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What a train-wreck!

Richardson to withdraw as Commerce secretary - Politics- msnbc.com

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, tapped in December by President-elect Barack Obama to serve as secretary of Commerce, has withdrawn his name for the position, citing a pending investigation into a company that has done business with his state.

Buck Naked Politics: Bill Richardson: Unlucky Target in Pay-to-Play Investigation

Obama’s pick for Commerce Secretary, New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, is apparently under investigation for corrupt activities. The Los Angeles Times reports:

LexisNexis News

NBC News Transcripts
SHOW: NBC Nightly News 6:30 PM EST NBC
December 23, 2008 Tuesday
427 words
Questions over Bill Richardson’s political contributions while governor
ANN CURRY
LISA MYERS

ANN CURRY, anchor:

The Obama team may have another problem on its hands: a growing investigation into New Mexico governor and former presidential candidate Bill Richardson, who is Obama’s choice for Commerce Secretary. At issue is whether there was a relationship between political contributions to Richardson and his actions as governor. More on this now from NBC’s chief–rather, senior investigative correspondent, Lisa Myers.

President-elect BARACK OBAMA: Secretary of commerce, my great friend, Governor Bill Richardson.

LISA MYERS reporting:

The allegations now being investigated by a federal grand jury involve whether Richardson as governor steered state bond business to a firm whose founder made substantial contributions to Richardson’s political action committee. Two former state officials involved in the bond deals told NBC News that they testified before a grand jury in Albuquerque last week. One official says prosecutors focused on whether Richardson or staff pushed to give business to CDR Financial Products. It specifically asked about what’s called pay to play.

Now, feds probe Gov. Richardson of Obama Cabinet for ‘pay-to-play’ - Los Angeles Times

It seems that Illinois’ legally challenged Gov. Rod Blagojevich is not the only close Barack Obama associate and Democratic governor being investigated by the feds for possibly selling government business in return for campaign contributions.

New Mexico’s Gov. Bill Richardson, who is the newly named Secretary of Commerce in Obama’s about-to-be Cabinet, is also being investigated by a federal grand jury in his home state for possibly steering state bond business from the New Mexico Financial Authority toward David Rubin, a significant campaign contributor, according to an NBC News report, among other

Gee…. here is a real shocker

Al Jazeera English - Americas - Obama cleared in governor scandal

An internal probe has cleared Barack Obama and his transition team of any inappropriate contacts with the Illinois governor accused of plotting to sell off the US president-elect’s senate seat.

obama, blago, al jazeera, craig, crime, Blagojevich

What a difference a candidate makes. TPM hackery on full display.

Funny how when a report cleared Governor Sarah Palin of any wrongdoing on bogus accusations Talking Points Memo and the rest of the nutroots cried foul because one report was done by the Governors office.

Talking Points Memo | Election Eve Info “Dump”

It’s fitting that the McCain-Palin campaign ends with a couple of politically motivated pretend nods to transparency.

First Sarah Palin’s own personnel board released a report earlier this evening clearing her in the Trooper-Gate investigation. Nice timing.

Now Palin has released a letter from her personal physician proclaiming her to be in good health and fit to serve — instead of releasing her medical records, which she’d promised to do days ago.

They see fit to do this on the night before the election?

(As a side note, the McCain camp press release is titled “GOVERNOR SARAH PALIN RELEASES MEDICAL HISTORY SUMMARY.” But it appears all they released was that letter (.pdf). Over at The Page, that morphs into the headline: “PALIN RELEASES MEDICAL RECORDS.” A letter becomes a summary becomes medical records.)

Now today, with their own report, Barack Obama clears himself and his Chief of Staff to be Rahm Emanuel, the same Talking Points Memo and nutroots are shouting from their laptops that all is well on this night before Christmas Eve document dump, prepared by and released by team Obama itself.

Talking Points Memo | Read It Yourself

We have the Obama team’s report on its contacts with Blago posted here.

TPM Election Central | Talking Points Memo | Obama Team Releases Blago Report

The Obama transition team has now released its much-awaited internal report on staff contacts with Rod Blagojevich and his own office, saying that members of the transition team did not behave improperly.

What a joke.

Daily Kos puts on the Media Matters mask. One could make an argument that Obama was “out of the country” but I challange anyone to make an argument that there are “57 states” in the United States.

