The University of Illinois on Tuesday refused to release records relating to Barack Obama's service to a nonprofit group linked to former 1960s radical activist William Ayers.The university's Chicago campus said the donor of the records that document the work of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge has not yet turned over ownership rights to the material. The university is "aggressively pursuing" an agreement with the donor, and as soon as an agreement is finalized, the collection will be made accessible to the public, the university said in a one-paragraph statement.
| Around the twelfth of never ... |
The Obama campaign said the senator does not have control over these records or the ability to release them, adding that it has made many documents related to Obama's life available to the public and that "we are pleased the university is pursuing an agreement that would make these records publicly available."
On Monday, the National Review magazine posted an online article saying that the institution had initially declared that the records were open to inspection, but that the university subsequently reversed its position.
On Tuesday, the university said that there had been a misunderstanding about the status of the collection.
| Right about the time Da Mayor's people called the Chancellor at UIC to read him the riot act ... |
In the 1990s, Ayers was instrumental in starting the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, which was awarded nearly $50 million by a foundation to help reform Chicago schools.
Obama was the first chairman of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge and Republicans have been highlighting his ties to Ayers through the group.
| Since the Annenberg Challenge failed miserably both times it tried to 'reform' the Chicago public schools ... |
In an interview, university spokesman Bill Burton said that the institution only recently was made aware that it did not have ownership, a requirement for making the collection public.
The owner notified the university about the absence of a signed ownership agreement last week. "The donor's only concerns regarding the collection are due to personnel information that could include names, confidential salary information and even Social Security numbers," said the university spokesman.
| And you just can't imagine how long it takes to redact that information. Why it won't be til .. 2016 or so ... |
Obama was board chairman of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge for three years starting in 1995 and he remained on the board until the project closed in 2001. The $49.2 million was the largest private gift ever made to Chicago schools. The money went to 250 schools in one of the nation's largest school districts.
| Where it did precisely nothing ... |
Obama compared her record of public disclosure of records to that of the Bush administration, saying the country had "just gone through one of the most secretive administrations in our history."
In March, edited versions of the former first lady's appointment calendars were publicly released.