Del.icio.us Links

links for 2008-12-14

  • Fox News Chicago reported that Mr Emanuel, a Chicago politician who won the Illinois Governor’s former congressional seat, may have been captured on FBI wire-taps discussing the fate of Mr Obama’s vacated US Senate seat with Rod Blagojevich.

    The TV station said Mr Emanuel had “multiple conversations” with the Governor, who is accused of trying to “sell” the open Senate seat for a Cabinet post or lucrative top foundation job. The report said the Governor was given a list of Senate candidates acceptable to Mr Obama. Because the FBI was secretly taping Mr Blagojevich in recent weeks, Mr Emanuel’s conversations may have been recorded, Fox News Chicago said.

  • No one with President-elect Barack Obama's transition team has identified his close friend and adviser Valerie Jarrett as Senate candidate #1, as mentioned in the criminal complaint against Gov. Rod Blagojevich, but it's clear that she is the person often mentioned.

    There is a wide assumption by many that Jarrett "mysteriously" dropped out of the race for the U.S. Senate, and I've even heard some suggest that the Obama team got wind of Blagojevich's alleged scheme to broker a deal for the seat appointment.

    But there is nothing mysterious about what happened.
    +++++++
    Hard to believe this story and time frame with all that has been revealed.

  • Here is the lie, which caught my eye because of the phrasing Obama was using during his press conference on Daschle’s appointment:

    “I had no contact with the governor’s office. I did not speak to the governor about these issues. That I know for certain.”

    It is a lie because now we know Obama’s Chief of Staff provided Blagojevich Obama’s list of candidates he thought should fill his seat. The news broke last night:

    Barack Obama, the next President of the United States, just wagged his finger into the camera and said “I had no conversations with that Governor, Blagojevich, on the candidates for my senate seat’. Of course sending the list of candidates through Emmanual doesn’t somehow count as ‘conversation
    ++++
    Indeed Obama was disingenuous about his statements and Rahm Emanuel is nothing but a bag man.

  • A nonprofit organization founded by California's largest union local reported spending nothing on its charitable purpose — to develop housing for low-income workers — during at least two of the four years it has been operating, federal records show.

    The charity, launched by a scandal-ridden Los Angeles chapter of the Service Employees International Union, had total expenses of about $165,000 for 2005 and 2006, and all of the money went to consulting fees, insurance costs and other overhead, according to its Internal Revenue Service filings.
    +++++++
    Shocker: A corrupt labor union

    (tags: SEIU)

One Comment

  • Ling

    So will Rahm Emanuel resign before he takes office, or will that be after Jan 20? No way he’s going to be effective as Chief of Staff, unless Fitzgerald decides to release the full extent of Emanuel’s involvement. And I don’t think that’s going to happen, so Obama’s going to be looking for a new Chief of Staff.