ANOTHER CHICAGO DEMOCRAT TONY'D UP?

We have yet another in a long line of people it would have been more than just a little interesting to see testify in the Rod Blagojevich trial. His name is Alexi Giannoulias and he is the Democrat candidate for Senate this year. Instead, the Blagojevich defense team didn't call any witnesses, including Giannoulias, who was caught in several conflicting statements and claims courtesy of audio recordings presented by the prosecution and witness testimony.

Another interesting aspect to the trial came courtesy of a recording that was played of a conversation between Blagojevich and his Chief of Staff John Harris on November 12th, 2008. Also known as Session 545, you can HEAR Blago tell Harris that "This guy (Obama) is more Tony'd up than I am." The former Illinois governor was referring to his belief that the reason Obama wasn't willing to make a deal with Blago for his Senate seat replacement was because of Blago's ties to Rezko.

Now we have Alexi Giannoulias, who appears to be a little "Tony'd up" himself according to the Chicago Sun-Times:

By February 2006, businessman and political fixer Tony Rezko was already politically radioactive, caught up in a federal investigation that would see him criminally charged by the end of that year.

News reports had linked Rezko, a key adviser and campaign fund-raiser for then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich, to shady deals involving state pension funds -- among the crimes that ultimately would send him to prison.

This was the Tony Rezko who, looking for millions of dollars for a massive South Loop development, turned to Broadway Bank, owned by the family of Alexi Giannoulias. Giannoulias, the Democrat now running for U.S. Senate, had left his post as a senior loan officer at the Chicago bank in late 2005 to mount a successful campaign for Illinois state treasurer, though he still held an ownership stake in the bank.

Rezko's company asked. And Broadway Bank came through.

On Feb. 14, 2006, newly obtained records show, the bank made a $22.75 million loan to a company called Riverside District Development LLC, whose owners, it turns out, included Rezko.

The outcome of the corruption trial of Blagojevich was almost inexplicably fortuitous for the Obama administration, which was at great risk of political catastrophe averted when the defense failed to call even one witness, Giannoulias among those subpoenaed.

However, there were very important things revealed in the trial. Notably, in private conversations, it became apparent that Obama didn't want Blagojevich joining them in Washington, D.C. That also very likely included not wanting him to appoint himself to Obama's old Senate seat. Now that Giannoulias appears to be at least as "Tony'd up" as Blagojevich was - perhaps more - the White House has got to be looking at these findings with a bit of anxiety.

Read it all.

h/t to Hot Air