Daily Kos: Conservative Blogger Needs Geography Lesson

MSNBC anchor Tamron Hall points out to conservative blogger Matt Lewis that Barack Obama would not be on vacation in Hawaii if he needed to be in Chicago to do damage control on the Blago report being released tomorrow.

After conceding that the report was likely to be no big deal, Lewis offers up a tin foil theory explaining Obama’s vacation: “You could make an argument,” Lewis says, “that if he wants it to appear to not be a big deal, that he would be out of the country.”

Now I know it’s fashionable on the right to claim that Obama isn’t American, but someone really needs to tell Lewis that Hawaii is actually part of the United States — it’s not some foreign land. Just ask anyone about Pearl Harbor.

Gee….where was the Daily Kos post calling out Barack Obama…their “chosen one”, when he claimed that America was comprised of 57 states?

nutroots, blogs, obama, daily kos, hawaii, geography, 57 ststes, Matt Lewis

James Carville is begging for donations to help fund Media Matters, the far left smear machine Hillary Clinton helped to create.

TheHill.com - Carville soliciting help for Media Matters

Democratic strategist James Carville, using Secretary of State nominee Hillary Rodham Clinton’s e-mail list, sent out an e-mail Friday trying to recruit supporters and donations for Media Matters for America, the liberal media watchdog group.

As the Democrats continue to unravel a NY Senator-elect Hirram Monserrate figures he would contribute to the the unraveling by assaulting his girlfriend

The Daily Politics - NY Daily News

Senator-elect Hirram Monserrate was arrested early this morning after he brought a woman believed to be his girlfriend to Long Island Jewish Hospital with severe lacerations on her face that will require multiple sitches to close, sources confirmed.

Monserrate and his girlfriend arrived at the hospital at approximately 4:30 a.m. where he was detained for questioning and subsequently arrested, according to an NYPD source. The incident occurred at an apartment at 37-20 83rd St. in Jackson Heights, Queens.

Monserrate was charged with assault one.

UPDATE: More details on the incident: It involved a beer bottle, which Monserrate allegedly used to cut his girlfriend, Karla Giraldo, 30, in or around her left eye so badly that she required 20 to 40 stiches.

HIRAM MONSERRATE - City Room Blog - NYTimes.com

Officials said that Mr. Monserrate had taken his girlfriend, Karla Giraldo, 30, to Long Island Jewish Medical Center with what appeared to be a serious injury in or around her left eye.

Ms. Giraldo told hospital staff members that it was Mr. Monserrate who had assaulted her, officials said. It appeared that she had been punched and slashed in or around her left eye with a shard of glass, and officials said it took 20 to 40 stitches to close the wound. A doctor at the hospital, which straddles the border between Queens and Nassau County, called the police at 4:50 a.m.

MySpace.com - Hiram Monserrate - 100 - Male - Queens, New York - www.myspace.com/hirammonserrate

Hiram Monserrate made history in 2001 when he became the first Latino elected to public office in Queens, winning a seat representing the 21st Council District of Corona, East Elmhurst, Elmhurst and Jackson Heights. Since then, he has brought his unique experience as a Marine, NYPD police officer, and civil rights advocate to the City Council, working to empower and protect all New Yorkers.

democrats, crime, new york, senate, monserrate

How long before the same Obama ass kissing media and far left nutroots who claim there is NO WAY Obama could have a thing to do with the Blagojevich scandal try and tie Alaska Governor Sarah Palin to racist emails sent by Alaska state employees?

AP NewsBreak: Alaska investigates racist e-mails - Yahoo! News

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – Alaska officials are investigating racist jokes about President-elect Barack Obama that have been circulating on state government e-mail accounts.

Will Rahm Emanuel be forced to resign as President Obama’s Chief of Staff before he ever even officially move into the position?

No taint seen on Prez-elect, but Rahm Emanuel gave a wishlist for Senate

President-elect Barack Obama’s right-hand man reportedly gave the disgraced Blagojevich administration a list of four women Obama considered acceptable to fill his U.S. Senate seat.

Rahm Emanuel, the Illinois congressman who will serve as Obama’s White House chief of staff, was heard discussing the issue on court-approved wiretaps with Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s chief of staff, the Chicago Tribune said.

TPM would be the place where convicted felon and laft wing partisian hack John Dean would go to post an open letter to Barack Obama how to not look so guilty in the Governor Blagojevich / Senate seat scandal.

