Here are the facts, not the spin:

State Sen. Obama helped secure thousands in state money for a Chicago entrepreneur who had paid him as a legal adviser.

Robert Blackwell, the Chicago entrepreneur, also became an Obama donor.

Obama's Ethics disclosure forms do not make the link clear.

William Ayers Employed Barack Obama for eight years.

The Los Angeles Times broke the ethics story in today's paper  reporting that Obama used Illinois state letterhead to request a $50,000  tourism promotion grant for a longtime political donor and employer, Chicago entrepreneur Robert Blackwell, Jr. and his company Killerspin.  Obama  mailed the request within months after receiving a final $8,000 per month retainer from Blackwell's company Electronic Knowledge Interchange.

Blackwell  paid  Obama the retainer  to give legal advice to his growing technology firm.  The monthly sum from this Blackwell company  totaled $112,000.  Then, with support from Obama, other state officials and an Obama aide who went to work part time for Killerspin, this Blackwell Company eventually obtained $320,000 in state grants between 2002 and 2004 to subsidize its table tennis tournaments.

Killerspin specializes in table tennis, running tournaments nationwide and selling its own line of equipment and apparel and DVD recordings of the competitions.

Obama's staff said the senator advocated only for the first year's grant -- which ended up being $20,000, not $50,000. The day after Obama wrote his letter urging the awarding of the state funds, however, Obama's U.S. Senate campaign received a $1,000 donation from Blackwell.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/ nation/la-na-killerspin27apr27,1,7266833 .story?page=1&track=rss

Now about Willaim Ayers

There's more...