Posted on 10/27/2009 6:35:29 PM PDT by jazusamo
During his first nine months in office, President Obama has quietly rewarded scores of top Democratic donors with VIP access to the White House, private briefings with administration advisers and invitations to important speeches and town-hall meetings.
High-dollar fundraisers have been promised access to senior White House officials in exchange for pledges to donate $30,400 personally or to bundle $300,000 in contributions ahead of the 2010 midterm elections, according to internal Democratic National Committee documents obtained by The Washington Times.
Top donors described in interviews with The Times how they were given a birthday visit to the Oval Office and allowed use of a White House-complex bowling alley for their family. Bundlers closest to the president were invited to watch a movie in the red-walled theater in the basement of the presidential mansion.
Mr. Obama invited his top New York bundler, UBS Americas CEO Robert Wolf, to golf with him during the president's Martha Vineyard vacation in August and that at least 39 donors and fundraisers also were treated to a lavish White House reception on St. Patrick's Day where the fountains on the north and south lawns were dyed green, photos and video reviewed by The Times and CBS News also show.
Presidential aides insist there has been no systematic effort to use the White House complex to aid fundraising, though they acknowledge the DNC has paid for some events at the presidential mansion.
~snip~
Since taking office, Mr. Obama has pledged that his administration will be "the most open and transparent administration in history" and has agreed to make public the names of those who sign into White House visitor logs, though a request from The Washington Times for logs that show visits from his top 45 bundlers has so far gone unfilled.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
The president surely wouldn't mislead people, would he? /sarc
Isn’t that FOIA info....???
Pay to play, the Chicago way.
I don’t know that it is but if it is they sure aren’t turning it over.
Depends on your definition of Transparent!! Maybe he meant that his adminsitration would be more open to parents of transvestites? Maybe he meant that it would be more open to transvestites who have children! Maybe he meant something completely different? Who knows its and Obama World after all.
bump
And we thought bubba renting out the Lincoln bedroom was outrageous.
Yep, you suppose they had Murtha show them how to pull it off?
WTF?
“Mr. Obama invited his top New York bundler, UBS Americas CEO Robert Wolf, to golf with him during the president’s Martha Vineyard vacation in August”
Are the Feds not going after UBS as part of the Swiss bank account investigation?
Pay to play?
The Cloak of Transparency
Sounds like they are channelling Bill Clinton...
The list, ping
BARFer of an article, but there’s this ...
http://www.npr.org/blogs/politicaljunkie/2009/09/obama_reverses_course_will_rel.html
The White House statement adds, “Aside from a small group of appointments that cannot be disclosed because of national security imperatives or their necessarily confidential nature (such as a visit by a possible Supreme Court nominee), the record of every visitor who comes to the White House for an appointment, a tour, or to conduct business will be released.”
However, this new policy will only cover visitors to the White House beginning Sept. 15. Those who visited from Jan. 20 through Sept. 15 will not be part of this policy change. The Associated Press reports that the White House’s counsel office “will respond to individual requests for records during that time, but only if those requests are deemed to be reasonable, narrow and specific.”
Last I heard they were and pay to play seems to fit pretty well.
Looks like they’re going to keep those big donors names to themselves, not too surprising I guess.
This needs to get more publicity.
Figured it was going on but didn’t know the details until now.
(Zero’s administration is heavily populated with Clintonistas who know very well how to use the White House to raise campaign funds.)
But we do need the NAMES of the people coming in and out of the White House from this most transparent administration in history / sarcasm.
(Did President Bush EVER do this? I know he had guests, but award money donaters with WH Bowling????)
I think I’ll post in on the Glenn Beck thread today.
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