Obama Investigated for Corruption. WOW! Who'd a Thunk?

Judicial Watch

MEMORANDUM

March 9, 2009

To: Tom Fitton, President
From: Chris Farrell, Director of Research and Investigations
Re: Judicial Watch Obama Records Investil.zation Status UDdate


The following updates our Obama Records investigation and findings to date.

Note that several of our Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests remain unanswered and responses are overdue. I plan to refer, as noted, certain of these FOIAs to our legal staff for review and consideration for prompt legal action.

As you know, these thirteen (13) FOIA requests for information are only a part of our investigative efforts to date. We are also looking into questionable facts about his (Obama’s) stock transactions. Two months after he took his Senate seat in 2005, the Senator purchased $50,000 worth of stock in highly speculative ventures, whose major investors were some of his biggest campaign contributors. One of the companies was a biotech concern that benefited from legislation that Senator Obama pushed just two weeks after purchasing $5,000 worth of its stock. When he was working to pass that legislation, we are attempting to determine whose interest was the Senator advancing ... his constituents', the company's, or his own?
We continue to explore certain facts about his connections to terrorists, e.g. the notorious leftist William Ayers, a founding member of the terrorist group Weather Underground (this group engaged in domestic terrorism in the 1970's and 1980's, most notably when they set off bombs in the U.S. Capitol and the Pentagon). They ultimately claimed “credit” for a total of 25 bombings. Ayers and his fellow
Weatherman girlfriend (now his wife), Bernadine Dohrn, turned themselves into federal authorities in 1981, but most charges against them were dropped due to alleged prosecutorial misconduct. Ayers was quoted in the New York Times as saying "I don't regret setting bombs. I feel we didn't do enough."

Ayers is now a professor at the University of Illinois in Chicago. We have learned that Obama and Ayers sat together on the board of the Woods Fund a few years back, which reportedly voted grants totaling $75,000 in 2001 and 2002 to the Arab-American Action Network, a radical organization with terrorist ties. They also collaborated on an education "reform" project called the Chicago Annenberg Challenge (CAC). Ayers ran the CAC operational arm and Obama chaired the board. Together, they were responsible for distributing over $100 million - to great delight of their ideological allies. We have dispatched an investigative team to pursue our open FOIA requests and review records - to include the Annenberg files. What's more, Ayers and his terrorist wife hosted an intimate political affair for Obama, helping launch his political career.

Finally, we now have a better understanding as to why our longstanding corruption investigation and ongoing open records litigation concerning the sale of government jobs by Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich for which he was arrested have taken two years. He had clearly been stonewalling us and refusing to turn over documents to Judicial Watch that could have alerted the American people to his corruption.
Since the criminal complaint that was filed by the U.S. Attorney's Office indicates that Mr. Obama and his team knew about Blagojevich's efforts to sell Obama's U.S. Senate seat. we will be adding FOIA requests concerning the "pay to play" scheme for Obama's former U.S. Senate seat.

Please see FOIA action details below, and advise with any questions or additional areas of interest.

Illinois State Archives (ISA)
Missing Records. Requested any and all public documents related to legislative action involving Barack Obama during his two terms (1997-2004) served as Illinois State Senator.

No documents received. Despite Senator Obama's statement to the media to the contrary, "Well, lets be clear. In the state Senate, every single piece of information, every document related to state government was kept by the State of Illinois and has been disclosed and is available and has been gone through with a fine-toothed comb by news outlets in Illinois ... every document related to my interactions with government is available right now." Illinois State Legislature responded that they do not archive documents related to state legislators, nor have they received any requests from Senator Obama to archive any of his records. His statement that they are available is false.

Illinois Housing Development Authority
Influence Peddling. Seeking connections between "earmarks" authored by Illinois State Senator Obama and various Chicago area housing projects.

Some documents have been produced and are currently being examined by our investigative staff. The key question is whether Obama sold inflluence in exchange for earmarks.

Office of the Secretary of Defense/Joint Staff (OSD/JS)
Congressional Travel Junket. We filed a FOIA request with the Defense Department requesting important information about the highly- publicized taxpayer-funded congressional delegation trip Senator Obama took to Iraq in July. We want to know the facts surrounding this controversial trip.
Thus far, no documents have been provided. Our legal team is considering a lawsuit.

Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity
Improper Earmarks. To determine if Senator Obama, when he was serving in the
Illinois State Senate, "earmarked" spending projects to benefit friends, family members or political contributors like convicted felon Tony Rezko. The relationship between Rezko and Senator Obama is so close that the Senator and Rezko went in on a real estate deal together. In fact, Obama's dealings with Rezko may have allowed Obama to pay $300,000 below the asking price for his $1.65 million Chicago mansion.

According to records provided, Barack Obama helped secure a $25,000 grant for Blue Gargoyle in August 2000, an organization that was headed by Capers C. Funnye, Jr., Michelle Obama's first cousin once removed. Obama also secured a $100,000 grant for volunteers, Kenny Smith, to build a garden project. The project was never completed. Smith instead distributed $65,000 of the funds directly to his wife and another $20,000 to a construction company set up by his wife that is now no longer in business.

Cook County Assessor’s Office (Chicago, Illinois)
Preferential Treatment. Requested tax assessed value of Obama's mansion and other comparable residential properties to confirm or deny a report Judicial Watch received that his home was assessed for taxes at a value lower than market value while serving as an Illinois State Senator.
Documents received and our analysis is ongoing.

City of Chicago Department of Housing
Influence Peddling. Allegations have been made that contracts issued by that office relating to construction and maintenance of certain buildings and businesses, including a bank and public housing projects, were improperly influenced by close Obama friend and fundraiser, and now convicted felon, Antoin "Tony" Rezko.

Documents uncovered by Judicial Watch show Barack Obama supported a housing development project known as Cottage View Terrace, which yielded $900,000 in developers' fees for convicted felon (and former Obama fundraiser) Antoin "Tony" Rezko and Obama's former employer, lawyer Allison Davis.


Office of Illinois Governor Rod R. Blagojevich
Influence Peddling. Allegations have been made that contracts issued by that office relating to construction and maintenance of certain buildings and businesses, including a bank and public housing projects, were improperly influenced. Our FOIA request seeks documents pertaining to the Alliance of Business Leaders and Entrepreneurs, the Developing Communities Project and correspondence with Barack Obama. Documents were received and are currently under review by our investigations team.


U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
Influence Peddling. Requested documents on housing projects that Obama was involved with relating to his time as Illinois State Senator.
Overdue. Response deadline was September 17. Lawsuit under consideration.

Illinois Secretary of State
Influence Peddling. Request for documents relating to Obama's time as an Illinois State Senator and involvement with Project Vote, the Fund for Community Development, and other projects.
Documents uncovered by Judicial Watch confirm that Obama served as Director of Project Vote in 1992. Project Vote is a project of ACORN, a radical leftist organization with a long history of voter fraud.

Office of the Mayor, Chicago, Illinois
Influence peddling. Requested documents on any involvement in the Fund for Community Development during Obama's terms as an Illinois State Senator. Overdue. Response deadline was August 29. Lawsuit under consideration.

Office of Illinois State Senator Emil Jones, Jr.
Influence Peddling. Requested documents related to the Alliance of Business Leaders and Entrepreneurs and other organizations for which Obama may have improperly set aside earmarks.
Judicial Watch continues to battle with the office of Senator Jones over these documents. Lawsuit under consideration.

University of Illinois at Chicago
Terrorist Ties. Requested documents related to the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, an educational "reform" project where Obama as chairman of this non-profit group collaborated with domestic terrorist William Ayers.
Response deadline was September 1 and was denied. An appeal was filed by Judicial Watch for items #2 through #4 and was approved. These documents indicate that Obama served as Chairman of the Annenberg Challenge for eight years (1995-2002). The documents include a fund-raising letter signed by Obama requesting a $22,500 grant noting "we [meaning the Annenberg Challenge] are launched." Clearly, Obama and Ayers worked together closely on this "educational project," despite Obama's repeated denials.

Teachers' Retirement System of the State of Illinois
Corruption. Requested records on Joseph Carl and Stuart Levine, who allegedly attempted to embezzle money from the Teachers' Retirement system. Joseph Cari may have ties to Tony Rezko and is a financial supporter of then U.S. Senator and now Vice President Joe Biden.
Our investigations team is currently reviewing documents provided.