Four, versus 15

That’s what it seems the plight of Antoin Rezko has come down to these days.

It seems like ancient history



Federal prosecutors say he needs to be locked away for 15 years in a correctional center, while his attorneys claim the nearly four years he has already served is enough punishment.

EVEN THOUGH THERE’S a certain logic to what Rezko’s attorneys are claiming, no one ought to be under any delusion that they will prevail in this fight.

It may well turn out that prosecutors upset they didn’t get convictions on all charges against William Cellini and that they had to go through two trials (at taxpayer expense) to get ample convictions against Rod Blagojevich will want to see at least one person squirm to maximum capacity.

And that person will be Tony Rezko – the man who once was thought would take down all of government as we know it, and would prevent Barack Obama from ever becoming president.

Then again, that was probably just the pipe dream of conservative ideologues and was never in line with reality.

AT STAKE IS the sentencing for Rezko, who pleaded guilty many years ago to corruption charges and has been kept on hold ever since. Prosecutors kept him waiting to be punished, on the grounds that his fate ultimately would be determined by how cooperative a witness he was in testifying against people like Blagojevich.

The only problem is that Rezko never got called to testify against anybody. It may well be that prosecutors thought he had such a stink about him that jurors would be turned off by the concept of having to trust such a person’s word.

Then again, that didn’t stop prosecutors from using Stuart Levine as a key witness in so many of these cases. Because when one is dealing with criminal acts, it often means consorting with people who are less than ideal in a social sense.

But all that is over. The trials are done. So now, prosecutors will have to proceed with dealing with Rezko, who has been kept throughout the years at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Chicago and also at assorted county jails – with the federal government reimbursing the locals for the cost of incarcerating him.

BECAUSE HE IS such a high-profile person (from a prosecutorial perspective), he has been kept isolated for years. Which means he’s not getting some “country club” environment.

And this matter has dragged out for so long that he already has three years and eight months of time served. When one uses the federal guidelines for computing “good time” toward early release, he will  have to be credited with four years and three months of prison time already served.

There have been many people convicted of various types of government corruption whose prison time hasn’t come to that long a stint.

Which is why Rezko’s attorneys are arguing that the judge should sentence him to a 51-month prison term. That literally would be the equivalent of the time he already has served.

HE’D BE ABLE to walk out of the courthouse on that very day. No more time to serve. He’d probably get hit with fines that would ensure he’d be busted financially for the rest of his life.

But he’d be able to get on with his life.

Which is the last thing that prosecutors would want to happen. They came back with a recommendation that says Rezko should serve somewhere between 11 and 15 years in prison. They want him to have to face the prospects of another decade of incarceration – only now at a federal correctional center rather than in isolation at a county jail somewhere.

Then again, these are the same people who made a recommendation saying that Blagojevich should be sentenced to a prison term ranging from 30 years to natural life for his behavior – a concept that is so over-the-top and outrageous that only the most hard-core ideological Blagojevich haters will expect it to occur.

WHICH MAKES ME wonder if the suggestion of another decade in prison is nothing more than federal retribution to Rezko for daring to suggest that he ought to be released from prison right now.

Then again, when you have someone who has rotted in assorted jail cells for nearly four full years, it isn’t exactly out-of-line to suggest that his time has been served. Because rarely does a case (or series of cases, as this whole Blagojevich-centered investigation has been) drag on for so long.

This is a bizarre set of circumstances that certainly wouldn’t be setting any precedent for future cases in the U.S. District Court. That is, unless federal prosecutors plan to continue to leave possible suspects incarcerated for years while they decide whether or not to trust them on the witness stand.

After all, how many times do you have a criminal defendant who winds up owning the house across the property line from a future U.S. president? And how long has it been since anyone gave serious thought to that Rezko/Obama tie?

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CAM-PAINS: Corrupt Dem politico replaced this week by bipartisan politico

Tuesday of this week was supposed to be the point in which Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama took one final “hit” from Antoin Rezko.

Rezko is the one-time fundraiser who federal prosecutors say improperly used his contacts with political officials, and a jury agreed. Until he started cooperating with federal officials (creating the possibility he may testify against other officials, including Gov. Rod Blagojevich), he was scheduled to be sentenced this week.

