That was then... this is now.. The pay for play culture in the Obama White House.
Flashback to President Obama's opening salvo in the 2008 campaign
The "cynics, the lobbyists, the special interests who've turned our government into a game only they can afford to play."....
"They write the checks and you get stuck with the bills, they get the access while you get to write a letter, they think they own this government, but we're here today to take it back. The time for that politics is over. It's time to turn the page. "
Barack Obama Speech - Obama Speech on Day He Declared His Run For President
That was then... this is now :
The NY Slimes have put in their journalist caps to expose the pay for play ;or as former Rep (Dem RI) Patrick Kennedy says ;the quid pro quo.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/15/us...ted=all?src=tp
Quote:
Most donors, including Dr. Mohlenbrock and Mr. Kiani, declined to talk about their motivations for giving. But Patrick J. Kennedy, the former representative from Rhode Island, who donated $35,800 to an Obama re-election fund last fall while seeking administration support for a nonprofit venture, said contributions were simply a part of “how this business works.”
“If you want to call it ‘quid pro quo,’ fine,” he said. “At the end of the day, I want to make sure I do my part.”
Mr. Kennedy visited the White House several times to win support for One Mind for Research, his initiative to help develop new treatments for brain disorders. While his family name and connections are clearly influential, he said, he knows White House officials are busy. And as a former chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, he said he was keenly aware of the political realities they face.
“I know that they look at the reports,” he said, referring to records of campaign donations. “They’re my friends anyway, but it won’t hurt when I ask them for a favor if they don’t see me as a slouch.”
As you recall ;Obama secured the nomination when the Kennedy clan threw their weight behind his candidacy. I wonder if that was part of the quid pro quo ?
Kennedy is small potatoes compared to other donors ;and ,as a result ,their access was greater.
Quote:
More broadly, the review showed that those who donated the most to Mr. Obama and the Democratic Party since he started running for president were far more likely to visit the White House than others. Among donors who gave $30,000 or less, about 20 percent visited the White House, according to a New York Times analysis that matched names in the visitor logs with donor records. But among those who donated $100,000 or more, the figure rises to about 75 percent. Approximately two-thirds of the president’s top fund-raisers in the 2008 campaign visited the White House at least once, some of them numerous times.
The best example of this is perhaps that of George Kaiser ;a multi-millionaire billionaire bundler for the Obama 2008 campaign. He is also known for the failed company call Solyndra.
Quote:
Kaiser, an Oklahoma billionaire, was a "bundler" for Obama's 2008 campaign, raising between $50,000 and $100,000 for the president, records show. He also was a frequent White House visitor in 2009 and 2010. White House officials for months have denied that Kaiser talked about Solyndra during those visits.
George Kaiser, Obama Donor, Discussed Solyndra Loan With White House, Emails Show
But the logs tell a different tale .Between March 12, 2009, and April 14, 2011, Solyndra officials and visitors made at least 20 trips to the White House.
Kaiser made three visits to the White House on March 12, 2009, and one on March 13.On March 20,2009 the Obots awarded Solyndra the 1st "green energy "loan despite repeated warnings about the company's instability . Solyndra went bankrupt in 2011, putting 1,000 employees out of work. It had received more than $500 million in fast-tracked federal loan guarantees under a new section of the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, also known as 'the stimulus'at the time of it's failure .
During a debate in 2008 ,President Obama said that “We’re Going To Have To Change The Culture In Washington So That Lobbyists And Special Interests Aren’t Driving The Process.”
But that was then... this is now.
