Criticism / Controversy section:
Personal life section:
Summary of "Rezko" changes to Criticism / Controversy and Personal life sections:
→ < 24 hours after 3 Apr 2008 end of full protection for 15 of past 27 days because of edit warring: ←
Early life and career section:
As an associate attorney with Miner, Barnhill & Galland from 1993 to 1996, he represented community organizers, discrimination claims, and voting rights cases.
(article full protection because of edit warring 7 March 2008 – 14 March 2008)
(article full protection because of edit warring 26 March 2008 – 3 April 2008)
As an associate attorney with Miner Barnhill & Galland (fka Davis Miner Barnhill & Galland, founded by attorney Allison Davis) from 1993 to 2003, he represented community organizers, discrimination claims, and voting rights cases. While at the firm, Obama also worked on taxpayer-supported building rehabilitation loans for Rezmar Corp. owned by Daniel Mahru and the now-indicted fundraiser Tony Rezko, who has since raised a total of over $250,000 for Obama's various political campaigns over the years.
For more details on this topic, see Tony Rezko.
As an associate attorney with Miner Barnhill & Galland (fka Davis Miner Barnhill & Galland, founded by attorney Allison Davis) from 1993 to 2003, he represented community organizers, discrimination claims, and voting rights cases. While Obama never took part in a trial, he worked on teams drawing up briefs, contracts, and other legal documents. This included being part of teams that represented Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now in a successful lawsuit that forced the state of Illinois to implement a federal law that was designed to make it easier for people to register to vote, an appeals brief on behalf of a whistleblower that was suing Cook County Hospital and the Hektoen Institute for Medical Research for wrongful termination, and on another team forced the city of Chicago to redraw ward boundaries that the city council drew up following the 1990 census. Obama also put in six hours working on taxpayer-supported building rehabilitation loans for Rezmar Corp. owned by Daniel Mahru and political fundraiser Tony Rezko, who has raised a total of over $250,000 for Obama's various political campaigns and is now indicted on charges unrelated to his association with Obama.
Obama worked as an associate attorney with Davis, Miner, Barnhill & Galland from 1993 to 2002. After 1996 Obama worked at the firm only during the summer, when the Illinois Senate was not in session. Obama often refers to "working as a civil rights attorney to make sure that everybody's vote counted", in his appeals for votes. Indeed, Obama worked on cases where the firm represented community organizers, pursued discrimination claims, and on voting rights cases. However, about a third of his time was spent on real estate transactions, filing incorporation papers and defending clients against minor lawsuits. Mostly he drew up briefs, contracts, and other legal documents as a junior associate on legal teams. This included work on a lawsuit by the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) that forced the state of Illinois to implement the Motor Voter Act, an appeals brief for a whistleblower who sued Cook County Hospital and the Hektoen Institute for Medical Research for wrongful termination, and a suit that forced the city of Chicago to redraw the ward boundaries that the city council had drawn up following the 1990 census. But it was not all civil rights work—he also appeared in court to defend a developer against charges it was failing to provide heat to tenants and another time to contest a demand that a healthcare corporation pay for baby-sitting (his client paid up).
Obama also did some work on taxpayer-supported building rehabilitation loans for Rezmar Corp., half-owned by Tony Rezko, who later raised approximately $250,000 for Obama's various political campaigns. In October 2006, Rezko was indicted for political corruption charges and the case was brought to trial in March 2008. Obama has not been implicated in any wrongdoing.
(10-fold expansion of "lawyer days" from a single sentence to two paragraphs; from less than 10% to more than 50% of Early life and career section)
(time as an associate at Davis, Miner, Barnhill & Galland falsely inflated from 3 years to 9 years)
(sensationalist, inaccurate and misleading article used as source to misrepresent Obama's legal career)
(5 hours of legal work for a nonprofit corporation that partnered with Rezmar used as a coatrack to introduce Rezko's corruption trial 15 years later)
In 1993 Obama joined Davis, Miner, Barnhill & Galland, a 12-attorney law firm specializing in civil rights litigation and neighborhood economic development, where he was an associate for three years from 1993 to 1996, then of counsel from 1996 to 2004, with his law license becoming inactive in 2002.
