Chicago Corrupt: Thick and Deep

Malkin:

You want an expose, look into the links between the banks owned by Amrish Mahajan (Mutual Bank) and the Giannoulias family (Broadway Bank) and all the state business and real estate deals (including Obama’s) and that ran through those banks. Alexi Giannoulias is the Illinois State Treasurer, who, you might recall, came out of nowhere when he was endorsed by Obama. Conveniently, Patty Blagojevich is a realtor who has made thousands of dollars in commissions from Hot Rod’s cronies. The Chicago Tribune has detailed the commissions-as-politcal-donations policy of the Blagojevich’s many times

No Quarter:

ROD BLAGOJEVICH stated that he needs to find a way to take the “financial stress” off of his family and that his wife is as qualified or more qualified than another specifically named individual to sit on corporate boards. (Quoting the Federal complaint)

...The “specifically named individual” is Michelle Obama, who was appointed to the Board of TreeHouse Foods, a WAL-MART vendor, on June 25, 2005, even though she did not have experience in the private sector previous to the appointment.

Here are the benefits the Obama family received as a result of Michelle Obama’s stint with the WAL-MART vendor:

According to the couple’s tax returns, Mrs Obama earned $51,200 (£25,700) for her work as a non-executive director on Treehouse’s board last year, on top of the $271,618 salary she was paid as a vice-president of the University of Chicago Hospitals.

She also received 7,500 Treehouse stock options, worth a further $72,375, as she did the previous year, when she banked a $45,000 salary from the company.

Who needs 'corporate experience'?

And that U of Chicago Hospitals thing--with the large---REALLY large--annual increase just after Obama got elected to the Senate...

HT: Ace