Talking Points Memo | Open Letter to President-Elect Obama

I am writing with a suggestion that might help to remove you and your new administration from the still metastasizing scandal of Governor Blagojevich trying to sell your senate seat. Needless to say, until the news media is satisfied that you and your new administration have no complicity in this matter, they will continue to focus on it. Because of my own personal experience with Watergate, the mother of modern presidential scandals, not to mention being a student of scandals that followed, I speak as someone who learned the hard way by making mistakes and then watched as others made their own similar and unnecessary blunders.

It may be hard for Obama to “remove” himself from the Blagojevich scandal if he and or his newly appointed cabinet members like David Axelrod or Rahm Emanuel are directly involved .

Report: Emanuel talked to Blago about seat - UPI.com

White House chief of staff-designate Rahm Emanuel spoke to Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich about President-elect Barack Obama’s Senate seat, sources say.

Emuanel spoke to Blagojevich about who would be acceptable to Obama as a replacement for him in the U.S. Senate, which the Illinois governor has the right to appoint to fill out the term, Saturday’s Chicago Tribune quoted unnamed sources as saying.

With Barack Obama claiming the trophy of change, I wonder how much will change having the Seinor Advisor with what may be the most corporate connections in history.

And with the FCC, Fairness Doctrine, Net Neutrality all looming, how will Axelrod and his ties to companies such as AT&T, Cablevision and ComEd affect the Obama administration and it’s policies on energy and communication?

The Secret Side of David Axelrod - BusinessWeek

Axelrod operates a second business, ASK Public Strategies, that discreetly plots strategy and advertising campaigns for corporate clients to tilt public opinion their way. He and his partners consider virtually everything about ASK to be top secret, from its client roster and revenue to even the number of its employees. But customers and public records confirm that it has quarterbacked campaigns for the Chicago Children’s Museum, ComEd, Cablevision, and AT&T.

Obama-Biden Transition Team announces more White House staff - Change.gov

David Axelrod served as President-elect Obama’s Chief Strategist during the presidential campaign, and led Obama’s 2004 Senate campaign. A native of New York City, Axelrod graduated from the University of Chicago and spent eight years as a reporter for the Chicago Tribune, where he covered national, state, and local politics and became the youngest political writer and columnist in the paper’s history. Leaving journalism in 1984, Axelrod managed Paul Simon’s upset victory over incumbent U.S. Senator Charles Percy of Illinois. In 1985, he founded Axelrod & Associates, a political consulting firm known today as AKP&D Message and Media. Axelrod has worked for leading Democrats across the country, including Senators Hillary Clinton, Chris Dodd, and Herb Kohl, as well as Governor Tom Vilsack of Iowa, Governor Deval Patrick of Massachusetts, Congressman Rahm Emanuel of Illinois, and Mayor Richard Daley of Chicago, along with mayors of big cities across the country. He is married to Susan Axelrod, president and founder of Citizens United for Research in Epilepsy (CURE). They have three grown children.

Axelrod’s Other Job | NBC Chicago

“Mr. Axelrod’s corporate work has remained largely obscured - his clients’ names were removed from his firm’s Web site several years ago, part of a series of revisions that minimized details of that side of his business,” the Times found.

“The identities of some of his past clients appeared in the press over the last year, including AT&T, Cablevision and the University of Chicago Medical Center. A fuller picture emerges from a review of public records, including an archived version of his Web site that contains an early list of companies and organizations his firm has worked with.

Axelrod to join Obama White House - Crain’s

A press release announcing the appointment did not indicate whether he will dispose of his interest in his consulting firm, AKP&D Message and Media.

Campaign Pledge on Ethics Could Become Obstacle to Filling White House Jobs - NYTimes.com

David Axelrod, Mr. Obama’s top campaign strategist and another likely candidate for a White House job, is not a lobbyist either. But he is a partner in a public advocacy group that has helped corporate clients including the telecommunications companies AT&T, Cablevision and SBC Communications; Household Financial, a subprime mortgage lender; Wisconsin Energy, a coal-fired power company; the nuclear power giant Exelon; and a coalition that pushes deregulation of the electricity markets.

David Axelrod and company AKP&D

David Axelrod - Sourcewatch.com

obama, axelrod, akp&d, senior advisor, white house