Summary of "Rezko" changes to Early life and career section:
→ < 24 hours after 3 Apr 2008 end of full protection for 15 of past 27 days because of edit warring: ←
Newross ( talk) 06:02, 9 July 2008 (UTC)
This misleading, confusing, contentious sentence, which was newly added, without consensus, to the Personal life section just one month ago by Wnt / Shem / Scjessey:
Although Obama was not accused of any wrongdoing, he donated $150,000 in Rezko-linked campaign contributions to charity.
should be removed.
Korecki, Natasha; McKinney, Dave (October 13, 2006). Where is he?: Gov's indicted fund-raiser abroad -- maybe. Chicago Sun-Times, p. 6:Blagojevich, Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn, Attorney General Lisa Madigan, Secretary of State Jesse White, Comptroller Dan Hynes and U.S. Sen. Barack Obama were among those announcing Thursday they'd make donations to charities equal to what their campaigns had received from Rezko and his affiliated businesses in recent years.
Blagojevich's campaign said more than $65,000 in past contributions directly tied to Rezko would be split between charities benefiting juvenile diabetes research and breast cancer research. Madigan's campaign planned to make donations totaling $48,000. Obama's donations would total $11,500. White planned to donate $6,500. Quinn was traveling Thursday and had not tallied his Rezko donations, but state campaign finance reports show he'd collected more than $17,000 from Rezko or his affiliates since 1998.
The key political figure, however, is Blagojevich, who's relied on Rezko, 51, of Wilmette, to help him raise record-setting amounts of campaign cash and pick key members of his administration.
And not all Democrats were willing to part with Rezko's cash.
Senate President Emil Jones Jr., a Chicago Democrat, has no plans to make similar donations, a spokeswoman said Thursday. As recently as April, Jones accepted a $2,000 contribution from a business enterprise co-owned by Rezko.
It was uncertain what House Speaker Michael Madigan, a Chicago Democrat and head of the state party, planned to do with past donations.
On the political front, Rezko's indictment yielded a red-letter day Thursday for some Illinois charities as Blagojevich, U.S. Sen. Barack Obama and others emptied campaign funds of money linked to the discredited Chicago businessman.
Blagojevich moved to give $65,000 tied to Rezko to the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation and Susan Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, campaign spokeswoman Sheila Nix said.
Obama is divesting his federal campaign fund of $11,500 in donations from Rezko, who hosted a 2003 fund-raiser for the senator, campaign spokesman Robert Gibbs said.
Attorney General Lisa Madigan said she planned to channel $40,500 in Rezko money to charity, and Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn, a recipient of $25,000 in Rezko-related cash, also is giving the money to charity, as is Todd Stroger, the Democratic Cook County Board president candidate who got $3,500 from Rezko, aides said.
Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Obama said Saturday that his campaign would give charities $40,350 in donations linked to his former friend and fundraiser Tony Rezko, a Chicago businessman who has pleaded not guilty to federal influence-peddling and bank fraud charges.
Obama already has divested more than $44,000 in Rezko-affiliated donations during the last year. But Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton said the campaign made a comprehensive review of donations affiliated with Rezko and "found some we'd feel more comfortable not having."
Burton pointed out that other presidential campaigns have disposed of questionable funds, and added, "Our consistent practice in these circumstances is to give the funds to charity out of an abundance of caution."
Obama has not been accused of any wrongdoing and Burton said Obama had no reason to suspect at the time that the donations might be linked to allegations of impropriety. Obama and the campaign have not been questioned by federal agents investigating Rezko, Burton said.
Burton said the new divestments were prompted by a published report Saturday that one $10,000 donation to Obama 's 2004 U.S. Senate campaign came from a fraud scheme that Rezko is accused of devising.
Although details of that donation have been made public -- and Obama divested the $10,000 last year -- the candidate has hoped to put questions behind him as he heads toward the Feb. 5 primaries, when 22 states are set to vote.
