WASHINGTON - A report issued by Barack Obama's transition concluded that the president-elect had no contact with Gov. Rod Blagojevich or his office and no one acting on Obama's behalf tried to offer any "quid pro quo" arrangement to benefit the governor in exchange for filling the vacant Senate seat with a candidate of Obama's choosing.
The report was put together by attorney Greg Craig following Blagojevich's arrest for engaging in a scheme to sell the vacant U.S. Senate seat, as well as other state appointments and services.
Craig said Obama, his chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, and his adviser, Valerie Jarrett, all submitted to interviews with U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald last week. Craig said neither Jarrett nor David Axelrod, another senior adviser, had any contact with Blagojevich or his office. The report did say that Dr. Eric Whitaker, a close friend of Obama's, was approached "by a member of the Governor's circle" for information.
Giant squid pro quo
Obama has portrayed himself as taking a hands-off approach to the governor's decision about who to appoint to his Senate seat. In fact, the report noted that he was very much interested in who would succeed him in the Senate. Once Jarrett said she was not interested in becoming a senator, Obama asked Emanuel to tell the governor that he would support Rep. Jan Schakowsky, Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr., Dan Hynes and Tammy Duckworth.
Vice President-elect Joe Biden said earlier Tuesday that the report would show "no inappropriate contact" between Barack Obama's presidential transition team and Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
Joe's a psychic or something ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/24/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Everything I ever needed to know I learned at the barbershop!
Whitaker gained national attention as founder and director of Project Brotherhood: A Black Men's Clinic. In 1998, he developed a new clinical model for African American males that combined health care and disease prevention with vocational and spiritual guidance, all in the setting of a barbershop. Using the lure of free haircuts to bring in African American men--who despite high rates of preventable disease and premature death tend not to seek regular medical care--this widely recognized south side clinic brings primary care services, health advice, wellness programs, and emotional and spiritual support to thousands of black men.
(SomaliNet) British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has announced a plan worth 11 billion euros to create at least 100,000 new jobs. Unveiling the scheme in an interview with The Daily Mirror, Mr Brown said the money will be spent on education, transport and other infrastructure projects. He said he could not guarantee that unemployment would not rise but promised that his government would do all it could to help those affected.
More than 75,000 people lost their jobs in November in the UK. This is the biggest rise in 17 years and brings the total number of unemployed to over one million.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/24/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Gummits creating jobs is something akin to children telling fish stories. I wish they would just stop it.
Dec. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Hillary Clinton formally wrote off the $13.2 million she lent her presidential campaign, closing a chapter on her failed race for the White House and helping ease the way for her Senate confirmation as U.S. secretary of state.
Forgiving the loan takes Clinton's personal debt off the books, a step toward shutting down her presidential-campaign committee as she prepares to become the top U.S. diplomat.
"If you're going to go into a position like that, you want to try to clear away whatever you can," said Larry Noble, a former general counsel to the Federal Election Commission.
Clinton started lending money to her campaign in January while competing in Iowa and New Hampshire as she tried to keep pace financially with Barack Obama, who was on his way to raising more money than any candidate in history. "It allowed her to stay alive in those final months when she really found her voice with the American public," said Julian Zelizer, a professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University in New Jersey. "That, combined with future accomplishments at state, could be pivotal in the long run to how the public and historians talk about her role in contemporary politics."
Senator Clinton, a New York Democrat, also wrote off $77,900 in interest on the loan, according to a filing with the FEC on Dec. 20.
Clinton, 61, had earlier said she didn't expect to be repaid. The money will now be considered a campaign contribution, which isn't tax-deductible, FEC spokesman Bob Biersack said. Nor can she deduct the money as a bad debt or as a job- hunting expense because political campaigns don't qualify under the tax code, said Paul Caron, associate dean of the University of Cincinnati law school and editor of TaxProf Blog.
Even after writing off the loan and interest, she reported owing $6.4 million to vendors as of Nov. 30, including $5.4 million to former chief strategist Mark Penn. That's down from $7.5 million at the end of October. She did pay off her $200,000 debt to spokesman Howard Wolfson and the $58,000 owed to media consultant Mandy Grunwald. Clinton spokesman Philippe Reines declined comment.
A 2002 campaign-finance law co-sponsored by Senator John McCain, Obama's Republican rival in November, bars presidential candidates from raising money after the nominating conventions to pay off personal loans greater than $250,000.
