Email ties Obama to Revko influence on state health board

NY Times:

An e-mail message made public on Monday in the fraud trial of Antoin Rezko, a businessman and political contributor, brought attention to Senator Barack Obama’s role in discussions involving a state health planning board that Mr. Rezko is accused of improperly influencing.

The message indicated that Mr. Obama, now a Democratic presidential candidate, and other top Illinois politicians consulted in 2003 on legislation to keep the board, which approved the construction of health facilities, from expiring under sunset provisions in state law.

The vaguely worded message also seemed to raise the possibility that Mr. Obama, who at the time was chairman of the Illinois Senate’s health committee, had been involved in recommending candidates for the board.

Mr. Rezko is accused of using his influence in state government to stack the board with associates, including some who made political contributions to Mr. Obama and other top Illinois politicians, and of seeking a bribe on a hospital project.

But David Wilhelm, a former campaign adviser to Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich of Illinois who asked that the e-mail message be written, said in an interview that he had never talked about the appointment process to Mr. Obama. Mr. Obama has said he had nothing to do with Mr. Rezko’s activities with the board.

...

The trial is providing a look into political influence in the administration of Mr. Blagojevich, who also has not been charged with any wrongdoing. Mr. Rezko’s lawyers introduced the e-mail message in an effort to show that a wide range of the state’s political leaders, and not just Mr. Rezko, were involved in decisions involving the health board.

Campaign finance records show that at least three Rezko associates who sat on the hospital board made substantial donations to Mr. Blagojevich and to Mr. Obama in 2003 and 2004.

...

The trial is expected to expose the embedded culture of corruption on the state level in a state controlled by Democrats. It could just as easily have been Louisiana, Maryland or New Jersey. The corruption starts on the local level where Democrats are in charge and works its way up the food chain to the top. Fortunately, in Louisiana, Bobby Jindal has been elected to try to change the culture. The other states are not so lucky.

Have you noticed that almost every major city with urban decay is controlled by Democrats? There is a reason for that. What is amazing is that voters in those cities keep voting for the people who have failed them.

Whether Obama is tainted by the Rezko trial is yet to be determined, but you can probably count on his name coming up again.