Secter, Bob; Jackson, David (January 31, 2008). Funds tough to figure for Rezko aid; Calculations of Obama cash vary. Chicago Tribune, p. 19:The List: The contributions Obama has donated to charity
Barack Obama has now dumped $157,835 given to his 2004 U.S. Senate campaign that he has linked to indicted businessman Tony Rezko. Obama won't identify the latest contributions he's giving to charity, though he has said they total $72,650. An Obama presidential campaign aide said Wednesday that although that sum includes cash from Rezko's family, Rezko employees and a fund-raiser Rezko hosted, "It would be inappropriate to release the names of any individual donors and subject them to any suspicion of wrongdoing or embarrassment."
A breakdown of the $85,185 Obama previously gave away, which came from Rezko and 16 people tied to him: . . .
Timing of the Friday, June 27, 2003 Obama fundraising event at Rezko's house in Wilmette, Illinois (12 months into Obama's 21-month Illinois 2004 U.S. Senate Democratic primary campaign -- in which Obama won a landslide victory in the most expensive Senate primary in U.S history):As Barack Obama is finding out, it's not as easy to dump politically toxic campaign donations as it might seem.
For the third time in more than a year, Obama 's presidential campaign announced this week it was shedding more donations tied to indicted fundraiser Antoin "Tony" Rezko.
Calculations by the media and Obama's own staff of Rezko's financial impact on his past political campaigns have been all over the map and shifting. The reason: The numbers depend on assumptions made about why a donor gave in the first place.
In total, Obama has promised to give to charity more than $150,000 he collected through Rezko. His campaign said the latest installment of $72,650 was raised for his 2004 U.S. Senate race at an elegant dinner at Rezko's 8,500-square-foot Wilmette mansion.
It remains unclear whether Obama's campaign has dragged out the process of shedding Rezko money because it was having a difficult time determining the nature of those donations, or if the campaign was reluctant to look hard for them.
Connecting the dots between a political fundraiser and any specific donation, though, is not always simple. Experts say it is more art than science, and precision can be elusive.
Obama's campaign still has not offered a clear explanation of how it determines Rezko-linked donations or why he has dealt with them piecemeal, apparently in reaction to bad publicity.
On Wednesday, campaign spokesman Bill Burton signaled the latest divestment would be the last.
"Our campaign directed a thorough review of these contributions and did our best to identify any received as a result of the June 2003 fundraising event hosted by Tony Rezko," Burton said in a statement. "By refunding these donations, the campaign has returned any and all funds that could be reasonably credited to Mr. Rezko's political support."
Various media outlets have reported much larger numbers, though they haven't clearly explained their methodology. The New York Times has pegged Rezko political cash for Obama at $150,000, the Sun-Times at $168,000 and the Los Angeles Times at $200,000. Last weekend, a report by ABCNews.com suggested more than $185,000.
The ABCNews.com review was accompanied by some detail, and that demonstrates the difficulties of assigning motive to donors . . .
He could win it all. State Sen. Barack Obama (D-Chicago), the first African-American president of the Harvard Law Review, who teaches constitutional law at the University of Chicago, is hoping to be the 2004 Democratic nominee against Republican Sen. Peter Fitzgerald.
Earlier this week, Obama launched a campaign committee to challenge Republican Sen. Peter Fitzgerald in 2004.
Multimillionaire investor Blair Hull, who has said he is willing to spend as much as $40 million to win the U.S. Senate seat held by Republican Sen. Peter Fitzgerald, already has pumped nearly $6 million of his own funds into his bid for the Democratic nomination, campaign reports released Tuesday show.
In the Democratic fundraising derby, Chico raised $2.25 million in outside donations--more than any other challenger--and reported having $1.3 million on hand at the end of June.
Mather said Hynes would report raising about $1.8 million in the first half of the year. More than $1.5 million of that is unspent and in the bank, Mather said.
Another Democratic contender, state Sen. Barack Obama, reported raising $1.4 million and spending about $400,000.