Clinton continues to seek donations to pay vendors, however.
Vice President-elect Joe Biden sent out an e-mail earlier this month seeking donations, as did Clinton's campaign committee. One solicitation over the name of her mother, Dorothy Rodham, offered an autographed copy of a book about Clinton for a $250 contribution.
The senator and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, released income tax returns during her presidential campaign that showed the couple earned $109 million in eight years. Their annual income rose to $20.4 million in 2007 from $420,000 in 1999. Almost half the Clintons' income during those years, $51.9 million, came from the former president's speeches.
The former president was also paid $29.6 million in royalties and an advance for his autobiography, and Senator Clinton received $10.1 million in book royalties and advances.
Bill Clinton, 62, last week released the names of his foundation's contributors, fulfilling one of the conditions he agreed to for his wife to receive the secretary of state nomination. He also agreed last month to have the State Department vet all future speeches and business endeavors.
"She has made a clean break with her political ambitions, at least for now, just as her husband has come clean with his finances," said Stephen Wayne, a professor of government at Georgetown University in Washington. "My guess, however, is that when she leaves her State Department position, she will stay in the spotlight and not starve."
#4
"The criticism over her bid has also frustrated those advisers, who feel that Ms. Kennedy has been whiplashed by assertions that she is at once protected and presumptuous."
Why the frustration? Truth hurt?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
12/24/2008 19:09 Comments ||
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whiplashed by assertions? That skin's too thin and precious to be in politics, Princess. Run for office and I might respect you, demand appointment based on....your name and uberminimal accomplishments? FOAD
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/24/2008 19:19 Comments ||
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New Yorkers are split over who is going to serve as their next Senator with 40% of state voters saying Caroline Kennedy is the right pick. 40 percent go with the expensive hair, 40 percent with the expensive dental work, 20 percent remain undecided.
A Quinnipiac University survey found Tuesday that voters are divided almost right down the middle - 40-41 - on whether Caroline Kennedy is qualified to occupy Hillary Clinton's Senate seat or Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, but they nevertheless believe by a wide margin (48-25) that Gov. David Paterson will choose her. "Among New Yorkers in general, Caroline Kennedy's grade is just OK," said Maurice Carroll, director of Quinnipiac University's Polling Institute, reported AFP. "Ask the question two ways: Should the governor appoint Ms. Kennedy? New Yorkers give her a narrow lead over Cuomo. Will he appoint her? Heavily, the answer is 'yes.'"
Thirty-three percent of voters said Paterson should name Kennedy to the seat while 29 percent preferred Cuomo. Cuomo, son of former New York governor Mario Cuomo, has a slight edge over Kennedy with upstate voters (31-27), while she has a wide lead in New York City (42-37) and they're neck-and-neck at 30 percent each in the suburbs. Quinnipiac University conducted the poll between December 17 and 21.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/24/2008 00:00 ||
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Back in 1935, Joseph Patrick Kennedy, Sr., purchased Merchandise Mart, a Chicago real estate company, and according to Schweizer:
in 1947, he divided its ownership among family members and put it in the form of a trust . [it] was not set up in their home state of Massachusetts, New York, Florida, or even California. This trust wasnt even domiciled in the United States. Instead the Kennedy trust was set up in Fiji.
Now why establish a trust on an island best known for headhunters? The Fiji-based trust allowed the Kennedys to avoid the possibility of scrutiny by the IRS and federal authorities, according to Schweizer. Worse, the sanctimonious Kennedy clan that demands the rich pay their fair share has an intricate web of trusts and private foundations that helps the family avoid the IRS.
For example, the family paid only $134,330.90 in estate taxes despite a family fortune thought to be between $300 and $500 million at the time of Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr.s death in 1969. That was a tax bill of .04 percent, and Schweizer informs us that the figure is based on the lower end of the estimated family fortune.
#6
New York should be ashamed to even consider these carpet baggers. If you live part time in Manhattan you are not really a New Yorker. If you lived in Washington DC/Arkansas/Chicago you are not really a New Yorker.
Yes it works while signing baseball players but it's an embarrasment for politics.
Cuomo should say NY doesn't need a Red Socks fan as Governor and let her either (a) badmouth the Red Socks or (b) be dumped from consideration for the Bostonian she is.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
New Yorkers are split over who is going to serve as their next Senator with 40% of state voters saying Caroline Kennedy is the right pick. 
