imposed the 10-month prison term as well as the additional work release and home confinement.
Monico said Vrdolyak will not appeal the sentence. He was ordered to report to prison Jan. 19.
Vrdolyak had pleaded guilty to steering the sale of a building owned by Rosalind Franklin University to a developer that agreed to secretly pay him a $1.5 million “finders fee.”
Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Niewoehner said prosecutors were pleased Vrdolyak will serve some time in prison.
“The rich and powerful in this city deserve to be treated the same as anyone else,” Niewoehner had told the judge. “And if somebody else was involved in a fraud for $1.5 million … they would be looking at a long time in prison.””
Barnett Keyes et al v Obama, Obama attorneys response, 9th Circuit Court of Appeals
“Why has Obama, for over 2 years, employed numerous private and government attorneys to avoid presenting a legitimate birth certificate and college records?”…Citizen Wells and millions of concerned Americans
What does the above statement mean? Those in denial about Obama, his character and his past tend to dismiss such statements as fiction. I assure you that it is based on solid facts, court records. Here is one of many examples.
From the Obama attorneys response to the appeal in the Barnett/Keyes lawsuit appeal in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
“PAMELA BARNETT, Captain, et al., )
Plaintiffs/Appellants,
v.
BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA, et al.,
Defendants/Appellees.”
“APPELLEES’ ANSWERING BRIEF
APPEAL FROM THE
THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE
CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA – SANTA ANA
SA CV 09-00082 DOC
ANDRÉ BIROTTE JR.
United States Attorney
LEON W. WEIDMAN
Assistant United States Attorney
Chief, Civil Division
ROGER E. WEST
Assistant United States Attorney
First Assistant Chief, Civil Division
DAVID A. DeJUTE
Assistant United States Attorney
Room 7516 Federal Building
300 North Los Angeles Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012
Telephone: (213) 894-2461/2574
Facsimile: (213) 894-7819
Attorneys for Defendants/Appellees”
Yes, that’s right, three taxpayer funded government attorneys representing Obama, helping him to avoid presenting a legitimate birth certificate and proof that he is eligible to be president.
Instead of presenting simple proof of eligibility, as John McCain and others have done, Obama has continued for over 2 years to avoid presenting proof.
Here is just a snippet of the legalese, the horsecrap, what I believe is an illegal manuever by government attorneys to aid and abet Obama in violating the law of the land.
“Regarding the military plaintiffs, any injury which they may be suffering has
never been identified with any precision at all. Certainly, military personnel may
face risk of injury in the course of their duties, but the military plaintiffs have
pointed to no such concrete risks that they themselves presently face. Even if the Court could find standing on the basis of such injuries, however, it is even more highly speculative that any such injury would be redressed by a change in the identity of the Commander-in-Chief. The military plaintiffs, therefore, cannot meet the redressability prong on this basis.”
“Moreover, the military plaintiffs also lack standing because members of the
military cannot challenge the orders of a superior in a judicial forum. See, e.g.
Chappell v. Wallace, 462 U.S. 296, 300, 304, 103 S.Ct 2362, 76 L.Ed.2d 586
(1984) (holding that “[c]ivilian courts must, at the very least, hesitate long before entertaining a suit which asks the court to tamper with the established relationship between enlisted military personnel and their superior officers” because “that relationship is at the heart of a necessarily unique structure of the military establishment” and noting that the “disruption of ‘[t]he peculiar and special relationship of the soldier to his superiors’ that might result if the soldier were allowed to hale his superiors into court.” (quotation omitted); United States v. Stanley, 483 U.S. 669, 682-83, 107 S.Ct 3054, 97 L.Ed.2d 550 (1987) (holding that members of the military cannot raise Constitutional claims against military officials for injuries incident to service because “congressionally uninvited intrusion into military affairs by the judiciary is inappropriate”).”
“It is well settled that when the United States Constitution makes a “textually
demonstrable constitutional commitment” of an issue to another branch of
government, other than the judiciary, that issue presents a non-justiciable political question.”
Aside from the fact that the attorneys helping Obama are engaging in an illegal activity, knowing full well that he has no proof of eligibility:
Congress does indeed have the right and responsibility to insure that the president is eligble. That, however, does not preclude other branches from performing their critical functions of checks and balances and highest responsibility to uphold and defend the US Constitution. Nor does any power provided by the Constitution preclude or preempt a citizen, having taken an oath to defend the Constitution or not, from adhering to the rule of law, the supreme law of the land and performing their civic duty.
Edward Vrdolyak, Fast Eddie, Obama thugs, Pay to play politics
Edward Vrdolyak, Fast Eddie, a crony of Obama, Blagojevich, Rezko, Levine, et al, is back in the news.
From the Chicago Tribune October 13, 2010.
