Barack Obama,  Rod Blagojevich,  SEIU,  Valerie Jarrett

Was the SEIU an Obama – Blagojevich Intermediary for the Senate Seat? Part Two

Obama and hot rod

Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich and President-Elect Barack Obama

The New York Times is out with a piece today that dots the I’s and crosses the T’s on the SEIU’s involvment with Hot Rod Blagojevich, Valerie Jarrett and the Obama Transition Team.

The Service Employees International Union has long boasted that it is on the cutting edge of the labor movement. But it found itself badly embarrassed this week when it was linked by name to Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich’s maneuvering to secure some financial gain from picking the next Senator from Illinois.

The federal criminal complaint filed against Mr. Blagojevich said his chief of staff, John Harris, had suggested to a service employees’ official that the union should help make the governor the head of Change to Win, the federation of seven unions that broke away from the A.F.L.-C.I.O. The complaint said Mr. Blagojevich was seeking a position that paid $250,000 to $300,000 a year.

In exchange, the complaint strongly suggested, the service employees union and Change to Win would help persuade Mr. Blagojevich to name Valerie Jarrett, President-elect Barack Obama’s first choice, as the state’s new senator. And the union would get help from the Obama administration, presumably for its legislative agenda.

Several union officials in Chicago and Washington said that the service employees official approached by Mr. Harris was Tom Balanoff, the president of the union’s giant janitors’ local in Chicago and head of the union’s Illinois state council. Mr. Balanoff, one of the union officials closest to Mr. Obama, is widely seen as an aggressive, successful labor leader, who has helped unionize thousands of janitors not just in the Chicago area but also in Texas.

Read the entire piece.

Interesting that the SEIU can be the “DEAL” makers absolving Obama and his staff from any of the dirty business of getting Valerie Jarrett, an Obama friend, appointed to his Senate seat. Plus, there is deniability which Obama did earlier today.

A surrogate “pay for play” deal maker for BlagoGate.

Sure beats taking the fall yourself……

Stay tuned…….

Previous:

Barack Obama on BlagoGate:”Absolutely Certain” No Deal Making From Transition Team – But, Who Tipped Off Valerie Jarrett?

The Blagojevich Private Conference Call, Valerie Jarrett and The Obama Transition Team

Was the SEIU an Obama – Blagojevich Intermediary for the Senate Seat?


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