Sweet, or sour depending upon your politics. A Rezko accomplice awaiting sentencing for extortion with deep connections to Biden and really soooo much more than that. He was also Biden's Midwest field director in his 1988 bid.
On the day Cari's name first surfaced in the federal probe of the state Teachers Retirement System, the former finance chairman for the Democratic National Committee and for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee was to have hosted a Biden fund-raiser in Chicago. Cari was a no-show at that July 25, 2005, event.
Offering Cari a vote of confidence at the time, Biden said, "All I know is Joe Cari is a friend, and he's an honorable guy, but I don't know anything beyond that."
And this bit is special:
The Obama campaign downplayed the significance of Cari's contributions to Biden, noting that Cari was a prolific donor to an array of other politicians, from Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) to Illinois' other Democratic senator, Dick Durbin.
Funny, they didn't name any Republicans in that array, not that the Rs don't have their own problems in too many instances, as well. But geesh! Can you say culture of corruption as regards the Dems on this one?
I knew that you could!
Biden took $2,000 in campaign contributions from Cari in the early and mid-1990s, federal campaign-finance records show.
Two other donors whose names surfaced in the Rezko case -- Chicago lawyers Myron "Mike" Cherry and Anthony Licata -- donated to Biden's U.S. Senate campaign, as well. Cherry has given Biden $5,900, while Licata gave $1,000. Neither Cherry nor Licata has been accused of any criminal wrongdoing.
Earlier this year, in a bid to distance Obama from Rezko, the Illinois senator's campaign fund gave away to charity an amount equal to what had been contributed to the Democratic presidential hopeful by Cari, Cherry and Licata.
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