Trust and Tony Rezko

Busy Tony Rezko, the politically-connected corruption king.

In the second deal, public records show a Rezko-owned company paid Muhammad $225,000 in 1998 for four lots at 47th and Woodlawn, across from a mosque Muhammad founded. Within months, the land was resold to another Rezko company for $517,500.

Muhammad said he never got any money from Rezko for those lots, either. Those properties have since been developed by Rezko business associates into town homes.

The Muhammad house figured in a lawsuit that Antonia Muhammad, 75, filed in 2004 when she was considering separating from her husband of 59 years. Jabir Muhammad said his wife suspected then that he and Rezko were "in cahoots" to wrest the mansion from her. She dropped the case last month.

"The biggest mistake that I did was trusting Tony Rezko," Muhammad said.

Recall he got his start through Park District contracts the Nation of Islam had originally snagged.

Rezko, a native of Syria, came to Chicago in the late 1970s to study engineering at the Illinois Institute of Technology. He joined an engineering company, designing nuclear power plants. He left to design roads for the state Transportation Department, making $21,590 in his one year there. In 1984, Rezko went to work for Crucial Concessions Inc., owned by Herbert Muhammad, whose father, Elijah Muhammad, founded the Nation of Islam. Herbert Muhammad also was the longtime manager of boxing great Muhammad Ali. Crucial had a contract with the Chicago Park District to sell food on the beaches and in many South Side parks.

Of course his close personal friends and partners in making a quick buck are "victims" now. But unlike Jabir Muhammad, Obama can't claim age as an excuse. He continued the relationship for his own benefit even when the evidence of wrongdoing was blatant. What does that say about his ethical standards and judgement? Why should we trust Barack Obama?

Related post: Dinner with Barack

UPDATE: And in case you missed this (I'm playing catch up here as well), Hillary has more explaining of her own to do vis a vis Rezko and her fundraising. Sun Times here. HT Reverse Spin. And it's also playing in the national press, amplifying the scandal for Obama as well.