Emil Jones: 12 million people to take care of

From the Trib,

Senate President Jones predicted the Rezko verdict would have "no impact whatsoever" on negotiations to balance the budget or Blagojevich's ability to lead state government.

"We have 12 million people in the state to take care of," Jones said.

Rezko verdict certainly shows at least a few people in Illinois perfectly capable of taking care of themselves --with a vengeance-- until Fitz finally caught up with them.

Taking care of strikes me as a strange choice of words for a politician to use to describe what they do.

Serve or represent would have seemed better choices. Those are the words I hear more often.

I can't recall a pol ever talk about taking care of me. (Like Mike M, I think I'd put some distance from a Pol who did offer to take care of me!)

I don't think anyone in Illinois doubts politicans will take care of themselves, and I'm guessing most Illinosians feel like we're taking care of them; whether we want to or not.

Emil Jones above with Iraqi billionaire Nadhmi Auchi during Auchi's 2004 visit to Illinois... ...together taking care of the 12 million I guess.

xp Bill Baar's West Side

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Mr Auchi, please buy Senator Emil Jones a meal

Emil Jones with Nadhmi Auchi during Auchi's visit to Illinois in 2004. Maybe Auchi can return and spring for a few dinners now that times seem tight for Illinois State Senators,

In the middle of Garrett talking to reporters, Senate President Emil Jones Jr., a Chicago Democrat who supports the raises, walked past and loudly quipped that he needed to get some food stamps.

Garrett had this to say in response.

"Let me just say that some of the legislators have missed the point if they think that they need the raise because they're not making $150,000 a year," Garrett said. "We are here as public servants. We're not here to assume that we should be entitled to be receiving major increases every year when the rest of the state and other state employees are suffering."

If Auchi can post millions for Rezko's bail, seems he could pop for a few meals for the needy in Springfield.

xp Bill Baar's West Side

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Middle East online: Auchi's win win for Chicago

British tycoon remains bullish on Chicago development
Auchi: Riverside Park project to create 10,000 new construction jobs; it is a win-win for Chicago.

When Rezko contacted him about a potential land deal in one of America’s greatest cities, Auchi says the idea piqued his interest.

Auchi was impressed by Rezko who, in 2004, appeared to have the confidence of the business and public leadership in Illinois. During Auchi’s brief visit to Chicago, Rezko introduced him to prominent business leaders and elected officials as Auchi familiarized himself with the marketplace first-hand.

[***]

In addition to his success as a global businessman, Auchi is widely lauded as a distinguished civic and charitable leader. In fact, when traveling to any given country, he is typically invited to meet the head of state. As a result, he was surprised that some in the press took issue that he had met with the Illinois governor during his 2004 visit to the United States.

Darn Rezko suckers everybody, even an Iraqi Donald Trump.

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Rezkowatch gets a letter from Nadhmi Auchi's lawyer (Updated with Sun Times on expected John Thomas testimony)

Rezkowatch writes

Today, RezkoWatch received an emailed 3-page letter from media lawyer Alasdair Pepper of London's Carter-Ruck which stated that Nadhmi Auchi is a client. The letter enumerated a list of cited material from RezkoWatch which Pepper, on behalf of his client, said,

..."contains numerous highly defamatory and false allegations, in addition to other false claims about our client" and that it makes "very serious allegations and claims without making any real attempt to check the truth of them.......

That said, any characterization of Nahdmi Auchi as "corrupt" or involved with "corruption" have been removed from RezkoWatch unless they are contained within cited source material.

Additionally, RezkoWatch articles containing information about Nadhmi Auchi from questionable sources have been archived while those sources and information contained therein are verified.

Cheers I guess....I'm sure it's still talley-ho with Patrick Fitzgerald.

Update: Today's Sun Times: My life as an FBI mole

For the first time, the FBI "mole" who's expected to be a key prosecution witness against indicted developer and political fund-raiser Tony Rezko is talking.

