November 6, 2007
Obama hypocrisy on transparency
Lynn Sweet of the Chicago Sun-Times notes that while Barack Obama is making government transparency a centerpiece of this phase of his campaign, his own record of disclosure is somewhat lacking:
- An Obama spokesman, Ben Labolt, last week declined to say where Obama's records from his years in the Illinois State Senate are located. There is no law mandating the state to archive the records. The records from Obama's office -- if he kept them -- would potentially show appointments with lobbyists, policy memos, meetings, etc.
- Obama has supported more earmark disclosure to bolster government transparency. Last June, Obama disclosed the earmarks he requested for Illinois and national interests. However, his office, after repeated requests since June, has yet to disclose earmarks Obama sought in 2006, before he was running for president.
- Obama does list the names of hundreds of bundlers -- people committed to raising at least $50,000 for the campaign -- on his Web site. He brags about the disclosure on the stump.
But that's literally all Obama does, list a name. No cities or states, information that is available to his campaign. Some names are well known because the bundlers are celebrities or longtime activists. But it's a big country, and there are more than one Bob Clark and Lou Cohen. Just listing a name does lip service to meaningful disclosure. [....]
- Obama's campaign has refused to identify the biggest bundlers, people who are raising at least $200,000 for him and are given membership in his National Finance Council. Obama, as all major candidates, declines most of the time to disclose details about most fund-raising events.
- During a town hall meeting last month in Dover, N.H., Obama pledged that he would post all meetings he would hold as president on the Internet. As a senator, Obama has never done that.
FOLLOW US ON
Recent Articles
- Katy Perry, Astronautesse and Unifying Force
- Small Business and Cybersecurity
- No One Is Above the Law—Including Letitia James
- Ready for Your Home to Become a Government School?
- Iran and the Failure of Collective Security
- Pam Bondi and the Genesis of Black Lives Matter
- Bill Maher Dines with Trump
- A ‘Hands Off’ Revealed Lots Of Anger But Not Much Coherent Thought
- Trump’s National Security Emergency Investigation Into Election Fraud Is Ongoing
- The Left’s Class Action Coup Against Immigration Law
Blog Posts
- Kilmar Abrego Garcia: The hand of Soros in the left's lionization of this illegal?
- In maniacally woke Britain, the Supreme Court recognizes biological sex
- A deplorable explains the animosity for Trump as he cleans up Biden’s messes
- Karmelo Anthony is OJ Simpson all over again
- We should beware of terrorists in suits and ties
- Karmelo Anthony’s family starts selling merch, and his fixer pushes ‘celebrity’ status with a bizarre social media video
- Harvard tells Trump to give it money or it’ll shoot the monkey
- Democrats infatuated with criminals and gang members — American citizens? Not so much
- Media scream: ‘Trump is coming for your coffee!’
- Exactly how hard do we want our legislatures to work?
- Rubio brings free speech back to foreign (and domestic) policy
- The erasure of Easter
- Red states rising
- Senator Van Hollen should get some tips from Bukele about keeping Baltimore safe
- Troll: Trump releases docs on foreign gang member a primping senator is trying to bring back from foreign prison