Obama Advisor Valerie Jarrett Linked to Real Estate Scandals

Judicial Watch ^ | 11/14/08 | Press Office

[xtinct]

Jarrett Managed Housing Project Deemed "Uninhabitable"

Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, announced today that it has obtained documents linking Valerie Jarrett, an advisor to Barack Obama and the co-chairman of the President-Elect's transition team, to a series of real estate scandals, including several housing projects operated by convicted felon and Obama fundraiser/friend Antoin "Tony" Rezko.

According to the documents obtained by Judicial Watch from the Illinois Secretary of State, Valerie Jarrett served as a board member for several organizations that provided funding and support for Chicago housing projects operated by real estate developers and Obama financial backers Rezko and Allison Davis. (Davis is also Obama's former boss.) Jarrett was a member of the Board of Directors for the Woodlawn Preservation and Investment Corporation along with several Davis and Rezko associates, as well as the Fund for Community Redevelopment and Revitalization, an organization that worked with Rezko and Davis.

(According to press reports, housing projects operated by Davis and Rezko have been substandard and beset with code violations. The Chicago Sun Times reported that one Rezko-managed housing project was "riddled with problems -- including squalid living conditions...lack of heat, squatters and drug dealers.")

[river rat]

Well, lets look at this Valerie Jarrett:

1- Chicago political insider..
2- African American..
3- Serves on several boards of directors in Chicago.....
4- An aide to Chicago Mayor Richard Daley in the 1990s, she hired Michelle away from her law firm to work for the city.
5- A veteran of Chicago politics, Jarrett got her start working for Harold Washington, the city's first black mayor.
6- Making money on the backs of the poor.

NOW, she's being linked to real estate scandals...
Why the surprise....

[joygrace]

Thank you for making me laugh. I read this article and said to muyself,”corruption in just skin deep but it is bad to the bone.”

This is so revolting, I can barley pick myself up I am so disgusted. What is behind the next curtain? If I don’t laugh, I will cry.

Thank God for “Judicial Watch.” I hope they continue to reveal but who will report? Maybe BHO will address this issue at his first mesmerizing radio address on YouTube. Can’t wait. This is so sad.

[mass55th]

"What knd of water will this be? Whitewater?"

Muddy Water?

[Fred Nerks]

Troubling donations to Barack Obama, starting with Valerie Jarrett

Jarrett is the chief executive of Habitat Company, which managed the controversial Grove Parc Plaza housing complex and co-managed an even larger subsidized complex in Chicago that was seized by the federal government in 2006.

A recent Boston Globe report called many of Grove Parc's units "uninhabitable."

About 99 of the units are vacant, many rendered uninhabitable by unfixed problems, such as collapsed roofs and fire damage. Mice scamper through the halls. Battered mailboxes hang open. Sewage backs up into kitchen sinks. In 2006, federal inspectors graded the condition of the complex an 11 on a 100-point scale - a score so bad the buildings now face demolition.

[SunkenCiv]

Must be some kind of capitalist pig sabotaged the project. /sarc

Thanks Fred.

[fieldmarshaldj]

In other words, she’s fully qualified to be the next rodent Senator from Illinois. It would be embarrassing if Jarrett was found to have ethics.

[divine_moment_of_facts]

Half the Country didn't care about Obama and Corruption before the election.. They are even less likely to care about it now.. Obama will fail miserably and they will blame President Bush.

[khnyny]

Oh, but Valerie Jarrett is just trying to “give back” don’t you know....lol.

The woman was born in Iran and not only is she mired in Chicago politics but her family (starting with her maternal Grandfather) is as well. Robert Rochon Taylor was a pioneer in public housing and was the first black man to head the Chicago Housing Authority in the forties.

She’s like a black version of Nancy Pelosi.

[Fred Nerks]

scroll down for video:

http://www.iranian.com/main/singlepage/2008/valerie-jarrett

[joygrace]

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/06/27/grim_proving_ground_for_obamas_housing_policy/?page=2

Extensive article about Valerie Jarrett in the Boston Globe last Summer.

Will MSM just pass this by too? I think this deserves another look. I guess she didn’t have to fill out one of BHO questionaires. Lucky for her.

Sarcasm helps mask utter despair and bewilderment.

[JrsyJack]

About 99 of the units are vacant, many rendered uninhabitable by unfixed problems, such as collapsed roofs and fire damage. Mice scamper through the halls. Battered mailboxes hang open. Sewage backs up into kitchen sinks. In 2006, federal inspectors graded the condition of the complex an 11 on a 100-point scale - a score so bad the buildings now face demolition.

Bush's fault

[JrsyJack]

She’s like a black version of Nancy Pelosi.

Without the natural good looks and intelligence

[JrsyJack]

"What knd of water will this be? Whitewater?"

Ghettogate

[Fred Nerks]

Grim proving ground for Obama's housing policy.LINK HERE.