TUESDAY, TO BE exact. Or, exactly one week before Election Day, which would mean the nation would get a fresh dose of being reminded about how Rezko helped Obama get a slightly larger plot of land as part of his Hyde Park neighborhood home.

Now to the dismay of Obama critics, the presidential candidate’s activity never became a focus in Rezko’s trial during the summer months in U.S. District Court. The Illinois governor’s name came up much more prominently, and he’s the one who has to worry about his reputation being tainted with Rezko muck.

Which is why I find it ironic that we DID get some activity from federal prosecutors this week that related to government corruption. Only instead of being a Rezko prison term, it was an indictment for Bill Cellini.

I know, I know. Those of you with real lives who don’t pay attention to government minutia are saying, “Who’s he?” Cellini is quite possibly the most important person whom the general public knows nothing about.

AND THAT WAS always deliberate on the part of the Springfield businessman whose political connections go back four decades. That’s just it. The man who supposedly is involved in government corruption was not an elected official.

If anything, Cellini was the guy whose influence was so strong that he could get political people to do what he wanted, even if it went against their best interests. That’s true clout. Rezko was a guy who got political attention because of his fund-raising abilities.

I’m curious to see how much a Cellini corruption trial taints political reputations. Of course, the people who were most willing to try to use Rezko for partisan purposes will tone down their rhetoric – after all, Cellini was a Republican, even though he was bipartisan enough to be able to work with Blagojevich. Both parties will be hurt by a Cellini trial, even if he’s ultimately acquitted.

So what other observations are possible as we move into the final weekend prior to Election Day?

CAPACITY CROWDS?: All the e-mail interest tied to getting tickets to Grant Park for Election Night (so they could say they were with Barack when he learned whether or not he became president) brought out one fact.

Only about 65,000 people (including 5 who will be chosen randomly in an e-mail lottery, as though an Obama appearance is a game show prize) are going to be able to fit into the official area where the rally will be held. Yet Chicago city officials continue to insist that as many as 1 million people (such an even, and impressive, number) will be on hand.

Municipal officials have even gone so far as to let downtown businesses know it would do the city a big favor if they would let people out of work early on Tuesday – a fact that the Chicago Tribune notes has many business officials upset.

How much of a mess will Chicago be come Tuesday and early Wednesday if hundreds of thousands of people cram their way into downtown without tickets? Probably no more than the mayhem that occurs every year on July 3 when the city has its official Independence Day fireworks display. If the city can handle those crowds, they can probably cope with the Obamamania display that will take place next week.

WE DON’T CARE: There is a place where people have little opinion between Obama and Republican John McCain – mainland China.

The Gallup Organization came out with a survey earlier this week that showed 12 percent of Chinese people who were questioned prefer Obama, compared to 5 percent for McCain. The rest of them “don’t know.”

Their poll found that in China’s three largest cities (Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou), Obama supporters outnumber McCain backers by a 3-1 ratio. But nearly half of those people (46 percent) don’t care.

So what does it say about all the campaign rhetoric implying that Obama is a socialist (if not an outright Communist) that in the land where being a socialist is a positive that a majority of the public could care less about our Election Day?

NO WONDER HE KEPT HIS MOUTH SHUT: Rep. Rahm Emanuel, D-Ill., the one-time Clinton administration aide who was put in a tight political spot when both Hillary R. Clinton and Obama ran competitively against each other in the Democratic primary this year, seems to be getting his reward for not taking sides.

Emanuel became the butt of political jokes about his absolute refusal to come out in favor either of Hillary or Barack until after the primary ended. But now, various reports indicate Emanuel is a favorite to become White House chief of staff, should this country manage to get a “President Obama” in Tuesday’s elections.

So the one-time “Rahm-bo” who is credited with orchestrating the effort two years ago that shifted control of Congress to Democrats could wind up being the politico who does the dirty work of running the federal government in ways that make the grand pronouncements of a President Obama come true.

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Wednesday was notable because ...

Mayor Richard Daley learned that the International Olympic Committee is taking seriously Chicago’s bid to host the 2016 summer games, while Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., got to bask in his first full day as presumptive Democratic nominee for president.

