Posted by
Andy Zarowny on Thursday, July 03, 2008 1:09:20 AM
"The Boston Globe" ran a very
good article on June 27th by
Binyamin Applebaum. It chro-
nicled the juicy favors State
Senator Barack Obama gave
to his pals who developed
public housing projects. Most
of which have fallen into dis-
repair and are vacant, despite
loans amounting to over $150
MILLION dollars! As president,
Obama promises to create a
$500 million housing fund. One
has to wonder who might benefit
from his largess with taxpayer
money?
Antoin "Tony" Rezko, recently
convicted on numerous Federal
corruption charges, was not the
only developer who did well by
his association with Obama.
One such project, Grove Parc
Plaza, now lies 20% vacant with
it's 505 apartment units. Most of
the units are unlivable due to
damage and disrepair. Grove
Parc was managed by Habitat
Corporation, who's CEO is none
other than Valerie Jarrett. Not
only is she the current head of
Obama's finance committe, it
was Jarrett who gave Michelle
Obama her first public payroll
job, serving as Jarrett's assis-
tant under former Chicago
Mayor, Harold Washington.
Barack later paid back Jarrett
when as chairman of the State
Health and Human Services
Committe, approved her appoint-
ment to the Illinois Health Plan-
ning Board. It was this board
which allocated funds for various
healthcare and hospital develop-
ments using money from
sources such as the Illinois
Teachers Pension Fund. One
such project was the Howard
Hospital development, which
led to the Federal investigation
in 2003, known as 'Operation
Board Games' which is unra-
velling the 'pay-to-play' scheme
of corrupt Illinois officials and
private developers, such as
Rezko.
Jarrett later paid Obama back
for the appointment when, as
an executive for the University
of Chicago Medical Center,
gave Michelle a pay raise from
$115,000 a year to over
$300,000 a year! It sure is nice
to have friends, isn't it! Grove
Parc was seized by the Fed-
eral government in 2006 after
city inspectors found it ripe
with problems.
Grove Parc was created by
in the 1990 by Allison Davis,
Obama's former boss of the
law firm from which Obama
worked as a "community or-
ganizer". Davis has developed
many projects, using govern-
ment loans and subsidies,
about 1500 units in all. Most
of these, also, have been cited
by inspectors as having defein-
cies, such as chronic plumbing
problems. Some apartments
had raw sewage in them! NICE!
Rezko, Davis and Jarrett, were
all supporters of State Senator
Obama, raising hundreds of
thousands of dollars for his
campaigns. Collectively, they
gave him $175,000 of their own
money, if it really was their
own money. LOL!
Another of Obama's contri-
butors is Cecil Butler, another
developer. He controlled
Lawnsdale Restoration,
Chicago's largest single sub-
sidized residential complex. In
2006, the government seized
it after inspectors found some
1,800 code violations!
It was Barack Obama who,
once getting elected to the
Illinois State Senate, paid back
his contributing friends in the
development industry by getting
a law passed in 2001 to permit
private, for-profit, companies to
manage public housing projects.
Prior to his election, while
working for Davis, Obama
helped represent non-profit
companies which ran housing
projects. One such company
was Woodlawn Preservation
and Investment Corp., which
was being sued for inadequate
heating for it's tenants. I guess
"community organizer" means
organizing the slumlords, I
mean landlords, instead of the
tenants. LOL! Later on, Wood-
lawn's CEO, William
Moorehead, was convicted for
embezzling $1,000,000.
Guess who took over Wood-
lawn's properties to manage?
Habitat Corporation!
Rezko's firm, Rezmar Corp,
received some $87 million
dollars since 1989 in govern-
ment loans, subsidies and
tax credits. Davis' company
got over $100 million dollars,
including $1,000,000 from
the Woods Fund of Chicago,
the non-profit organization
that both Obama and former
Weatherman-terrorist, Bill
Ayers served on their board
of directors. Butler's firm has
earned some $73 million
dollars in public funds and tax
credits. How much Habitat
was gotten remains unclear,
but as most of the other de-
velopers who benefited know-
ing Obama only managed
perhaps 1,000 to 2,000 hous-
ing units, Habitat manages
some 23,000!
So, what we have here is a
new breed of politician. One
who believes in change and
hope. One who will bring
about a new era in honest
government. NOT!!!
What we have here is classic
political corruption - Chicago
Style!