Rezko Trial Focusing On...Hospitals
03/14/2008
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The connection between Tony Rezko and the Obamas that led to their coordinated action in 2005 in purchasing a mansion and adjoining yard in Chicago is starting to come into better focus.

That's because Rezko's trial in Chicago is concentrating heavily on Rezko's alleged corruption of the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board in 2003-2004 (see Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times), which apparently decides who gets to build hospitals. All sorts of different politicians in Illinois were aligned with one hospital-building fixer or another. It's "the Chicago Way."

And, according to Wikipedia:

"In January 2003, Obama became chairman of the Health and Human Services Committee when Democrats, after a decade in the minority, regained a majority in the Illinois Senate."

An email that surfaced earlier in the trial seemed to indicate, according to the NYT, that Obama "had been involved in recommending candidates for the board."

Meanwhile, Mrs. Obama was being paid six figures by a major Chicago hospital to coordinate community outreach, or something.

We aren't used to thinking of health care as being corrupt, but at 15% of the GDP these days, that's where the money is (as bankrobber Willie Sutton explained in response to a question about why he robbed banks). So, it's only natural that crooks will gravitate toward that industry.

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