In an exclusive interview with the Sun-Times, John Thomas said his life became frantic as he amassed hundreds of hours of recorded conversations for federal investigators while trying to maintain the real estate business he built on pluck and hustle.

[***]

Thomas wouldn't discuss details of his work for the FBI.

But sources said that, for more than two years when he was giving information to agents, Thomas provided a fly-on-the-wall look inside Rezko's real estate operations and his desperate attempts to keep his projects afloat.

Sources said Thomas also logged frequent visits to Rezko from Gov. Blagojevich and U.S. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.). [my emphasis] Blagojevich and Obama were among the many politicians for whom Rezko raised campaign cash. Neither has been charged with any wrongdoing.

I don't have a crystal ball. I just have a hard time believing this isn't going to be big trouble for Obama and Democrats over all.

I guess only the sources can say.

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Bill Foster's Iraq ad

Here's Fosters first ad against Oberweis on Iraq.



How does this square with Illinois Democrats getting loans from an Iraqi ex-Baathist implicated in the Food for Oil Scandal? The AP's Exclusive: Indicted Blagojevich fundraiser got loan from Iraqi

And a photo of our Gov sitting between that Iraqi billionaire and Iraq's Minister of Electricity, convicted of looting Iraq, and --alleged by PM Maliki-- to have been sprung from Jail in the Green Zone by Blackwater now with a campus in Illinois?

Now wonder why Congress is investigating Drugs in Baseball instead of following through with Waxman's call for investigating corruption in Iraq?

Today the House with a vote of 395-21 passed the Iraq Corruption Resolution, introduced on Friday, October 12, 2007, by Chairmen Waxman and Tierney. In his statement on the House floor, Chairman Waxman called the State Department abuses of the classification system “outrageous” and demanded answers to questions about corruption in Iraq.

Tin Foil hat stuff?

I don't think so.

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OW'-chee! AP Exclusive: Indicted Blagojevich fundraiser got loan from Iraqi

The AP today.

Governor Rod Blagojevich's chief fundraiser has arranged to get a loan from the same Iraqi billionaire whose $3.5 million payment got another member of the governor's inner circle thrown in jail.

Christopher Kelly headed Blagojevich's campaign fund in both of his races for governor and is now under federal indictment.

State records reviewed by The Associated Press show that Kelly pledged all of his shares in a Nevada land partnership as collateral for a loan from a company headed by Nadhmi Auchi (OW'-chee).

Ok, I'll skip the obvious speculation... but just tell me with Romney talking like this today, how this mess from Illinois isn't going to ruin Democrats in 2008.

I disagree with Senator McCain on a number of issues, as you know. But I agree with him on doing whatever it takes to be successful in Iraq, on finding and executing Osama bin Laden, and on eliminating Al Qaeda and terror. If I fight on in my campaign, all the way to the convention, I would forestall the launch of a national campaign and make it more likely that Senator Clinton or Obama would win. And in this time of war, I simply cannot let my campaign, be a part of aiding a surrender to terror.

What an albatross Illinois politics has become.

Update: more here.

Update 2 even more: Gov insiders to testify at Rezko trial.

Insiders from Gov. Blagojevich’s administration will testify in the upcoming fraud trial of political fund-raiser Tony Rezko that Rezko was “one of a handful of extremely powerful political leaders” who had “significant influence” on gubernatorial appointments, according to a new federal court filing.

The document shows in the most detail yet how deeply federal investigators are probing into the inner workings of the governor’s office.
[***]
The case has drawn national attention because of Rezko’s fund-raising ties to Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama, who was involved in a real estate transaction with Rezko’s wife at a time in 2006 when Rezko was widely known to be under federal investigation.

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Rezko or Alsammare in that picture with Blagojevich and Auchi?

ABC linked to Middle East Online for a series of photos of Nadhmi Auchi with Blagojevich and Emil Jones.