I don’t know what (if anything) of significance was accomplished by Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., while Gov. Rod Blagojevich learned that one of his former political fundraisers was only acquitted on eight of the 24 criminal charges he faced in U.S. District Court.

So of the “Big Four” of Illinois politics, it is debatable about whether Daley or Obama had the better day (what do you think?)

But I can’t imagine anyone doing worse than the Illinois governor when he learned of the fate of Antoin “Tony” Rezko, who allegedly sought bribes from businesses that he helped to get state contracts, particularly since the evidence that came up during Rezko’s nine-week-long trial barely touched on Obama, but clung to Blagojevich like the aroma of a skunk.

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When it comes to Chicago 'celeb' trials, Kelly tops Rezko in public's eye any time

This has the potential to sound trite and trivial, but the criminal trial of Antoin “Tony” Rezko isn’t Chicago’s “Trial of the Century.” It isn’t the biggest criminal case of this decade.

Heck, it isn’t even the biggest criminal trial to take place in the Second City this week.

REZKO (WHOSE CRIMINAL proceedings appear to be wrapping up this week) will have to take Second Billing to the true Top Trial of Chicago – that of musician R. Kelly.

In the minds of Chicagoans, the Kelly trial will prove to be more interesting than anything that has come up during the Rezko case. Only the most hard-core of conservative Republican partisans in search of facts that can be distorted into political dirt will think Rezko takes precedence.

Actually, even most of those moralists will be more appalled by the Kelly case.

The simple fact is that sex will always top politics – particularly when the political corruption trial is one that involves arcane procedures that many people do not truly comprehend.

WHEN COMBINED WITH the fact that the Rezko case did not produce the political dirt that social conservatives wanted against Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama, the fact becomes that the trial of Rezko amounts to something that “real people” have to be reminded is something they should be concerned about.

The Kelly case involves no such reminders; sex and sleaze will automatically gain the attention of the public – thereby making the criminal courthouse on 26th Street the focal point of the Chicago legal world, shifting away from the Dirksen Building downtown.

Now personally, I could care less about the Kelly case. His music doesn’t interest me much, nor do any tawdry details about his personal life. I have never felt compelled to go searching for “The Video” that shows him committing acts that are illegal only because of the age of the girl.

In the words of a California defense attorney, I guess I am one of the people “living under a rock.” But I can appreciate that simplicity will make the Kelly story an easier sell to the American public.

WHETHER THAT MAKES it an easy conviction for the prosecution remains to be seen.

Kelly’s biggest advantage is that so much time has passed between the time “The Video” was made, the time he was indicted and now, the time when the case actually goes to trial.

The 14-year-old girl in the video is now a 24-year-old who claims she’s not the girl in the video. The visual image that jurors will get to see once they are picked is of a young woman, not a child.

They are going to have to make a lot of assumptions in order to find Kelly guilty. I’m not saying they won’t do that – the kind of people who usually wind up getting picked to juries are the types who are willing to assume that prosecutors do not go after people for no good reason.

BUT THERE’S A lot of room for a crafty defense attorney to create “reasonable doubt” as to the validity of the charges, which basically amount to having sex with an underage girl. The video itself is irrelevant – except that it allows jurors to actually watch the incident.

Their verdict will center on determining whether the act ought to be considered criminal. Public perception will depend on how credible the prosecution’s behavior is, since many of the fans of Kelly’s music are inclined to believe the case is being trumped up against him and his attorneys have gone so far as to say they would like to have some jurors who understand the technical aspects of doctoring videotape footage – to enhance their argument that the video is not truly what it appears to be.

By comparison, the Rezko case is extremely complicated.

Rezko’s attorneys would like us to believe it is just a case of a person who brought together business interests and government officials so they could do what political people often jokingly refer to as “the people’s business.”

REZKO, THEY WOULD have you believe, is little more than a lobbyist.

Of course, it is not that simple. The details are where most people will get that glassy-eyed look on their face, and shift their attention from the Dirksen Building to the Criminal Courts building.

One of the most damning bits of testimony during the Rezko trial involved former Illinois Finance Authority Chairman Ali Ata, who held the position with a salary of over $100,000 per year for just over one year.

