Money Man Tony Rezko And His TV Coverage

ERSNews reports:

The story is simple and it’s as old as politics itself.  Wealthy political donor pours cash into a campaign and to one or more candidates.  Said donor is then accused of buying influence, access and sometimes even breaking the law. 

This is once again the case as the 2008 presidential campaign rolls on towards next November’s election.  The Democrats have whittled the field to two, Barak Obama and Hillary Clinton.  The Republicans seemingly have made their choice with John McCain.

One thing is clear; Rezko has been throwing his own money around the political game for a long time.  The money has been pouring into Illinois politics, national politics and politics far from his Chicago base.  It should make anyone wonder why he was giving money to politicians as far away as Los Angeles.  Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, a democrat, as well as former Mayor James Hahn, both enjoyed the businessman’s political generosity.

The only reason anybody seems to care about Tony Rezko now is because of his connections to Senator Barak Obama and others politicians, including a photo op with Hillary Clinton and her then president husband Bill.  The picture seen below was all the rage on the national media scene when the Drudge Report posted it last week.

The problem with the TV news media coverage of Rezko is that while it’s true he and Senator Obama have had a relationship worthy of investigation going back many years, the rest of the story, as they say, has been ignored. The Rezko/Obama story has made its way to the national media in recent weeks.

The rest of the story is this: Rezko contributed to many politicians, on both sides of the aisle.  That’s what big political contributors do, they are usually not political ideologues, they are practical businessmen and they want their money to get them something in return.  To insure they have the access and influence that money brings with it, they hedge their bets and make sure they cover all the bases. In Rezko’s case, although the public has been well informed about Rezko’s contributions to Obama and his connections to Clinton and others in Illinois and elsewhere, the fact that he’s raised money for Republicans has mostly been lost in the media shuffle.  He’s even contributed to President Bush.  You wouldn’t know that if watched most of the TV news coverage.