Politifact: Clinton-A fragment of truth, distorted

[babylonsister]

SSDD...


http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/306/


"I was fighting against those (Republican) ideas when you were practicing law and representing your contributor, Rezko, in his slum landlord business in inner city Chicago."


Hillary Clinton on Monday, January 21st, 2008 in a debate in Myrtle Beach, S.C.
A fragment of truth, distorted
Barely True

In one of the most heated exchanges of the Democratic debates, Hillary Clinton on Monday night fired off this pointed attack on Barack Obama:

“I was fighting against those (Republican) ideas when you were practicing law and representing your contributor, Rezko, in his slum landlord business in inner city Chicago.”

Asked later to respond, Obama said, “Here’s what happened: I was an associate at a law firm that represented a church group that had partnered with this individual to do a project and I did about five hours worth of work on this joint project.”

snip//

“Mr. Rezko gave me campaign contributions,’’ Obama told the Chicago Sun-Times. “While I was a state senator, he had buildings in my district that apparently were not managed properly. I had no knowledge of that at the time.’’

Bottom line, Clinton’s claim is Barely True. Obama, by his own admission, did some, albeit very little, legal work that helped Rezko’s company obtain properties that would later be neglected. But the allegations that Rezko was a slumlord did not arise, at least not publicly, until years after Obama performed that work.