“Former alderman and Cook County Democratic chair, convicted of fraud, has tapped high-powered connections to benefit charity — and work off his sentence”
“Some felons sentenced to community service work end up doling out soup at homeless shelters. Legendary political insider “Fast Eddie” Vrdolyak worked off many of his court-ordered hours by organizing a star-studded fundraiser at Gibsons steakhouse and driving around in his car while recruiting friends by cell phone to aid a charity.
Handwritten log sheets released Wednesday by his lawyers show that Vrdolyak has logged 1,750 hours on behalf of a DuPage County charity that works with law enforcement to help needy children and veterans, mostly by making phone calls and holding “skull sessions” with donors.
In a controversial sentence last year, Vrdolyak eluded prison for a fraud conviction, but after prosecutors complained, an appeals court ordered he be resentenced. Prosecutors are seeking 31/2 years in prison for him Friday.”
“U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly, who will impose the new sentence, will have dozens of character reference letters to read from Vrdolyak supporters — and he can get an earful about Fast Eddie’s virtues from Elsner as well.
“I know I’m going to be crucified for saying this, but Ed Vrdolyak is the finest man I’ve ever met,” Elsner said. “You just come away from talking to him feeling better about things.””
I promised you that despite the best attempts of the Obama camp, US Justice Dept. and mainstream media to qwell Obama’s ties to Chicago corruption before the November elections, I would continue to keep this issue alive. Well, here is the truth about Vrdolyak and how the dots are connected to Obama and Blago.
The highlighting below is my doing. Also, in the spirit of “Subliminal Man” from “Saturday Night Live” I have added names in parenthesis that may be relevant.
From the Chicago Tribune August 7, 2008.
Attorney Michael Monico told U.S. District Judge Milton Shadur that prosecutors turned over 250,000 pages of discovery documents just two weeks ago, and the judge agreed to move Vrdolyak’s trial date to Nov. 4 from Sept. 15.
March 18, 2008; 5:16 p.m.
“In his first 20 minutes on the witness stand, Stuart Levine admitted that he had passed numerous bribes to win private and government business for several firms with which he was connected.
Levine said former Chicago Ald. Edward Vrdolyak acted as a middleman in two bribe schemes, including one to secure a contract with the city Board of Education. On both occasions, Vrdolyak was to pass the bribes onto others, he said.
Levine said he also paid a $500,000 bribe to an undisclosed city official to obtain a tire contract from the Department of Streets and Sanitation. Levine also said he passed on bribes of hundreds of thousands of dollars to win a contract to supply school buses to the Board of Education.
Levine also admitted that he had used hard drugs and distributed drugs to others since the 1970s.
(Obama)
“I experimented with LSD, marijuana, cocaine, quaaludes, Ecstasy, crystal methamphetamine and ketamine,” he said.
Levine, who faces up to life imprisonment, said he hopes to be sentenced to 67 months in prison in return for his cooperation with the government.
“If I lie, the plea agreement is null and void,” he said.
He admitted that after he agreed to cooperate with the government in early 2006, he lied once about Vrdolyak. “I tried to protect him,” he said.
Asked why he decided to allegedly tell the truth about Vrdolyak, Levine said, “I realized that the government realized that I was lying.””
March 18, 2008; 6:06 p.m.
“Stuart Levine also told the jury that at the request of former Chicago Ald. Edward Vrdolyak, he funneled money to Democratic candidates through straw contributors.
(Obama)
Asked by Assistant U.S. Atty. Christopher Niewoehner if he expected to get anything in return, Levine said: “Access.”
(Obama)
Levine testified that from 2000 to 2004, he made a combined $9 million to $10 million. Now, he works as a messenger for a delivery service at $800 a week, he said.
Levine walked through his history of serving on state boards, which, in addition to the Health Facilities Planning Board and the Teachers’ Retirement System board, also included a three-year stint on the Gaming Board. Levine said he eventually resigned.
(Obama)
“I didn’t enjoy the pressure I was getting,” Levine said in a poised manner that seemed well-practiced.
Levine then related how he first met Antoin “Tony” Rezko at a dinner party at the home of Fortunee Massuda, a podiatrist who was also a Rezko business partner.
The dinner took place Nov. 2, 2002, just days before the gubernatorial election. Levine had served as the finance chairman for Republican Jim Ryan. Rezko was an important fundraiser for Rod Blagojevich, Ryan’s opponent.
Levine said he was invited to the dinner by Ruth Rothstein, the head of the Cook County Health Services Department and a friend of Levine’s business partner Robert Weinstein.
Rothstein told Levine that Massuda invited him because she wanted to thank him for speaking up for her proposal before the hospital board to establish a free-standing surgical center on the South Side.
Levine said he had done so as a favor to Rothstein.
In addition to Massuda and her husband, Charles Hannon, others at the dinner included Rothstein, Rezko and his wife, as well as Orlando Jones, the godson of the late Cook County Board President John Stroger.
