Obama Claims: "I Had No Contact With Blagojevich Over Vacated Senate Seat"

There was a short news blurb about this. It obviously came from a press release. However, this may turn out to be Obama's first "untruth" of his administration. Why would I say this? Read the following excerpt from the criminal complaint against Blagojevich:

107. On November 12, 2008, ROD BLAGOJEVICH talked with Advisor B. ROD BLAGOJEVICH discussed with Advisor B his idea for a 501(c)(4) organization. Advisor B stated that he likes the idea, but liked the Change to Win option better because, according to Advisor B, from the President-elect’s perspective, there would be fewer “fingerprints” on the President-elect’s involvement with Change to Win because Change to Win already has an existing stream of revenue and, therefore, “you won’t have stories in four years that they bought you off.” ROD BLAGOJEVICH said that he likes the 501(c)(4) idea because he knows it will be there in two years when he is no longer Governor, whereas Change to Win might not be.

Why would anyone be concerned about the President-elect's "fingerprints" if there were no involvement to worry about? We need to know who Advisor B is and exactly how much Obama knew about this whole thing.

Further, David Alexrod gave an interview in which he was asked "who the Governor might pick to take Obama’s senate seat." According to The Hill:

Despite Obama's insistence that he has had no contact with Blagojevich about who might fill his open Senate seat, ABC News reported Tuesday that in late November, Obama senior adviser David Axelrod said he knew Obama had "talked to the governor and there are a whole range of names, many of which have surfaced, and I think he has a fondness for a lot of them."

Clearly, Obama was in some sort of contact with Blagojevich. We must know those names and how deeply Obama was involved.

You can access the Fox News blurb on-line here:

Obama: I Had No Contact With Blagojevich Over Vacated Senate Seat
FoxNews.com
December 9, 2008

You can access the story from The Hill on-line here:

RNC: Obama's statement on Blagojevich 'insufficient'
Sam Youngman
The Hill
December 9, 2008

And the criminal complaint is available on-line here:

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA vs. ROD R. BLAGOJEVICH, and JOHN HARRIS
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS, EASTERN DIVISION
December 2008

Obama Advisors Involved In Illinois Senate Seat Auction Scandal

Now, this is nowhere near enough to end the Obama administration before it even starts, but it is more than enough to warrant a close watch of Obama and his cabinet by everyone. Obama and his aides, as well as other Democrats, should also keep in the back of their minds now that anytime they try to do something in secret, like craft legislation behind closed doors, it will raise even more serious alarm bells among Joe and Jane Average American than usual.

The Patriot Room has done some research and came up with the following passages from the criminal complaint filed against Rod Blagojevich. Read them thoroughly. It's not enough to end the Obama Presidency, but it is more than enough to make sure that we pay close attention to everything he does over the next four years.

The excerpts:

By this time, media reports indicated that Senate Candidate 1, an advisor to the President elect, was interested in the Senate seat if it became vacant, and was likely to be supported by the President-elect. During the call, ROD BLAGOJEVICH stated, “unless I get something real good for [Senate Candidate 1], sh*t, I’ll just send myself, you know what I’m saying.” ... ROD BLAGOJEVICH asked what he can get from the President-elect for the Senate seat. ROD BLAGOJEVICH stated that Governor General Counsel believes the President-elect can get ROD BLAGOJEVICH’s wife on paid corporate boards in exchange for naming the President-elect’s pick to the Senate. Governor General Counsel asked, “can [the President-elect] help in the private sector. . . where it wouldn’t be tied to him? . . .I mean, so it wouldn’t necessarily look like one for the other.” . . . Thereafter, ROD BLAGOJEVICH discussed whether he could obtain an ambassadorship in exchange for the Senate seat. ... ROD BLAGOJEVICH stated that the “trick . . . is how do you conduct indirectly . . . a negotiation” for the Senate seat. Thereafter, ROD BLAGOJEVICH analogized his situation to that of a sports agent shopping a potential free agent to various teams, stating “how much are you offering, [President-elect]? What are you offering, [Senate Candidate 2]? . . . Can always go to. . . [Senate Candidate 3].” Later ROD BLAGOJEVICH stated that he will make a decision on the Senate seat “in good faith . . . but it is not coming for free. . . . It’s got to be good stuff for the people of Illinois and good for me.” ROD BLAGOJEVICH states “[President-elect], you want it? Fine. But, its got to be good or I could always take [the Senate seat].” ... Later on November 7, 2008, ROD BLAGOJEVICH discussed the open Senate seat in a three-way call with JOHN HARRIS and Advisor B, a Washington D.C.-based consultant. ROD BLAGOJEVICH indicated in the call that if he was appointed as Secretary of Health and Human Services by the President-elect, then ROD BLAGOJEVICH would appoint Senate Candidate 1 to the open Senate seat. HARRIS stated “we wanted our ask to be reasonable and rather than. . .make it look like some sort of selfish grab for a quid pro quo.” . . . During the call, ROD BLAGOJEVICH, HARRIS, and Advisor B discussed the prospect of working a three-way deal for the open Senate seat. HARRIS noted that ROD BLAGOJEVICH is interested in taking a high-paying position with an organization called “Change to Win,” which is connected to Service Employees International Union (“SEIU”). ... Advisor B said that he liked the idea of the three-way deal. ROD BLAGOJEVICH stated that he is interested in making $250,000 to $300,000 and being on some organization boards. Advisor B said they should leverage the President-elect’s desire to have Senate Candidate 1 appointed to the Senate seat in order to get a head position with Change to Win and a salary. Advisor B agreed that the three-way deal would be a better plan than ROD BLAGOJEVICH appointing Senate Candidate 2 to the Senate seat and getting more done as Governor.

While there appears to be no clear evidence as to exactly how involved President-elect Barack Obama is in this whole thing, it is clear that at least three of his advisors are directly involved. The administration is already tainted before anyone even got sworn in. Wasn't there a requirement to have a clean record in order to work for the Obama administration?

I join the The Patriot Room in demanding to know, by name, who those three advisors are and to know exactly how much the President-elect knew about these proceedings.

You can access the original blog-entry on-line here:

We Need The Names Of These 3 Possible Obama Advisors Who Negotiated With Blagojevich
Bill Dupray
The Patriot Room
December 9, 2008

And you can access the complete criminal complaint on-line here:

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA vs. ROD R. BLAGOJEVICH, and JOHN HARRIS
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS, EASTERN DIVISION
December 2008