Testimony he provided (as part of a plea bargain to get a lesser sentence for his own criminal charges) indicates he got the job after making two $25,000 contributions through Rezko to Blagojevich’s political campaigns.

SUPPOSEDLY, THE DONATIONS were made with the understanding that Ata would get the government job – which would put him in a position to make business contacts and potentially enrich himself further in the future.

Be honest. Reading through that, your mind probably started to doze off until the thought of R. Kelly taking his pants off snapped it back to attention.

What was supposed to be the “sexy” (not literally involving intercourse, but tantalizingly interesting) part of the Rezko case was the involvement of Obama, who knew Rezko, considered him to be something of a friend, and who took a financial loss in cooperating with a real estate transaction that increased the value of the property on which Obama’s home in the Hyde Park neighborhood sits.

There’s no evidence Obama did anything to help Rezko. But Rezko was the type of guy who established his political contacts so he could call in favors – including one or two from Obama at some point in the future.

IT NEVER WENT beyond that. Only the most hard-core social conservative Republican is going to bother dredging up Rezko’s name during a general election campaign against Obama, because his involvement in the trial was so miniscule.

It would take so much time to fully explain why people should care that Obama and Rezko knew each other that a candidate would risk putting the potential voters to sleep. Besides, the Obama critics have the name of Jeremiah Wright to toss around to scare rural America with.

They don’t really need the Rezko name anymore, although I couldn’t help but notice a Gallup Organization poll released Monday that showed Obama’s former pastor had the potential to hurt his campaign to about the same degree that President George W. Bush would have a negative impact on the chances of Republican presidential opponent John McCain.

So on Monday, the day that was the beginning of both jury selection for the Kelly case and closing arguments for Rezko, one might argue that triviality prevailed.

SERIOUS POLITICAL SCIENCE gave way to tawdry sex (with a video). By year’s end, more people will remember the upcoming Kelly case than will remember anything about Tony What’s His Name?

And for those people who are actually involved in the coverage of the trials, there is one significant advantage to shifting the focus from the federal building complex in the South Loop out to 26th and California – lunchtime.

The Criminal Courts building sits in between an Italian district that has some real great old world restaurants and some of the most authentic Mexican food (try Taqueria El Milagro, about one block west of the courthouse) in the city, unlike the Dirksen Building which is surrounded by some of the greasiest (and not in a good way) fast food stands imaginable.

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EDITOR’S NOTES: MTV is focusing its attention on Chicago for the Kelly case. Do you (http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1587252/20080509/id_0.jhtml) believe they’d come here for Barack Obama?

For the half-dozen or so people who ever seriously believed that Rod Blagojevich had a chance to become (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/12/us/12illinois.html?hp) president of the United States, that dream has died for good with the Rezko affair.

Rezko trial will provide a good civics lesson, not the political "Crime of the Century"

Political junkies with a special interest in Chicago and Illinois are hyperventilating these days over the prospect of a criminal trial that they say will expose the underbelly of our government officials in a way that has never been done before.

When Antoin Rezko goes on trial in U.S. District Court in Chicago (barring any unforeseen last-minute complications, jury selection will begin Monday), we’re going to see how dirty our political culture really is, and we’re going to be so outraged that we’ll throw the bums out of office.

WE’RE EVEN GOING to see how the “golden child” of Democratic politics, presidential hopeful Barack Obama, is tainted by his ties to “the Chicago Machine,” and his aspirations of living in the White House are going to be flushed down the toilet by the time this trial is over.

What we all need to do is stop and catch our breath, so that we can think about this situation a bit more rationally.

It is true that this trial will provide a good technical grasp of how politics is done in Chicago, since the bulk of Rezko’s defense is that he was merely engaging in the same activities other lobbyists perform. Prosecutors say he stepped way over the legal line between legitimate influence peddling and criminal behavior, particularly when he arranged for the appointment of certain people to government posts allegedly knowing of their intent to commit extortion.

Antoin Rezko wanted to have allies in both of these government buildings in Chicago. A jury in U.S. District Court will decide this spring whether he went too far and broke the law. Photograph provided by State of Illinois.

But I can easily envision a trial that delves into such technical material that it loses the interest of the general public, even though it is bound to get big play in the newspapers and on television newscasts (where time constraints will result in stories so short and lacking in detail that no one will really understand what is going on).

