Rezko sought post for Obama's home-seller

CHICAGO, Feb. 22 (UPI) -- Indicted Illinois fundraiser Tony Rezko once sought a state post for the agent who sold a home to presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama, court records showed.

Court papers filed in Rezko's corruption case indicated he asked Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich's administration to appoint Donna Schwan Jackson, a real estate agent, to the Illinois Council on Developmental Disabilities, the Chicago Sun-Times reported Friday.

Jackson is included in a list of people Rezko and others tried to get appointed to state boards and commissions, Blagojevich administration records obtained by federal prosecutors showed. Jackson didn't get the appointment.

Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton said the revelation about Jackson doesn't change anything about the purchase of the senator's mansion on Chicago's South Side. Obama, D-Ill., was represented by a different real estate agent.

"The senator and Mrs. Obama negotiated a fair market price for their house," Burton said, "and this is as true today as it was at the time."

Rezko is scheduled to go on trial March 3 on charges he participated in a scheme to get kickbacks from companies seeking state pension business under Blagojevich.

Rezko was a major campaign fundraiser for Blagojevich and Obama.