Obama’s Ties to ComEd Parent Scrutinized Updated X1

Add comment February 18th, 2008

You probably already know about U.S. Sen. Barack Obama’s concrete shoe, Tony Rezko.

Obama and Rezko engaged in a kinky real estate deal — Obama bought a mansion on Chicago’s South Side the same day that Rezko’s wife bought an adjacent lot — that is now all the talk on the presidential campaign trail. There’s even a blog dedicated to Rezko.

We may soon be hearing much more about Obama’s ties to Exelon, ComEd’s parent company, too.

A Baltimore Sun columnist reports:

A bigger question is how Obama’s Exelon links might influence his broader electricity policy at the most critical period for U.S. electricity since the 1930s. Exelon, the Illinois version of Baltimore’s Constellation Energy, is one of the country’s biggest megawatt producers, the largest nuclear plant operator and a huge Obama backer through its executives and employees.

Would a President Obama try to reform interstate electricity markets that have soaked consumers in Maryland and other deregulated states, inadequately invested in the future and unjustifiably enriched Exelon, Constellation and other companies? Or would he maintain the Bush administration’s blind eye toward evidence of wholesale-electricity market failure, irregularity and price gouging?

The columnist goes on to scrutinize Obama’s apparent ties to Exelon. Recommended reading, for sure.

UPDATE 1

Bloomberg and the Tribune have more on the Obama/Rezko land deal.