Did Obama Accept a Bribe as State Senator?

Posted on October 30, 2008

The quid pro quo on this is simple: Obama took a $10,000 bribe from Yehudah for using his position in the state senate to throw a $75,000 grant to Yehudah’s nonprofit organization. People here in Chicago say this was obvious politics in Illinois: where Obama agreed to get Yehudah a grant, but Obama’s fee for this transaction was $10,000 to pay off his campaign debt.

Yehudah’s nonproft later came under investigation, and Obama panicked: he dumped $5,000 of the bribe money he took over to Yehudah as fast as he could after that.

Hillbuzz gets the info from an article in the LA Times from last year by Dan Morain.

As a presidential candidate, Obama has been critical of the congressional system of doling out money for pet projects. But he is no stranger to pork-barrel politics and the practice of spreading government money around his district. In Springfield he once directed state funds to a nonprofit group headed by a Republican and former ballot foe, Yesse B. Yehudah.

Yehudah barely registered a ripple of meaningful opposition, drawing only 10% of the vote in his 1998 challenge of Obama.

The following year, a nonprofit run by Yehudah, a social services organization called Fulfilling Our Responsibility Unto Mankind, began seeking state support. At the same time, Obama was considering mounting an ambitious challenge to U.S. Rep. Bobby L. Rush, a fellow Democrat.

Former foe Yehudah stepped up early to help. In November 1999, five people who worked for the Republican’s nonprofit organization each gave $1,000 checks to Obama’s congressional campaign committee. Yehudah makes no secret of his goal.

“We want [politicians] to know that when we sit down, we’re serious,” Yehudah said. “They know it when a $1,000 check comes in.”

Obama lost his congressional bid. President Clinton backed incumbent Rush, who received twice as many primary votes as Obama. Obama was left with a $40,000 debt.

Later that year, Yehudah associates pitched in an additional $5,000 to help retire Obama’s debt. The contributions were recorded on Oct. 7, 2000, three days after the Illinois Senate, at Obama’s behest, approved a $75,000 state grant to Yehudah’s nonprofit, state records show.

In an interview, Yehudah said the commitment for the grant was secured months earlier, in July. He called timing of the donations a coincidence.

The donations were modest by political standards, as was Obama’s relatively small assist to the nonprofit group of his ex-rival and new benefactor. But in Illinois, “government actions often occur around the time of campaign donations,” said Stewart of the Better Government Assn. “The answer is always the same: It’s always a coincidence.”

Obama spokesman Bill Burton said there was no connection between the campaign donations and the grant to Yehudah’s organization. “Of course not,” he said.

By 2002, Obama was preparing for his next challenge, a run for the U.S. Senate. Also that year, the Illinois attorney general sued Yehudah over allegations of kickbacks unrelated to the state grant. It was settled out of court.

Three days after the suit was filed, Obama returned one batch of donations totaling $5,000.

Read it all…

The media will ignore this unless someone has photo proof of Obama personally putting the cash in his freezer, then they will pay attention like they did when…wait…uh, nevermind.

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