ABC claims the man to Blagojevich's right is Rezko,

A Middle East Web site shows a photograph of what it described as Auchi visiting Illinois government officials in April 2004, with Rezko visible on the right of the photo.

He doesn't look like Rezko to me and instead looks like Aiham Alsammarae shown here in photo I downloaded from the NYT: Escaped Minister Says He Fled Iraqi Jail ‘the Chicago Way’

Alsammarae would have been Iraq's Minister of Electricitiy at the time of this photo in April 2004 so I'm not sure he would have been in country for this event. But it sure doesn't look like Tony Rezko in the photo as ABC is saying here.


Rich originally linked the ABC photo here.

Another Auchi Blagojevich photo op from GMH's website.

Update: Middle East Online and GMH have trashed their links to the Auchi Blagojevich Emil Jones bash so here's the pic of Auchi and Jones from the site yesterday,

Update: Nibras Kazimi also believes it's Alsammare in the top photo,

Regarding that top picture, I immediately recognized the third man as Alsamarrae.

Check the comments in his post Obama’s Saddam Connection?


xp Bill Baar's West Side

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Tony Rezko: "a philanthropist to the medical community" with some help from Nadhmi Auchi.

Today's Sun Times,

On Monday, prosecutors said that, in 2005, Rezko "directly appealed to the State Department" and, "it appears, asked certain Illinois government officials" to let Iraqi-born billionaire Nadhmi Auchi enter this country. At the time, Auchi was "unable to enter the United States" because of a criminal conviction in France. His sentence "was suspended as long as Auchi committed no new crimes."

Aides to Obama and Blagojevich said Monday that Rezko never requested -- nor did they deliver -- any help to Auchi, whose business empire includes 62 acres in the South Loop that Rezko's development company once owned.

Last April 4, Auchi's firm, General Mediterranean Holding, transferred $3.5 million to a bank account held by the law firm Freeborn & Peters on behalf of Rezko, according to prosecutors. The next day, more than $1.3 million of that was paid to a Rezko-controlled business, three family bank accounts -- including $700,000 to his wife Rita's bank account, which previously had a balance of $4,000 -- and to creditors. Among them was Dr. Robert Simon, head of Cook County's $1 billion hospital system, who got $50,000.

Simon said Monday he's known Rezko for years, calling him "a philanthropist to the medical community." "I provided him with a loan that was solely based upon a personal friendship, and it was repaid to me in full," Simon said in a statement on county letterhead.

Rezko spent much of the rest of the remaining money on lawyers, prosecutors said.

And Nick Cohen writing back in 2003 on Nadhmi Auchi: The politics of sleaze

There is a rumour that MI6 liked to have him around because he understood the Iraqi regime. I can't substantiate it, and it may be nonsense. All I can do is point to a strange coincidence. Britain handed Auchi to France in the spring when the overthrow of Saddam's regime became inevitable and knowledge of that regime was no longer a unique selling point. The flight of Saddam should provide a happy ending of sorts, were it not for a small problem. When the Coalition handed out contracts to set-up mobile phone networks in liberated Iraq, one went to a firm called Orascom. And who's backing Orascom?

For Orascom, Check Time from 2003 Cronyism in Iraq? Also, the Financial Times original story and this apology of a sorts dated just a few weeks ago to Auchi,

An article published by the Financial Times on 11 November 2003 headed ”US delays mobile phone contracts to investigate” stated that US authorities in Iraq had launched an investigation into the award of mobile phone operators licenses to enquire into possible corrupt practices. The article further stated that the investigation would focus on the role played by Nadhmi Auchi, an Iraqi-born billionaire, in the awarding of the contracts. The US Government ultimately decided not to pursue the investigation, beyond a preliminary enquiry, as there was no evidence of any wrongdoing on the part of Mr Auchi. We are happy to correct the position and apologise for any misunderstanding.

Maybe Waxman's not looking hard enough. There is a fascinating trail of philanthropy between Chicago and Baghdad worth sorting out, and considerable sorting it's going to take.

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