At the party, Levine said, he and Rezko began talking about their opposite roles in the campaign for governor. Rezko then told Levine that they had mutual friends in Republican power brokers Bill Cellini and Robert Kjellander.
The talk at the dinner then turned to a valuable piece of Gold Coast property that had once been home to the Scholl School of Podiatry at Oak and Dearborn Streets.
The school was in the process of being sold to a North Chicago medical school, now know as Rosalind Franklin University.
Levine served on that school’s board of directors, as did his partner Weinstein. In his capacity at the medical school, Levine was also in charge of selling the Scholl building, and he testified that he had a buyer lined up who was going to pay $15 million. Some $1.5 million was going to be paid as a finder’s fee to Vrdolyak, Levine said.
Levine said Vrdolyak was going to share half of that money with Weinstein and him, even though as board members at the school, such an arrangement would be illegal.
At the party, Levine said, he mentioned that he was having problems closing the sale, and at that point, Massuda chimed in that she had a clinic in the building and would like to buy it.
Levine said he then asked her if she had any role in holding up the sale. Levine said that simultaneously Massuda said, “No,” but Rezko said, “Yes.”
Massuda and Rezko had a short talk, which ended with Massuda saying, “I didn’t want it to come out this way,” and Rezko saying, “Why not just tell him?”
Levine said Rezko then told him that if he already had a buyer lined up for the building, he would no longer stand in his way. Levine did not specify what Rezko was doing to block the sale.
By Election Day, the following Tuesday, Rezko was true to his word, and the sale’s obstacle was resolved, Levine said.”
April 1, 2008; 6:17 p.m.
“But the jury did hear a long call between Levine and his longtime business partner, Dr. Robert Weinstein, about Rosenberg and his larger TRS plans. Rosenberg would be given the choice to raise the campaign cash or to pay a finder’s fee on the $220 million allocation through former Chicago Ald. Edward Vrdolyak, whom Levine said he had used before to pass bribes.”
April 3, 2008; 5:56 p.m.
“Levine still had not agreed to cooperate, and Levine told Duffy that he did not believe the government was aware of the “secret part of his life,” meaning his drug abuse and hotel parties with male friends.
(Obama)
In August 2005, Levine was indicted again, and he still had not agreed to flip. Duffy asked again whether the fact that Levine thought his secret life was still concealed from his family and others was a factor in his decision not to help the government.
“I don’t have a recollection of even thinking about the government knowing about my drug use or not,” Levine answered.
In fall 2005, Levine said, he became aware that one of his drug friends had been interviewed, and Duffy said he wanted to know what role that played in Levine’s cooperation.
“Now you learn that the government is on to this–isn’t that right?” Duffy asked.
“I don’t believe I focused on that aspect whatsoever in that period of time,” Levine answered. “There were many things on my mind, Mr. Duffy.”
Levine said he eventually decided to cooperate a few months later after his lawyer reviewed with him what the results could mean for him if he were convicted.
“They were terrible,” Levine said of the consequences he faced.
To avoid a long jail term, Levine said, he knew he had to cooperate and be completely honest, but still, Duffy pointed out, Levine was not truthful. He lied despite knowing “the sword of Damocles” would come down on him, Duffy said, and Levine agreed.
“You knew the only way you could hurt yourself in this process was by lying?” Duffy asked.
“Yes, sir,” Levine answered.
Levine lied by not telling the government about his dealings with former Chicago alderman Edward Vrdolyak, a man Levine said he often worked bribes through.
Vrdolyak allegedly was to bring in a $1.5 million kickback from the sale of the Scholl School of Podiatry in Chicago to Rosalind Franklin University, and Levine was supposed to get half of it.
He would like to have seen the money even while he was cooperating, Levine admitted, but he insisted he was not truthful about Vrdolyak because he was trying to keep him out of trouble.”
April 4, 2008; 10:55 a.m.
“More tales of the Purple Hotel kicked off this morning’s session of the Antoin “Tony” Rezko corruption trial.
On Thursday, Rezko’s lawyer Joseph Duffy grilled prosecution star witness Stuart Levine about a $761 transaction on his credit card statement for Saturday, Nov. 2, 2002, at the garish purple-painted Lincolnwood hotel that at the time was part of the Radisson chain. Levine has testified that he and a regular group of “drug buddies” often went to the hotel for daylong binges of crystal meth, cocaine, animal tranquilizers and other drugs.
The significance of that date is that it was the same that Rezko and Levine first met. The occasion was a dinner party, and during the chitchat Levine has said the two men came to realize they had been on opposite sides of a shady real estate deal.
As Duffy tries to chip away at Levine’s credibility, the lawyer used the credit-card statement to suggest that Levine’s memory of that first meeting was suspect because he showed up at the party after leaving a drug binge.
