The Illinois Senate quietly approved a bill this spring that would have steered the proposed third airport down a path of pay-to-play politics – and certain doom.
I know, because Antoin “Tony” Rezko attempted to lead Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. down that same path two years ago – a proposal Jackson flatly rejected.
Pay-to-play was the pathway laid out in Senate Bill 2063, sponsored by state Sen. Debbie Halvorson. That bill would have codified what Rezko essentially proposed to Jackson, ALNAC and its developers (SNC-Lavalin and LCOR), which was to create an airport board comprised of appointed – not elected – commissioners.
These non-elected insiders would have enormous powers to control the project – including eminent domain, condemnation, taxation, and contracts galore – yet they’d stand accountable to no one.
Sound familiar?
Read More of Tony Rezko’s Third Airport Plan off-site...
John Ryskamp says:
The Tribune is reporting that Obama is under active investigation by the U.S. Attorney. It emerged in a letter released by the Judge in which Rezko said agents had pressured him for information on Obama.
The indictment will follow shortly.
Prosecutors leaned on him, Rezko says
Chicago Tribune, United States - 34 minutes ago
By Jeff Coen | Tribune reporter Two months before he was convicted of federal corruption charges, political fundraiser Antoin "Tony" Rezko told his trial ...
The importance of the letter is that it shows that the U.S. Attorney is very actively investigating Obama, and has been for a number of years. The telling remark in the letter is this one:
"They are pressuring me to tell them the 'wrong' things that I supposedly know about Governor Blagojevich and Senator Obama...."
This means that the U.S. Attorney already has a list of specific indictable offenses against Obama. What the U.S. Attorney did was to make a list of the illegal acts and then tell Rezko to confirm them. This is standard operating procedure. Rezko did not confirm them, but you should note that the U.S. Attorney would never have placed this list in front of Rezko unless there was already testimony in support of the illegal acts. Indeed, U.S. Attorneys don't look for supplementary confirmations of the Rezko type, unless there is already ample evidence to convict. There is overwhelming evidence already, based on the positions of the people who have already entered into plea bargains or who have been convicted.