Governor Bought, Obama Gives Back

Ali Ata, involved with Rezko in securing fraudulent loans for Papa John's Pizza, admitted in court that his campaign donations to Governor Blagojevich got him a state government job. Tribune here on the revelation that came in a separate criminal case from the main Rezko trial.

He had the conversation and handed the check over to Governor Bought in Rezko's Chicago office. And then there's this. Sun Times:

Besides saying he had to give money to the governor's campaign to get his state job, Ata said he also had to keep Rezko happy to keep the job. To do so, he said he agreed to Rezko's repeated pleas for cash and ended up giving him a total of $125,000 in cash.

And that "civic-minded fellow" Tony Rezko presumably persuaded him to share the essentially taxpayer-funded wealth:

Ata gave a total of $65,000 to Blagojevich's gubernatorial campaign fund. He also contributed $5,000 to Democratic White House hopeful Barack Obama, who gave that money to charity after Ata's indictment last year.

Barack--I think you should give the money back to us.

(P.S. Is that why you're running for president, to give back?)

Related posts: Millennial Bean Obama, The Man Who Would Be President