Trib covers an internship in Obama’s office with some tie to Rezko
Rezko recommended a 20-year-old student from Glenview for one of the coveted summer internships in Obama’s Capitol Hill office.
The student got the job and spent five weeks in Washington, answering Obama’s front office phone and logging constituent mail. The student was paid an $804 stipend, about $160 per week, for a position valued mostly for the experience it provides.
Now, that otherwise unremarkable internship–one of nearly 100 Obama’s office awarded in 2005–raises new questions for the senator, who says he has never done any favors for Rezko.
n October, Rezko was indicted on influence-peddling charges and for alleged business fraud.
Rezko, a real-estate and fast-food entrepreneur, has emerged as a central figure in a series of state government corruption scandals. He began cultivating a friendship with Obama around 1990, becoming a key fundraiser.
As the internship drew to a close in August 2005, the intern’s father was cited in court records as an unnamed, unindicted co-conspirator in an alleged state government bribery scheme linked to Rezko. A news report about the court records identified him by name.
Obama’s spokesman said Obama would not comment on the internship because he is spending the holidays with his family, but spokesman Robert Gibbs said the internship in no way contradicts Obama’s previous statements that he has never done any favors for Rezko, given jobs to Rezko associates or been involved with Rezko “in any government activities of any sort.”
Gibbs said: “I believe it’s obvious that a [five-week] internship is not something that can benefit Mr. Rezko or his businesses.”
The math is funny:
1 of 98 interns from Illinois
In 2005, Obama had 98 interns from Illinois out of about 350 applicants, Gibbs said.
Meaning applicants had a one in four chance of being selected. That’s competitive, but hardly overwhelming odds for a internship in one office.
I guess reporting the internship is legit, but putting it into a context of this being an issue by itself is a bit silly. A 20 year old kid getting a low paying internship–essentially one with some spending money attached to it while the family would have to pay for living expenses and such isn’t exactly a smoking gun. At worst, it shows that people who understand the system of getting recommendations and such have a better shot at internships. That’s not news.