Reply #6: Is "community organizer" code word for a junior document handler for property developers?

[Iceburg]

http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/353786,CST-NWS-rezquestions23.article
Sun-Times' questions, and Obama campaign's answers
The Sun-Times first sought to interview Sen. Barack Obama on March 14 about indicted businessman and longtime supporter Antoin "Tony" Rezko and a series of troubled low-income housing deals involving Rezko's company, Rezmar Corp. Obama's staff asked for written questions. It responded Sunday but left many questions unanswered and didn't directly address some other questions.

What follows are the Sun-Times' questions, asked in the preliminary stages of the newspaper's investigation, and the answers received in an e-mail from Robert Gibbs, communications director for the senator's presidential campaign:

Sun-Times question: Please explain what legal work the senator performed on each of those Rezmar projects. I have a copy of a legal bill showing Sen. Obama worked on the Central Woodlawn project. Please include the number of hours he spent on each Rezmar deal, the dates he worked on those deals, and to whom he reported at the firm, whether that was Allison Davis and/or William Micelli.

Obama campaign answer: Senator Obama worked on several projects in which the firm's principal client was a not-for-profit corporation. The projects entailed negotiations between the firm's primary not-for-profit client and the Rezmar-related entity that served as co-general partner or co-venturer of the not-for-profit.

Once the negotiations between the not-for-profit and Rezmar-related entity were completed, the firm represented the combined entity, usually an Illinois limited partnership or Illinois limited-liability company.

The Senator, relatively inexperienced in this kind of work, was assigned to tasks appropriate for a junior lawyer. These tasks would have included reviewing documents, collecting corporate organizational documents, and drafting corporate resolutions. The Senator reported primarily to former partner Allison Davis and occasionally to William Miceli


Q: Please provide us the date the senator went to work for the Davis Miner Barnhill firm, and the date he left.

A: Approximately Feb. 1993-Oct. 2002.