Rezko Sentenced to 10½ Years, Media Ignore It And/Or His Ties to Obama !!!

Depending on which news outlet you rely on for current events, you may not have heard that convicted Chicago real estate developer Tony Rezko was sentenced to 10½ years in prison Tuesday.

On top of this, unless you read the following report from Reuters, you mightn't have known just how connected he was to a junior senator from Illinois who just so happens to be the President of the United States:

A U.S. judge on Tuesday sentenced Antoin "Tony" Rezko, a former Chicago fundraiser for President Barack Obama, to 10-1/2 years in prison for corruption and extortion.

Rezko's conviction was among a slew of guilty pleas that led to the conviction in two trials of former Democratic Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich and several of his aides. [...]

Rezko became a minor campaign issue for Obama during the 2008 presidential race. The two had become close friends and Rezko had raised tens of thousands of dollars for the then-Illinois state senator's successful U.S. Senate and presidential campaigns.

At one point, the Republican National Committee referred to Rezko as Obama's "money man".

Rezko also advised Obama in the purchase of the future president's large home on the south side of Chicago. Rezko's wife purchased and then resold to the Obama family a side yard to the home they could not afford initially.

When Rezko was convicted, Obama said he was "saddened" and added, "This isn't the Tony Rezko I knew."

From what I can tell, this was the best print report on this matter which was nicely headlined "Former Obama Fundraiser Rezko Gets 10-year Sentence."

Rival the Associated Press went far easier on Obama in its piece entitled "Blago Ally Rezko Gets 10½ Years, Minus Time Served" which began, "A former top fundraiser for Rod Blagojevich was sentenced Tuesday to 10½ years in prison for pressuring businesses for millions in kickbacks, an unusually stiff penalty that could portend a tough day for the former governor when he is sentenced for his own corruption convictions."

Buried way down in the article: "Rezko also was a political fundraiser for Obama during his campaigns for Illinois senator, though not for his presidential campaign. Obama has not been accused of wrongdoing in the case, but his relationship with Rezko became an issue during the 2008 election."

That's all the AP thought was necessary to share with readers about the President's dealings with this criminal years ago.

But that's better than most of the newspapers outside of Chicago. The New York Times hasn't published a word about this. Ditto most of the nation's major papers.

For its part, the Washington Post on Wednesday published a snippet of the AP piece in the Digest section on page A-3:

Blagojevich ally sentenced to prison

A former top fundraiser for Rod Blagojevich (D) was sentenced Tuesday to 10 ½ years in prison for pressuring businesses for millions in kickbacks, an unusually stiff penalty that could portend a tough day for the former governor when he is sentenced for his own corruption convictions.

Antoin “Tony” Rezko spent 3 ½ years in custody awaiting sentencing on his 2008 convictions for fraud, money laundering and plotting to squeeze more than $7 million in kickbacks from companies that wanted to do business with the state during Blagojevich’s tenure. He will get credit for time served and will serve 85 percent of his total sentence.

Attorneys for the former Chicago real estate developer and fast-food entrepreneur had asked that he be set free, saying he had served more time than others convicted as part of the federal investigation of Blagojevich.

Notice the conspicuous absence of the name "Obama."

USA Today was even more deceptive including the following at the end of a news digest piece on page 3A headlined "Justice Dept. Sues Over Utah Immigration Law":

Blagojevich fundraiser gets 10 years

A former top fundraiser for ousted Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich, whose trial exposed a pay-to-play political culture, was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Antoin "Tony" Rezko will get credit for 3 years already served. Rezko was convicted in 2008 of fraud, money laundering and plotting to squeeze $7 million in kickbacks from companies. The governor was convicted on charges that included trying to sell or trade an appointment to President Obama's Senate seat.

Read more: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2011/11/23/rezko-sentenced-10-years-media-ignore-it-andor-his-ties-obama#ixzz1en5bjq9d