The Obama Timeline

More Rezko, More Ayers

In January and February of 1997, renters of several Chicago slum tenements owned by Tony “the fixer” Rezko go without heat for five weeks. (The City of Chicago sued Rezko’s real estate development company, Rezmar, at least a dozen times during 1996–1997 to get heat turned on in its apartment buildings.) Rezko doesn’t come up with the money to turn on the heat, but manages to contribute $1,000 to Obama’s Illinois State Senate political campaign; Obama then seeks state funds for even more Rezko housing developments. The Syrian-born Rezko can afford to travel widely in the Middle East, yet at one time has as many as 11 run-down and foreclosed properties in Obama’s State Senate District. Obama continues to have associations with Rezko and other corrupt housing developers in Chicago. Obama gets state money for them and, in exchange, they contribute to his campaigns. Obama thus becomes, indirectly, one of the biggest slumlords in Chicago. [76, 238, 408, 664]

In 1997, Obama and William Ayers appear together as speakers on several occasions; at the University of Chicago their topic is, “Should a child ever be called a ‘super predator?’” The announcement of their November joint appearance states, “Ayers will be joined by Sen. Barack Obama, Senior Lecturer in the Law School, who is working to combat legislation that would put more juvenile offenders into the adult system.” [71, 83, 237]

Obama endorses William Ayers’ book on juvenile justice, praising it with an article in the Chicago Tribune in which he calls it a “searing and timely account of the juvenile court system.” Michelle Obama (who at the time is the University of Chicago’s dean of student services and director of the school’s Community Service Center) hosts a panel discussion of the book in which both Obama and Ayers participate. (In 2008, seeking to distance the candidate from Ayers, the campaign lies, claiming Obama did not “write a blurb for his book.”) [77, 84, 279, 333, 2448]

Ayers mentions Obama in his book where he writes, “Our neighbors include Muhammad Ali, former mayor Eugene Sawyer, poets Gwendolyn Brooks and Elizabeth Alexander, and writer Barack Obama. Minister Louis Farrakhan lives a block from our home and adds, we think, a unique dimension to the idea of ‘safe neighborhood watch’: the Fruit of Islam, his security force, has an eye on things twenty-four-hours a day.” In April of 2008, when Obama’s relationship with Ayers is brought up in a primary debate, Obama lies, saying he doesn’t know him well and that he is only “a guy who lives in my neighborhood.” (Obama repeatedly votes for and introduces anti-gun legislation, while certainly knowing that the average Chicago resident does not also enjoy the 24 x 7 security of Louis Farrakhan’s “Fruit of Islam” bodyguards.) [78, 279, 297, 333]

Obama introduces Illinois Senate Resolution 110, declaring November 1, 1997 Islamic Community Day. [347]