Enter, Barraki!
Posted on 03/08/2007 5:17:15 AM PST by Chi-townChief
WASHINGTON -- White House hopeful Barack Obama was on the defensive Wednesday over stock purchases from companies whose investors included his political donors.
And Obama revealed that he terminated a "quasi-blind" trust he created for the stock purchases -- called the "Freedom Trust" -- after realizing that it wasn't blind after all.
Obama's campaign team ramped up a rapid reaction defense after a story about his portfolio hit the front page of Wednesday's New York Times and was the subject of scrutiny Monday on thestreet.com.
Denies any connection The political damage potential is high because one of the firms Obama bought stock in was developing medicine to treat avian flu -- with the purchase coming as Obama started to champion more federal funding to fight the disease. Obama, who has made ethics one of his signature issues, took questions at a news conference in the Capitol called originally to tout an immigration bill. He denied any connection between his investments and legislation. Meanwhile, Obama's research team -- aware that every part of his life is under a microscope -- turned up unpaid parking tickets from his days as a Harvard law student. In January, an Obama representative paid $400 in fines and penalties, according to the Somerville News.
Here's the situation:
Investing the book windfall: "This was not a lot of money," Obama said.
Obama had about $100,000 he wanted to invest in 2005. The money was a portion of the $1.2 million he got from a book contract. He said Wednesday he decided the $100,000 could be put into something "more high risk" and asked a friend to recommend a stock broker. That friend was donor George W. Haywood, who held what the New York Times called "major" positions in the two stocks Obama ended up owning, Skyterra and AVI BioPharma.
Another Obama donor who invested in the same stocks -- which were characterized as "obscure" in thestreet.com story -- was Jared Abbruzzese. He was also a donor to the anti-John Kerry Swift Boat Veterans for Truth and is being investigated by the FBI in New York for public corruption. Obama declined to name the UBS broker. Net loss on the investments: $13,000.
"I thought about going to Warren Buffett, but I decided it would be embarrassing with only $100,000 to invest to ask for his advice," Obama quipped.
The 'quasi-blind' trust: "Now obviously the thing didn't work the way I wanted it to," Obama said.
The Senate Ethics manual has detailed rules about blind trusts and qualified blind trusts. Obama did not want to sign on to either of those options because he did not want to wash his hands of the responsibility of investments made in his name, attorney Robert Bauer said.
Because the off-the-shelf trusts were not satisfactory, "We tried to see if we could jigger it to make it work better," Obama said. He signed papers on May 31, 2005, for the custom trust designed to shield him from knowing how his money was invested -- but let him respond to media inquiries about potential conflicts. Obama realized his system was not working when he received some sort of shareholder letter in fall 2005.
Katten Muchin Rosenman attorney Michael Hartz in Chicago drew up the papers for and was the trustee of the "Freedom Trust." Bauer said this particular kind of trust did not require any clearance from the Senate Ethics Committee because he did not ask to be relieved from any reporting rule. Bill Allison, a senior fellow at the Sunlight Foundation, said that if any kind of blind trust was created, "you should have the Ethics Committee sign off on it."
The trust was revoked on Dec. 31, 2005. Obama put his money in cash and mutual funds.
mailto:lsweet3022@aol.com
Buttcrack Hussein would've been better off to remain a low-profile guy in Congress. Now that he's running for president all of his dirty deals, investment scams, and billionaire-like lifestyle are being found out.
As usual, and this he shares in common with the entire American Left, socialism for everyone else, capitalism for him.
"He won't be clean for long".---
I don't know about that---the more he's attacked, the more his Hollywood supporters at least, will tend to come forward like Geffen, as they should. The Clintons , true to form, has pissed off LOTS of early supporters, for a whole variety of reasons---people who invested their starry-eyed idealism in Bill Clinton only to have it spit on, are now ready to invest that same idealism in Obama.
That investment is bound to be equally squandered by Obama, but they don't know that yet. For the time being, Obama should have learned a valuable lesson that , if he plays his cards right, as he draws the ire of Team Clinton, there are a whole host of allies who will rush to his corner, willing to EXPOSE the machinations of the nascent Hillary campaign, as she tries to undermine a fellow Democrat. This may reach critical mass sooner rather than later, however, and in a few months we may actually witness Hillary trying to "make nice" with Obama, as she looks about and ponders.....oh, I don't know.....ponders.....uhhhh....a possible choice of a running mate, ,maybe?
Obama strikes me as a film noirish character: furtive, hidden troubled past, connected with sneaky characters... and now money issues.
Typical Chicago Democrap politician.
Not cool enough for film noir but some think he's a "GOP Trojan Horse" >>>
"It seems to me, everyone is missing the forest for the trees. Forget the investments, why are people who backed the Swift Boat campaign backing Obama? And why did the Republicans run a black man who doesn't live in the state against Obama? Is Obama who he says he is, or is he another Al Sharpton, whose presidential bid was entirely backed by right wingers? Maybe Obama isn't the savior of the Democratic party, but a Trojan Horse of the GOP?"
Posted by: Pierre Lehu | March 8, 2007 08:06 PM
http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2007/03/sweet_column_obamas_stock_answ.html
As the child of a Jew and a descendant of African Slaves I am deeply offended by the use of the word "Jigger."
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Don't allow the trauma to turn you into a niggard!
Nice verb to use about an opponent of the Hildebeast.
(Hint: Think of her husband. What comes to mind?)
Cheers!
But they are skillfully using the more-conservative elements of the media to get the message out. This was in the WSJ and the story about his early schooling was in Insight Magazine. That way, the Obama campaign and the MSM can call it a "Republican smear campaign."
Here's my question: Why does a relatively unknown politician from Illinois get a $1.2 million dollar book deal for a book that few have read?
Like Schroeder answered when asked how he could get all of those notes out of a toy piano, "ya gotta get the breaks."
>> Net loss on the investments: $13,000.
So the media is all in a tizzy-fit because of some investments he made that lost $13K? Did I hear that right? It sounds like he didn't get any insider tips. Or if he did then the insider tips weren't very good. BTW its not very well known in political circles but US Senators and Representatives often buy/sell stocks on a regular basis. But like the rest of us they're supposed to NOT get involved in insider trading.
If anything this whole story has the footprint of the Clintons all over it. I'm starting to feel sorry for Obama. He's their big target right now. And those Clintons are very ruthless people. Obama is going to have a long year. I used to be against him running because of the promises he made to not run. But now as I see the ruthlessness that's being thrown at him I hope he can defeat Hillary for their nomination.
Seinfeld once said that an income tax audit is the government equivalent of a colon exam. Ditto for running for higher political office.
Coupling this with his real estate sweetheart deal and you've got a guy that either just recently thought about running for Prez or a guy that has no commonsense to avoid giving major ammo to his enemies ("foreign" and "domestic" on a two-party basis).
Obama - bend over for your close-up.
The Entire Chicago Democrat Machine is a criminal enterprise.
At what point do the People rise up to stop this crap??
the NYSlimes must be in Hitlery's camp as well if they reported this.
to be sure the DIMs and their allies in the media are masters at this. Its time someone woke up the Pubs to return these 'favors'.
"Obama had about $100,000 he wanted to invest in 2005. The money was a portion of the $1.2 million he got from a book contract. "
Normal people don't get 1.2 million for a book contract. These things are always slush funds.
That depends on how close of "family" Daddy Bush and Bubba Clinton actually are.
Obama wasn't even a blip on the Klinton's radar screen back yonder.
There are traitors placed in the FBI that are happy to keep the klinton's informed about current opponents.
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