DETAIL. THAT IS what a trial like this is really about.

We get to pick up on some details that may smudge the reputations of some political people. But their careers will survive, no matter how much federal prosecutors are determined to push for criminal convictions.

Any testimony related to Obama is going to be minor – of less importance to people interested in good government but of major significance to people searching for something that can be exaggerated into political scandal.

My view of this upcoming trial (which will probably last about two months and I wish I could spare the time in my life to cover it) is tainted by the fact that I still remember the last major political corruption trial that gave us a view of the way people influenced government officials.

IT WAS MSI.

That’s Management Services of Illinois, a long-defunct Springfield, Ill.-based consultant to state government agencies. Specifically, they received a contract to do work for the Illinois Department of Public Aid by which they would go through records and search for instances where a Medicaid recipient might have some sort of medical insurance – which would then allow the state to play the role of collections officer and seek reimbursement.

What was seen as criminal was the amount of money the company got for their work, much of which later turned out to be worthless as the so-called insurance policies were usually long expired.

Prosecutors contended the reason MSI was over-paid by $7 million for their work was because of all the campaign contributions and other favors the company’s officials provided to the then-Republican majority that ran Illinois government.

I STILL REMEMBER the testimony how the company’s CEO devoted a Saturday afternoon to visiting Gov. Jim Edgar’s “log house” in the Springfield suburbs to help our low-tech governor set up his new computer, which the CEO helped him to purchase at a discount.

I still remember the day Edgar himself had to take the witness stand in U.S. District Court in Springfield and testify that he knew nothing of the personal motivations for why MSI officials wanted to help him.

Not even when he had a personal dinner with the executives, and each of them pledged a $10,000 contribution to his re-election campaign in 1994. He claimed to be unable to recall specifics, and said the dinner meeting was just giving “some face time” to potential supporters.

The trial also brought out stories of executives providing mid-level state agency officials with fine cuts of steak and lobster, trips to the Super Bowl and to Mexico, and even to an Arkansas strip joint where the defendants gave the state employees a few hundred dollars in cash each so they wouldn’t have to spend their own money while ogling the girls.

SOME OF THESE details have stuck in my mind, while others I had to go look up. The point is that much of the trial also delved in the technical workings of the Illinois Public Aid Department to such a degree that defense attorneys and prosecutors literally had to put together a glossary for jurors so they would understand all the legalese being spewed about.

There was a very strong sense that the jury in that case was overwhelmed with testimony and ultimately found two corporate executives and two mid-level state officials guilty without really understanding what they were guilty of.

I can easily see the same thing happening during the next few months with the Rezko case.

Prosecutors say Rezko was a man who used his personal ties to political people – including Gov. Rod Blagojevich – to persuade companies to pay him significant amounts of money in order to get their desires approved by the government.

THAT, IN AND of itself, is NOT illegal, unless you have such a narrow view of what government should be doing that you want to find it all improper.

Prosecutors say the amounts of money involved and the degree to which he would lean on government officials to get his clients’ desires accomplished goes far beyond any legitimate activity by a government lobbyist (a.k.a., legislative affairs consultant, in government geek-speak).

Court documents related to the case make mention of Rezko’s ties to a “Public Official A,” and tell stories that would appear to indicate that this official knew full well, and approved, of the scale to which Rezko’s lobbyist activities reached.

Some officials say “Public Official A” is the legal pseudonym used to refer to Blagojevich, who is not as of yet facing any criminal charges in connection with the matter.

BUT THE “BLAGOJEVICH Bashers” of the world (they are a large breed of rural politicos who resent a Chicago governor, supplemented by the many Dems offended by Blagojevich’s arrogant style of governing) want to believe this is just the first step toward the eventual indictment of Gov. Rod.

Rational people ought to wait to hear what comes out of the trial before they start accusing Blagojevich of anything resembling illegal activity.

Back during the summer of ’97, there was a feeling among some political junkies that Edgar’s reputation would be forever sullied because of the embarrassing stories of his ties to government people, and that some people on his own personal staff would wind up doing jail time as well.

That never happened.