Criticism / Controversy section:
Personal life section:
Summary of "Rezko" changes to Criticism / Controversy and Personal life sections:
→ < 24 hours after 3 Apr 2008 end of full protection for 15 of past 27 days because of edit warring: ←
Early life and career section:
As an associate attorney with Miner, Barnhill & Galland from 1993 to 1996, he represented community organizers, discrimination claims, and voting rights cases.
(article full protection because of edit warring 7 March 2008 – 14 March 2008)
(article full protection because of edit warring 26 March 2008 – 3 April 2008)
As an associate attorney with Miner Barnhill & Galland (fka Davis Miner Barnhill & Galland, founded by attorney Allison Davis) from 1993 to 2003, he represented community organizers, discrimination claims, and voting rights cases. While at the firm, Obama also worked on taxpayer-supported building rehabilitation loans for Rezmar Corp. owned by Daniel Mahru and the now-indicted fundraiser Tony Rezko, who has since raised a total of over $250,000 for Obama's various political campaigns over the years.
For more details on this topic, see Tony Rezko.
As an associate attorney with Miner Barnhill & Galland (fka Davis Miner Barnhill & Galland, founded by attorney Allison Davis) from 1993 to 2003, he represented community organizers, discrimination claims, and voting rights cases. While Obama never took part in a trial, he worked on teams drawing up briefs, contracts, and other legal documents. This included being part of teams that represented Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now in a successful lawsuit that forced the state of Illinois to implement a federal law that was designed to make it easier for people to register to vote, an appeals brief on behalf of a whistleblower that was suing Cook County Hospital and the Hektoen Institute for Medical Research for wrongful termination, and on another team forced the city of Chicago to redraw ward boundaries that the city council drew up following the 1990 census. Obama also put in six hours working on taxpayer-supported building rehabilitation loans for Rezmar Corp. owned by Daniel Mahru and political fundraiser Tony Rezko, who has raised a total of over $250,000 for Obama's various political campaigns and is now indicted on charges unrelated to his association with Obama.
Obama worked as an associate attorney with Davis, Miner, Barnhill & Galland from 1993 to 2002. After 1996 Obama worked at the firm only during the summer, when the Illinois Senate was not in session. Obama often refers to "working as a civil rights attorney to make sure that everybody's vote counted", in his appeals for votes. Indeed, Obama worked on cases where the firm represented community organizers, pursued discrimination claims, and on voting rights cases. However, about a third of his time was spent on real estate transactions, filing incorporation papers and defending clients against minor lawsuits. Mostly he drew up briefs, contracts, and other legal documents as a junior associate on legal teams. This included work on a lawsuit by the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) that forced the state of Illinois to implement the Motor Voter Act, an appeals brief for a whistleblower who sued Cook County Hospital and the Hektoen Institute for Medical Research for wrongful termination, and a suit that forced the city of Chicago to redraw the ward boundaries that the city council had drawn up following the 1990 census. But it was not all civil rights work—he also appeared in court to defend a developer against charges it was failing to provide heat to tenants and another time to contest a demand that a healthcare corporation pay for baby-sitting (his client paid up).
Obama also did some work on taxpayer-supported building rehabilitation loans for Rezmar Corp., half-owned by Tony Rezko, who later raised approximately $250,000 for Obama's various political campaigns. In October 2006, Rezko was indicted for political corruption charges and the case was brought to trial in March 2008. Obama has not been implicated in any wrongdoing.
(10-fold expansion of "lawyer days" from a single sentence to two paragraphs; from less than 10% to more than 50% of Early life and career section)
(time as an associate at Davis, Miner, Barnhill & Galland falsely inflated from 3 years to 9 years)
(sensationalist, inaccurate and misleading article used as source to misrepresent Obama's legal career)
(5 hours of legal work for a nonprofit corporation that partnered with Rezmar used as a coatrack to introduce Rezko's corruption trial 15 years later)
In 1993 Obama joined Davis, Miner, Barnhill & Galland, a 12-attorney law firm specializing in civil rights litigation and neighborhood economic development, where he was an associate for three years from 1993 to 1996, then of counsel from 1996 to 2004, with his law license becoming inactive in 2002.
