April 7, 2008 (LPAC)--Investigative work by a private group in Chicago has identified that $222,000 of the war chest that Barack Obama got between 2001-2004, some of which went into making him a U.S. Senator, comes from the tainted networks being revealed in the Tony Rezko bribery and kickbacks criminal trial. The LA Times reported today that the Chicago-based nonprofit group, the Better Government Association in Chicago had cross-gridded the names of Blagojevich contributors listed in an FBI-produced spread-sheet used as evidence in the opening days of the Rezko trial, and found--no surprise--that some of these were also maximum contributors to Obama.  

One example noted by the LA Times blog says ``Rezko...was, for instance, a link between Obama and Santa Monica developer Jay Wilton of Wilton Partners. On July 16, 2003, Wilton gave $5,000 to Obama's first U.S. Senate run. A few days later, Wilton gave $50,000 to Blagojevich, Illinois state records show. Unlike the federal system, Illinois state campaign finance law permits donors to give as much as they want to state candidates. So, in Illinois they do....

``Another overlapping donor is John Rogers, head of Ariel Capital, a major Chicago-based investment firm. Rogers gave $12,500 to Blagojevich in 2004, the FBI spreadsheet shows. Rogers has also given Obama $25,000, state and FEC records reveal.''

But aides to Obama and Rogers say that the two men were friends outside of the Rezko connection.