WHEN FEDERAL PROSECUTORS in Springfield tried to ratchet up their case and go after high-ranking Illinois Public Aid Department officials, including the director, they were unable to prove anything resembling criminal behavior.

Then-Public Aid Director Robert Wright did wind up having to resign a couple of months later (to pursue “personal opportunities,” in government geek-speak), but no one on the governor’s staff ever got indicted. No one on then-Illinois Senate President James “Pate” Philip’s staff was prosecuted either, even though stories came out that his chief of staff knowingly deceived Illinois State Police investigators when they asked for details about computer equipment provided by MSI executives.

It could wind up being more of the same with Rezko.

Political junkies will get a few hard details that provide for stories to be used to ridicule the governor’s judgment. Trial spectators would do well to pay close attention to any details about gifts Blagojevich ever received.

WHENEVER POLITICAL PEOPLE reminisce about MSI (most of the general public has long forgotten the case), they still bring up the testimony about the $5,600 worth of steak and lobsters given to Philip, his chief of staff and an aide, and to longtime Republican powerbroker William Cellini.

Oddly enough, Edgar didn’t get any steaks or lobsters. He had to settle for the new computer and some special software providing information about horse breeding – a topic that Edgar and first lady Brenda had a special interest in.

What will really hurt Blagojevich is that any details about his political ties will dump all over his campaign talk from the past about how he was going to be a serious government reformer.

In both 2002 and 2006, he used his GOP opponents’ ties to former Gov. George Ryan (who now is an inmate at the minimum-security work camp located adjacent to the federal maximum-security prison in Terre Haute, Ind.) as a way of tarnishing them.

HE CLAIMED HE was the solution for clean government, even though people who really understand politics always knew it was ridiculous to think of Blagojevich as a reformer. No son-in-law of a Chicago alderman is going to want to reform things – his priority is going to ensure that the pieces of the government pie are distributed to different interests.

But to those naïve sorts who actually held out hope that Blagojevich was a good-government type, their delusions will be trashed. That’s probably for the best. We’re better off understanding that Blagojevich is not, “St. Rod.” He’s just a politico, no better or worse than any other.

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EDITOR’S NOTE: The Chicago Tribune published a respectable layout of the legal issues (http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/chi-rezko_governor_bdmar02,0,694950.story) involved in this case.

Obama not as important in Rezko trial

Barack Obama's ability to get within a few feet of the Leader of the Free World is part of the reason Antoin Rezko wanted to be the senator's ally. Photograph provided by the White House.

In writing my perception of the upcoming federal court trial of politico Antoin Rezko, I deliberately downplayed the portions that will mention Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama.

It is true that Obama’s name will come up, although it is not likely to be a key figure in the criminal case. It will be people who want to make a political case against the adopted-Chicago Democrat who try to elevate the content of Obama-related testimony to the level of a national crime.

REZKO SAW THE rise of a political star in Obama and decided he wanted to have a personal connection. This was a man who tried to develop ties to all the top pols at City Hall and the Statehouse.

What he did to curry favor was to help Obama get a larger-than-usual lot for his home in the Hyde Park neighborhood. A slightly larger piece of property that the standard urban lot adds to the value, while also causing Rezko to take a financial hit on the adjacent property he bought.

But Rezko apparently figured the financial loss would be worth it because of all the favors he would be able to ask in the future from Illinois’ junior senator.

No evidence has come out thus far that Obama ever did anything to help Rezko, and he has since said he should never have gotten involved in the deal. He probably deserves to be the butt of a few political jokes because of his ties to Antoin.

BUT THE ONLY thing that will really come out of the trial concerning Obama is that political people will be able to spend the bulk of this year (and the next four if Obama actually becomes president) speculating just what he would have done to repay his friend Tony for the land deal.

Speculation is not fact. However, let’s speculate a bit on our own and envision what would happen if this case is carried out to the extreme. Suppose we someday get the combination of a Rezko conviction and prison sentence, and an Obama presidency.

Just imagine all the jokes that will be told about Barack being in a position to give Rezko either clemency or a presidential pardon.

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EDITOR’S NOTE: Hillary R. Clinton is among the many political people who want to think of the Rezko trial as an event (http://www.hillaryclinton.com/news/release/view/?id=6292) loaded with dirt about presidential opponent Barack Obama.