Summary of "Rezko" changes to Early life and career section:
→ < 24 hours after 3 Apr 2008 end of full protection for 15 of past 27 days because of edit warring: ←
Newross ( talk) 06:02, 9 July 2008 (UTC)
This misleading, confusing, contentious sentence, which was newly added, without consensus, to the Personal life section just one month ago by Wnt / Shem / Scjessey:
Although Obama was not accused of any wrongdoing, he donated $150,000 in Rezko-linked campaign contributions to charity.
should be removed.
Korecki, Natasha; McKinney, Dave (October 13, 2006). Where is he?: Gov's indicted fund-raiser abroad -- maybe. Chicago Sun-Times, p. 6:Blagojevich, Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn, Attorney General Lisa Madigan, Secretary of State Jesse White, Comptroller Dan Hynes and U.S. Sen. Barack Obama were among those announcing Thursday they'd make donations to charities equal to what their campaigns had received from Rezko and his affiliated businesses in recent years.
Blagojevich's campaign said more than $65,000 in past contributions directly tied to Rezko would be split between charities benefiting juvenile diabetes research and breast cancer research. Madigan's campaign planned to make donations totaling $48,000. Obama's donations would total $11,500. White planned to donate $6,500. Quinn was traveling Thursday and had not tallied his Rezko donations, but state campaign finance reports show he'd collected more than $17,000 from Rezko or his affiliates since 1998.
The key political figure, however, is Blagojevich, who's relied on Rezko, 51, of Wilmette, to help him raise record-setting amounts of campaign cash and pick key members of his administration.
And not all Democrats were willing to part with Rezko's cash.
Senate President Emil Jones Jr., a Chicago Democrat, has no plans to make similar donations, a spokeswoman said Thursday. As recently as April, Jones accepted a $2,000 contribution from a business enterprise co-owned by Rezko.
It was uncertain what House Speaker Michael Madigan, a Chicago Democrat and head of the state party, planned to do with past donations.
On the political front, Rezko's indictment yielded a red-letter day Thursday for some Illinois charities as Blagojevich, U.S. Sen. Barack Obama and others emptied campaign funds of money linked to the discredited Chicago businessman.
Blagojevich moved to give $65,000 tied to Rezko to the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation and Susan Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, campaign spokeswoman Sheila Nix said.
Obama is divesting his federal campaign fund of $11,500 in donations from Rezko, who hosted a 2003 fund-raiser for the senator, campaign spokesman Robert Gibbs said.
Attorney General Lisa Madigan said she planned to channel $40,500 in Rezko money to charity, and Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn, a recipient of $25,000 in Rezko-related cash, also is giving the money to charity, as is Todd Stroger, the Democratic Cook County Board president candidate who got $3,500 from Rezko, aides said.
Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Obama said Saturday that his campaign would give charities $40,350 in donations linked to his former friend and fundraiser Tony Rezko, a Chicago businessman who has pleaded not guilty to federal influence-peddling and bank fraud charges.
Obama already has divested more than $44,000 in Rezko-affiliated donations during the last year. But Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton said the campaign made a comprehensive review of donations affiliated with Rezko and "found some we'd feel more comfortable not having."
Burton pointed out that other presidential campaigns have disposed of questionable funds, and added, "Our consistent practice in these circumstances is to give the funds to charity out of an abundance of caution."
Obama has not been accused of any wrongdoing and Burton said Obama had no reason to suspect at the time that the donations might be linked to allegations of impropriety. Obama and the campaign have not been questioned by federal agents investigating Rezko, Burton said.
Burton said the new divestments were prompted by a published report Saturday that one $10,000 donation to Obama 's 2004 U.S. Senate campaign came from a fraud scheme that Rezko is accused of devising.
Although details of that donation have been made public -- and Obama divested the $10,000 last year -- the candidate has hoped to put questions behind him as he heads toward the Feb. 5 primaries, when 22 states are set to vote.