Levine acknowledged that the charge on his credit card was likely legitimate, but repeatedly insisted that he did not remember being at the hotel on that day and considered it unlikely. Credit-card transactions are not always recorded on the same day a charge is actually made.
This morning, Duffy questioned Levine about more charges he incurred at the Radisson. On Saturday, Oct. 26, exactly one week before the dinner party, Levine’s credit-card statement reflected a $1,077 charge at the Radisson, and exactly a week before that there was another $1021 charge there.
Duffy appears to be trying to suggest that Levine had a regular Saturday thing at the Radisson with his drug buddies. In earlier testimony, Levine said the group would get together and party once or twice a month at the Lincolnwood hotel, and always on weekdays. Levine said he tried to hide his secret drug life from his family and wanted to be home and clear-headed on the weekends.”
Lakin court martial, Terrorists Have More Rights than Lakin
I was listening to coverage of the terrorist trial taking place in civilian court recently and came to the same obvious conclusion as Dr. Kate.
“Terrorists Have More Rights than Army LTC Lakin”
“In Obama’s siege of America, terrorists get trials, and decorated Army officers go to jail. In other words, treason is the rule: Obama provides aid and comfort to the enemy, and through sedition, rules of engagement, deployments, and malicious prosecution, attacks the armed forces of the United States.
The Terrorists with Rights
Obama’s so-called “justice department”, led by terrorist-sympathizer Eric Holdup brings terrorists to New York for a civilian trial based on the U.S. legal system, where great care is taken to protect the terrorist by excluding evidence obtained by torture.”
“Defendant Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani denies helping al-Qaeda kill 224 people in the 1998 US embassy bombings in Africa. The judge ruled the witness could not testify as he had been named by Mr Ghailani while he was “under duress”. A BBC correspondent says the move complicates plans to try Guantanamo detainees in civilian courts. The Obama administration is hoping to hold such trials for a number of high-profile inmates, including alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. New York Judge Lewis Kaplan postponed Mr Ghailani’s trial, which had been due to begin on Wednesday. The decision was a blow to U.S. prosecutors.”
“The Birth Certificate, or Jail for a Decorated Officer?
Decorated Army officer LTC Terrence Lakin, in court-martial proceedings for following proper procedure in ensuring his orders are lawful, is denied his right to obtain evidence–not even by torture–and told to ‘get another defense’ because the credentials of the Commander in Chief who gave the orders are embarrassing.”
“In refusing to obey orders because of his doubts as to their legality, LTC Lakin has acted exactly as proper training dictates. That training mandates that he determine in his own conscience that an order is legal before obeying it…Indeed, he has publicly stated that he “invites” his own court martial, and were I the Convening Authority, I would have acceded to his wishes in that regard. But thus stepping up the bar, LTC Lakin is demonstrating the courage of his convictions and his bravery. That said, it is equally essential that he be allowed access to the evidence that will prove whether he made the correct decision.”
Jake Tapper questions Obama long form birth certificate, David Axelrod interview, Something to hide
“Why has Obama, for over 2 years, employed numerous private and government attorneys to avoid presenting a legitimate birth certificate and college records?”…Citizen Wells and millions of concerned Americans
Jake Tapper of ABC news asked David Axelrod about Obama’s long form birth certificate.
“AXELROD: Well I’m not demonizing the Chamber of Commerce. I’m simply suggesting to them that they disclose the source of the $75 million that they are spending in campaigns and put to rest, put to rest the questions that have been, that have been raised.
TAPPER: Isn’t that like the whackjobs that tell the president he needs to show them his full long-form birth certificate so he can put to rest the questions that have been raised?
AXELROD: The president’s birth certificate has been available to people.
TAPPER: The long form?
AXELROD: Someone once in the course of this debate about whether we should have a law to force these organizations to disclose where they’re money is coming from in the campaigns, someone said, and I think they’re right – “the only people who want to keep things secret are folks who have something to hide.” If the Chamber doesn’t have anything to hide about these contributions, and I take them at their word that they don’t, then why not disclose? Why not let people see where their money is coming from?
“the only people who want to keep things secret are folks who have something to hide.”
I assume that Jake Tapper referred to people who question Obama’s eligibility as “whackjobs” to keep his job. That is, unless Tapper believes that high ranking military officers and millions of concerned Americans who believe that the US Constitution is the supreme law are whackjobs.
November 2010 elections, Obama voter fraud, US Justice Dept, J Christian Adams
The November elections are three weeks away. The following is not new news, but bears repeating.
J Christian Adams, the US Justice Dept whistleblower who spoke out about corruption in the Justice Dept. several months ago, came forth with more allegations about voter fraud. Once again Deputy Assistant Attorney General Julie Fernandez is mentioned in Justice Dept. corruption. From a Megan Kelly interview on Fox.
Citizen WElls 