Posted on 05/08/2010 5:02:14 AM PDT by maggief
E-mails and other records of Dr. Eric Whitaker -- one of President Obama's best friends -- have been subpoenaed by a federal grand jury, the Chicago Sun-Times has learned.
The investigation involves "faith-based initiatives" and health-awareness campaigns funded by the Illinois Department of Public Health when Whitaker ran the agency for former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, according to copies of subpoenas obtained under the state's Freedom of Information Act.
Obama has said he recommended Whitaker for that job, which Whitaker landed in April 2003. The president's friend resigned in October 2007 to join Obama's wife, Michelle, as an executive at the University of Chicago Medical Center.
(Excerpt) Read more at suntimes.com ...
Ping!
Hmmmmm ...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2509284/posts
W.H. waives ethics rules for counsel (Robt Bauer)
Politico ^ | 5-7-10
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2509008/posts
White House Deputy Counsel Resigns
new york times ^ | May 7, 2010 | CHARLIE SAVAGE
Gosh, it would be such a shame if this investigation uncovered a trail of state money flowing to Whitaker that culminated in sizable donations to Obama’s presidential campaign (which curiously began in January 2007, the very starting date of documents being subpoenaed).
Or some similar tidy arrangement that “enriched” Michelle Obama through her overpaid hospital job. Such a rich network of corruption, so little time...
Bob Bauer, husband of Mao admirer Anita Dunn, mentor of Baghad Bob Gibbs
a pot of stinking ooze has filled our govt
ruh roh
more chicagocides on the horizon...
IIRC, Mrs. Wookie’s salary suddenly tripled when her husband became a senator. Probably just a coincidence. Happens all the time. Or, at least whenever Chicago politicians can get with arm’s reach of public funds.
*IL Politics Ping*
The FBI needs a full time crew like the Untouchables investigating their politicians until the place is clean. Now - there is a jobs program I could support.
“Mrs. Wookie’s salary suddenly tripled when her husband became a senator.”
I’ve never seen a shred of evidence that the hospital thought that it didn’t get a very handsome return on its “investment” in a Chicago senator’s wife. Money is the mother’s milk of politics and Chicago apparently is the land of milk and honey.
Whitaker chief of staff also subpoened...Quin Golden...
http://romanticpoet.wordpress.com/2010/05/08/obama-pal-part-of-federal-probe/
quin golden is niece of danny davis...
http://secondeffort.blogspot.com/2008/11/fearless-election-prediction-obama-will.html
That explains a lot.
: o /
In 2003, Obama -- then an Illinois state senator, gave a "glowing" reference for Whitaker to Tony Rezko -- the now-convicted political fixer who helped Blagojevich find people to run state agencies.
Corrupt Chicago group
The list, ping
The Leftist media was not interested in exposing the Democrat cesspool of corruption in Chicago before the ‘08 election. They certainly will not cover it now, when BO’s polls are tanking and the Dems nationwide are in deep do-do. It will be up to the conservative media to pound this home before Nov.
2008 FR thread:
Obama’s pal Eric Whitaker, his Tony Rezko tie
http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2008/10/obamas_pal_eric_whitaker_his_t.html ^ | October 28, 2008 | Lynn Sweet
Posted on Tuesday, December 23, 2008 6:14:14 PM by Shermy
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2153466/posts
PolitiPage.com
One of Obama’s closest friends, Dr. Eric Whitaker, under investigation
Posted by Jeff J Latest News May 9, 2010
E-mails and other records of Dr. Eric Whitaker — one of President Obama’s best friends — have been subpoenaed by a federal grand jury, the Chicago Sun-Times has learned.
The investigation involves “faith-based initiatives” and health-awareness campaigns funded by the Illinois Department of Public Health when Whitaker ran the agency for former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, according to copies of subpoenas obtained under the state’s Freedom of Information Act.
Obama has said he recommended Whitaker for that job, which Whitaker landed in April 2003. The president’s friend resigned in October 2007 to join Obama’s wife, Michelle, as an executive at the University of Chicago Medical Center.
http://politipage.com/2010/05/09/one-of-obamas-closest-friends-dr-eric-whitaker-under-investigation/
Bump for later. I need a scorecard. Sigh.
April 27, 2010
Presidential playdate
President Obama hit the links over the weekend in Asheville, N.C., and one of his foursome was Dr. Eric Whitaker of the University of Chicago Medical Center. Whitaker and Obama have been friends since they were students at Harvard.
******
Dr. Eric Whitaker, an urban health care pioneer and self-described “country doc” who goes back more than 15 years with Obama, and whose personal and professional life is closely interwoven with the 44th president’s.
Since Obama’s victory, Whitaker has hit the links, the gym, the basketball court, the beach and the zoo with the president-elect.
He’s also been grazed by some of the scandals that touched Obama — with fleeting references to Whitaker during the Tony Rezko corruption trial and Obama’s review of contacts with Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Whitaker has, at times, bristled under the spotlight reflected from his good friend but has grudgingly become a kind of gatekeeper and spokesman for Obama’s inner circle.
Whitaker’s ideas likely will be reflected in Obama’s health care plans, which makes sense given that Obama once recommended Whitaker as director of the Illinois Department of Public Health.
After leaving the department for the University of Chicago hospital in 2007, Whitaker expanded an effort — first pushed by Michelle Obama — to steer uninsured patients with non-life-threatening conditions from the hospital’s emergency room to local clinics. Expanding health clinics in poor neighborhoods is almost certain to be part of Obama’s plan.
Obama had vouched for Whitaker’s candidacy for state health director with Rezko, who prosecutors alleged engineered a pay-to-play scheme with Blagojevich.
The trial focused partly on Rezko’s use of a state board his associates controlled to try to extract kickbacks for state contracts to build new hospitals. Whitaker’s department provided the board’s staff and budget.
Obama in March told the Sun-Times that Whitaker “had expressed an interest in that job. He did contact me, or Tony contacted me, and I gave him a glowing recommendation because I thought he was outstanding.”
Then, in August, Whitaker was mentioned in a Washington Post story highlighting criticism of the University of Chicago hospital’s emergency-room-to-clinic initiative, as well as the role that a public relations firm co-owned by Obama political guru David Axelrod played in promoting it.
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