One of his biggest backers is a firm he helped to land state pension fund investments.
Black-owned investment fund managers came to Obama in 2000 and 2001, complaining that they were "not getting any business from our own state pensions," he recounts on the campaign trail.
Obama took up their cause and led delegations of minority investment firms to Illinois state pension board meetings, urging board members to shift some of their funds to such firms. During a recent appearance before the Urban League, Obama singled out Ariel Capital as one respected investment house that he had championed.
"I simply said, 'Listen to what these folks have to say,' " Obama said, "and in about six months they got about a half billion dollars' worth of business simply on their own excellence."
By 2005, Ariel Capital managed $452 million in teacher pension money. And as his investor-friends won business, Obama received political benefit.
In the four years after he went to bat for them before state pension boards, partners in those minority-owned firms donated $190,000 to his campaigns, including his U.S. Senate run.
Ariel has been particularly generous. Its partners and employees have donated $135,000 to Obama's campaigns, including more than $50,000 to his presidential run. Two of its principles are among Obama's presidential campaign fundraisers, having raised at least $50,000 more each.
In 2006, meanwhile, the teacher pension board severed its relationship with Ariel Capital, concluding that returns on its investment were insufficient. Ariel executives declined to discuss the matter but defended their strategy as one that favors long-term returns over volatile short-term gains.
Potential fallout
Operation Board Games is Illinois' latest corruption scandal, and the name of a federal law enforcement crackdown on alleged extortion of individuals and companies doing business with state boards.
Obama and the investment funds he promoted are not implicated in any wrongdoing. But the case resulted in Rezko's indictment last October, sending shivers through the reelection campaign of another of his political friends and beneficiaries, Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich.
The governor's supporters questioned the timing of that indictment, coming one month before the November 2006 election. Nonetheless, Blagojevich won reelection in a tough race.
It remains to be seen whether any fallout from Rezko's case will cloud Obama's presidential campaign.
