Mayor Daley's Man
This Is Not The Machine You Are Looking For
If you’ve read my Integrity Gap series on Barack Obama, or
lengthier treatments like David Freddoso’s book, you will be
familiar with what was probably the most scandalously
under-reported story of 2008, which is President-Elect
Obama’s deep and longstanding ties to machine politics in
Illinois, most notably to the Daley machine in Chicago. You’ll
also recognize two other key themes: Obama’s ties to politically
well-connected housing interests ranging from sulmlords like Tony
Rezko to Beltway powerhouses like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to
ACORN,
and Obama’s practice
of providing official favors to his benefactors.
Last week we saw the first sign of these dynamics playing out in
Obama’s first staff hire, Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, a Chicago
pol and former “senior adviser and chief fundraiser” for Mayor
Daley who made hundreds of thousands of dollars sitting on Freddie
Mac’s board during a time when the board was criticized by the SEC
for failing to stop the company’s accounting irregularities and
shady campaign donations. *
*
Now, the second act:
Obama reportedly wants Gov. Rod Blagojevich, a/k/a “Public Official
A” in the Rezko indictment, to appoint as his replacement in the
U.S. Senate Valerie Jarrett, the co-head
of Obama’s transition team. Jarrett, of course, is a former
Daley aide and Chicago housing developer who gave Michelle Obama
her first big job working for Mayor Daley.
Let’s recall
Jarrett’s involvement in Grove Parc Plaza, one of the
conspicuous failures (at least from the perspective of the tenants,
rather than the developers) among the housing projects built by
Obama’s friends:
Among those tied to Obama politically, personally, or
professionally are:Valerie Jarrett, a senior adviser to Obama’s presidential
campaign and a member of his finance committee. Jarrett is the
chief executive of Habitat Co., which managed Grove Parc Plaza from
2001 until this winter and co-managed an even larger subsidized
complex in Chicago that was seized by the federal government in
2006, after city inspectors found widespread problems.
+++
Campaign finance records show that six prominent
developers - including Jarrett, Davis, and Rezko - collectively
contributed more than $175,000 to Obama’s campaigns over the last
decade and raised hundreds of thousands more from other
donors.
+++
Jarrett, a powerful figure in the Chicago development
community, agreed to be interviewed but declined to answer
questions about Grove Parc, citing what she called a continuing
duty to Habitat’s former business partners….
Yet again, a reminder that Obama’s “new politics” is just a new
name for the oldest kind of politics there is.
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