Jonathan Alter met Barack Obama in January 2002, when the future president came to a funeral service for his aunt.
The Newsweek columnist, whose family has been involved in Chicago politics, said his cousins kept saying he needed to interview the young politician.
http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=B17BC274-18FE-70B2-A88097B1B33BC87F
Jamie Lynton — The sister of Newsweek columnist Jonathan Alter and wife of Sony Pictures Entertainment CEO Michael Lynton, Jamie Lynton was raised in Chicago, where her mom, the late Joanne Alter — the first female Democrat elected in Cook County, according to her obit — spotted Obama in 2003 and convinced her daughter to support him. As a result, Lynton co-hosted an early fundraiser for Obama’s Senate bid in 2004 in addition to hosting a presidential campaign event early last year, when most showbiz types were still supporting Hillary Rodham Clinton. Will.i.am, who composed the viral video for “Yes, We Can,” met Obama during a fundraiser at Lynton’s home and, while she doesn’t pretend to be a close, personal friend, she can certainly claim to be one of Obama’s first and most fervent L.A. supporters.
Nicole Avant — One of Obama’s major fundraisers in Southern California (along with co-finance chairman Charles Rivkin and full-time staffers Jeremy Bernard and Rufus Gifford), Avant had boundless energy and networking savvy that gave her a special “in” with the candidate, more of one than her colleagues had, in many cases. (Indeed, the half-true joke around L.A. was, “He only talks to Nicole.”) Her dad, soul music legend Clarence Avant, was a major force at Motown Records and eventually applied his deal-making prowess to politics, growing close to Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton as well as state power players such as Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.).
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/nov/24/obamas-big-tent-leaves-out-gop-leaders/
Reports emerged Monday that Hollywood will be in the house: DreamWorks partners David Geffen, Steven Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg, along with Sony Pictures Entertainment Chairman Michael Lynton and WME Entertainment Agency co-CEO Ari Emanuel, will attend, according to deadline.com.
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(no link)
Enid Long, 71; helped relocate refugees - Gold Coast resident hosted TV show, was on Columbia College board
Chicago Sun-Times - Thursday, January 31, 2002
Author: Gary Wisby ; Refugee worker, ambassador's wife, college trustee, TV hostess—Enid Long was comfortable in every role.
(snip)
In 1959, she married Chicago attorney William Rivkin, who served as U.S. ambassador to Luxembourg and Senegal. After his death in Senegal in 1967, she founded the Rivkin Award, presented annually by the American Foreign Service Association to a mid-level foreign service officer.
After marrying John Long in 1971, she completed her bachelor's degree, graduating from Columbia College in communications in 1973. She was a trustee of the college until her illness forced her to resign.
Survivors include husband John Long; two daughters, Laura Ledford and Julia Wheeler; another son, Charles Rivkin; a sister, Joanne Alter; 10 grandchildren; six stepchildren; 21 stepgrandchildren, and one step-great-grandchild.
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(no link)
Favorite sons call in big guns in high-priced race for Senate - Gery Chico is hoping to raise $8 million and is off to a fast start.
Chicago Sun-Times - Wednesday, August 20, 2003
Author: Steve Neal
EXCERPT
State Sen. Barack Obama, who is regarded by the Hynes camp as a threat, is consolidating his base in the African-American community and among lakefront and suburban independents. His finance committee includes real estate developers Penny Pritzker and Tony Rezko; philanthropist Irving B. Harris; former FCC Commissioner Newton Minow; John Rogers, chairman and chief executive officer of Ariel Capital Management; former U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Abner Mikva; former Democratic National Committeewomen Joanne Alter and Marjorie Benton; Bettylu Saltzman, former Chicago chief of staff to Sen. Paul Simon, and former Sara Lee chief executive officer John Bryan.
http://www.whorunsgov.com/Profiles/Robert_S._Rivkin
Robert S. Rivkin
Current Position: Department of Transportation General Counsel (since April 2009)
Adding another member to the long list of Chicagoans in the Obama administration, Rivkin comes aboard the Department of Transportation (DOT) as its chief legal counsel. He’ll also be a close adviser to Secretary of Transportation Raymond H. Lahood.
Rivkin, whose father worked in government as an U.S. ambassador from 1962 to 1967, has spent years as both a private lawyer and public servant. Early in the 2000s, Rivkin spent some time as the general counsel to the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA), where he worked under current White House senior adviser Valerie Jarrett when she served as CTA’s chairwoman. While at the CTA, Rivkin helped obtain over $400 million in funding from the federal government to renovate the fastest-growing subway line in the Chicago area.
(snip)
Wonder how much money these same folks have invested in the whole cap n trade legislation and globull warming(i.e. The Chicago Climate Exchange)? What a nest of self dealing vipers!
EXCELLENT WORK, MAGGIE !!!
Explains the heaping pile of spittle and drool,
blaming Bush, and total brown nosing, justifications,
rationalizations and obvious hero worship of
-0 on last night’s Charlie Rose interview of
Alter.
http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/11045
(click on the smug mug of Alter)
He was one of the ‘chosen’ so-called journalists
who were given private and totally unethical
access to -0, like Mark Halperin and John Heileman,
to stow their integrity and keep inside knowledge
from the public in order to make $$ with their
books.
Presstitutes, indeed.