Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Did Rezko Buy Obama's Vote?

Now that the media circus has decided to pretend to be real journalist on the eve of the Texas and Ohio primary they're asking a lot of questions about Tony Rezko and Sen. Barack Obama. In January the L.A Times ran a story about Sen. Obama that wasn't very flattering. The story detailed how a few times the senator accidentally pressed the wrong button and voted for or against a number of bills covering a wide range of issues. This part of the article jumped out at me;

"But two of Obama's bumbles came on more-sensitive topics. On Nov. 14, 1997, he backed legislation to permit riverboat casinos to operate even when the boats were dockside. The measure, pushed by the gambling industry and fought by church groups whose support Obama was seeking, passed with two "yeas" to spare -- including Obama's. Moments after its passage he rose to say, "I'd like to be recorded as a no vote," explaining that he had mistakenly voted for it."


This vote stood out to me because I read this article after I read one in the Chicago Tribune that stated

" But when Rezko pushed for passage in Springfield of a major gambling measure, Obama vocally opposed it."


Maybe I am making more of this than I should but if he voted against it then why doesn't the Tribune article state so? He "vocally opposed it" because he had just "accidentally" voted for it? In the other bills that the senator "accidentally" voted for he wanted the record to show that he was opposing them vocally. Are the two bills mentioned in these two articles the same?

Did Sen. Barack Obama "accidentally" vote for a measure being pushed by Tony Rezko to repay some favors? Now that the media has gotten a whiff of blood and are circling the Obamas I wonder if someone could investigate if these two bills are one in the same and if they are did Sen. Barack Obama willingly vote for a measure his friend and political patron was pushing.