Secter, Bob; Jackson, David (January 31, 2008). Funds tough to figure for Rezko aid; Calculations of Obama cash vary. Chicago Tribune, p. 19:The List: The contributions Obama has donated to charity
Barack Obama has now dumped $157,835 given to his 2004 U.S. Senate campaign that he has linked to indicted businessman Tony Rezko. Obama won't identify the latest contributions he's giving to charity, though he has said they total $72,650. An Obama presidential campaign aide said Wednesday that although that sum includes cash from Rezko's family, Rezko employees and a fund-raiser Rezko hosted, "It would be inappropriate to release the names of any individual donors and subject them to any suspicion of wrongdoing or embarrassment."
A breakdown of the $85,185 Obama previously gave away, which came from Rezko and 16 people tied to him: . . .
Timing of the Friday, June 27, 2003 Obama fundraising event at Rezko's house in Wilmette, Illinois (12 months into Obama's 21-month Illinois 2004 U.S. Senate Democratic primary campaign -- in which Obama won a landslide victory in the most expensive Senate primary in U.S history):As Barack Obama is finding out, it's not as easy to dump politically toxic campaign donations as it might seem.
For the third time in more than a year, Obama 's presidential campaign announced this week it was shedding more donations tied to indicted fundraiser Antoin "Tony" Rezko.
Calculations by the media and Obama's own staff of Rezko's financial impact on his past political campaigns have been all over the map and shifting. The reason: The numbers depend on assumptions made about why a donor gave in the first place.
In total, Obama has promised to give to charity more than $150,000 he collected through Rezko. His campaign said the latest installment of $72,650 was raised for his 2004 U.S. Senate race at an elegant dinner at Rezko's 8,500-square-foot Wilmette mansion.
It remains unclear whether Obama's campaign has dragged out the process of shedding Rezko money because it was having a difficult time determining the nature of those donations, or if the campaign was reluctant to look hard for them.
Connecting the dots between a political fundraiser and any specific donation, though, is not always simple. Experts say it is more art than science, and precision can be elusive.
Obama's campaign still has not offered a clear explanation of how it determines Rezko-linked donations or why he has dealt with them piecemeal, apparently in reaction to bad publicity.
On Wednesday, campaign spokesman Bill Burton signaled the latest divestment would be the last.
"Our campaign directed a thorough review of these contributions and did our best to identify any received as a result of the June 2003 fundraising event hosted by Tony Rezko," Burton said in a statement. "By refunding these donations, the campaign has returned any and all funds that could be reasonably credited to Mr. Rezko's political support."
Various media outlets have reported much larger numbers, though they haven't clearly explained their methodology. The New York Times has pegged Rezko political cash for Obama at $150,000, the Sun-Times at $168,000 and the Los Angeles Times at $200,000. Last weekend, a report by ABCNews.com suggested more than $185,000.
The ABCNews.com review was accompanied by some detail, and that demonstrates the difficulties of assigning motive to donors . . .
He could win it all. State Sen. Barack Obama (D-Chicago), the first African-American president of the Harvard Law Review, who teaches constitutional law at the University of Chicago, is hoping to be the 2004 Democratic nominee against Republican Sen. Peter Fitzgerald.
Earlier this week, Obama launched a campaign committee to challenge Republican Sen. Peter Fitzgerald in 2004.
Multimillionaire investor Blair Hull, who has said he is willing to spend as much as $40 million to win the U.S. Senate seat held by Republican Sen. Peter Fitzgerald, already has pumped nearly $6 million of his own funds into his bid for the Democratic nomination, campaign reports released Tuesday show.
In the Democratic fundraising derby, Chico raised $2.25 million in outside donations--more than any other challenger--and reported having $1.3 million on hand at the end of June.
Mather said Hynes would report raising about $1.8 million in the first half of the year. More than $1.5 million of that is unspent and in the bank, Mather said.
Another Democratic contender, state Sen. Barack Obama, reported raising $1.4 million and spending about $400,000.