Excerpt:

...The campaign did not respond to questions about whether Obama was aware of the problems with buildings in his district during his time as a state senator, nor did it comment on the roles played by people connected to the senator.

Among those tied to Obama politically, personally, or professionally are:

Valerie Jarrett, a senior adviser to Obama's presidential campaign and a member of his finance committee. Jarrett is the chief executive of Habitat Co., which managed Grove Parc Plaza from 2001 until this winter and co-managed an even larger subsidized complex in Chicago that was seized by the federal government in 2006, after city inspectors found widespread problems.

Allison Davis, a major fund-raiser for Obama's US Senate campaign and a former lead partner at Obama's former law firm. Davis, a developer, was involved in the creation of Grove Parc and has used government subsidies to rehabilitate more than 1,500 units in Chicago, including a North Side building cited by city inspectors last year after chronic plumbing failures resulted in raw sewage spilling into several apartments.

Antoin "Tony" Rezko, perhaps the most important fund-raiser for Obama's early political campaigns and a friend who helped the Obamas buy a home in 2005. Rezko's company used subsidies to rehabilitate more than 1,000 apartments, mostly in and around Obama's district, then refused to manage the units, leaving the buildings to decay to the point where many no longer were habitable.

Campaign finance records show that six prominent developers - including Jarrett, Davis, and Rezko - collectively contributed more than $175,000 to Obama's campaigns over the last decade and raised hundreds of thousands more from other donors. Rezko alone raised at least $200,000, by Obama's own accounting.

One of those contributors, Cecil Butler, controlled Lawndale Restoration, the largest subsidized complex in Chicago, which was seized by the government in 2006 after city inspectors found more than 1,800 code violations.

Butler and Davis did not respond to messages. Rezko is in prison; his lawyer did not respond to inquiries.

Jarrett, a powerful figure in the Chicago development community, agreed to be interviewed but declined to answer questions about Grove Parc, citing what she called a continuing duty to Habitat's former business partners. She did, however, defend Obama's position that public-private partnerships are superior to public housing...

[infowarrior]

this is the woman who is supposed to be “the other side” of BHObama’s brain...

And also the woman who publicly said that Obama was ready to "rule" from day one. Never forget this, as it clearly demonstrates both her mindset, and more importantly, *his*...

the infowarrior

[mass55th]

"Ghettogate"

Excellent one.

[Elkiejg]

Who Is Valerie Jarrett?

By The Prowler on 8.26.08 @ 12:08AM

One advantage of a big, media-focused convention is that so many shadowy campaign "insiders" seek the spotlight. In Denver, one of Sen. Barack Obama's closest advisers has been making the media rounds: Valerie Jarrett. Jarrett has been part of Obama's inner circle since his days as an Illinois state senator. She identifies herself as a Chicago businesswoman, but according to Obama campaign advisers, she is much more than that.

She is Iranian-American, for one thing, and the Obama campaign has sought to keep her ties to Iran from press views, as it has also sought to keep her political background and deep and tangled business and personal relationship to the Obama family from sight. For example, while it's true that Jarrett is a business executive, she also has been a well-known political operative for Chicago Democrats back to her days working in the background as an adviser to late Chicago mayor Harold Washington, as well as the Daley family.

"She knows where are all the bodies have been buried in the past 30 or so years of Chicago politics and she knows all the tricks," says one longtime Democrat political consultant in Chicago. "If Obama had a political and financial godmother, it would be Valerie."

Jarrett, according to friends, gave Michelle Obama professional advice before she married Obama, and helped her with jobs. But more important, say Chicago Democrats who know Jarrett and Obama's history, and why the Obama campaign has desperately sought to keep Jarrett's role in the campaign under wraps, Jarrett may be to Obama what James McDougal was to Bill and Hillary Clinton. McDougall, a central figure in the Clinton's Whitewater Scandal, gave the Clintons the financial wherewithal to raise their national political visibility. "Jarrett has done that for Barack and Michelle three or four times over," says one insider, noting that Jarrett served as the CEO of a housing development company.

And Obama has returned the favor:

Jarrett is the chief executive of Habitat Co., which developed and managed large housing projects in and around Chicago -- and in Obama's state legislative district -- that were subsidized by federal and state housing dollars, and which were ultimately seized by federal authorities for what were unlivable conditions. While overseeing the company that managed these housing facilities, Jarrett also worked with long-time Obama friend and convicted felon Tony Rezko in raising money for Obama's political career.

Obama campaign advisers have sought to have Jarrett fully vetted by the campaign to prepare for opposition research from the McCain campaign, fearing that she may have deeper and longstanding ties to financial entities associated with the subprime mortgage scandal.

"That and her ties to Chicago politicians and her Iranian background, and you have a potential nightmare," says a Democrat media consultant who worked for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. "Say what you want about Hillary, but she didn't have that kind of a triple threat on her team."

Iran is an enemy of the US. How can Jarrett receive security clearance? Is she american or not?

[Impy]

And this was known before the election.