Who in the White House Authorized a Bribe

Expose Obama

April 2nd, 2010

By Floyd and Mary Beth Brown, Expose Obama

Obama is practicing Chicago Style Politics

After watching Obama twist arms, beg, borrow and steal to pass ObamaCare, it may come as no surprise to some that Obama’s administration has offered federal jobs for political purposes to two Democratic candidates. What ought to catch people’s attention is that this action constitutes a federal crime.

Did Barack Obama or members of his administration directly violate federal law by offering federal jobs to Rep. Joe Sestak and former Colorado legislator Andrew Romanoff? The best way to answer these and a myriad of other ethical questions is for Congress to join Rep. Darrell Issa in calling for the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate this corruption.

Title 18, Chapter 11, Section 211 of the United States Code states that "Whoever solicits or receives … any….thing of value, in consideration of the promise of support or use of influence in obtaining for any person any appointive office or place under the United States, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both."

The Obama administration has been accused by two Democratic primary candidates, Joe Sestak and Andrew Romanoff, of offering them high profile jobs. The jobs allegedly offered included the Secretary of the Navy and a position within the U.S. Agency for International Development. In return for these favors the two would withdraw from their Senate challenges to Obama’s allies, Sen. Arlen Specter in Pennsylvania and Sen. Michael Bennet in Colorado.

The Denver Post, hardly a right-wing newspaper, reported that “Jim Messina, President Barack Obama’s deputy chief of staff and a storied fixer in the White House political shop, suggested a place for Romanoff might be found in the administration and offered specific suggestions, according to several sources who described the communication to The Denver Post. Romanoff turned down the overture, which included mention of a job at USAID, the foreign aid agency, sources said.”

The White House subsequently denied the story and claimed that no job was offered. But with no investigation into this corruption, how will we know how deep the rabbit hole runs?

In February, Pennsylvania Congressman Joe Sestak launched a new charge of bribery by accusing the Obama White House of offering him the Secretary of the Navy job in exchange for his agreeing to abandon his race against Specter. The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that this exchange occurred during a TV interview with Comcast anchor Larry Kane: “‘Was it secretary of the Navy?’ Kane asked. ‘No comment,’ Sestak said.’Was it [the job] high-ranking?’ Kane asked. Sestak said yes, but added that he would ‘never leave’ the Senate race for a deal.”

Sestak has later confirmed that yes, he was offered a job, but he has been unwilling to go into greater details. After stonewalling and avoiding the question for weeks, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs stated that he talked to people in the White House about the claim and that, "I’m told whatever conversations have been had are not problematic." He added that the incident is "in the past."

We hate to rain on Mr. Gibbs’ parade, but the incident is hardly “in the past.” If the president of the United States or someone high up in his administration committed a felony the public deserves to know about it. Whoever committed that felony must be brought to justice. This administration is no stranger to corruption, as witnessed by the billions in sweet deals to purchase Congressional votes for ObamaCare.

Obama even tried to influence Democratic Congressman Jim Matheson, who voted against the initial health bill, by appointing his brother Scott M. Matheson, Jr. to the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals. While this corruption is ill fitting for the White House, these incidents pale in comparison to the most recent allegations. The offering of a federal job in order to affect an election constitutes a direct violation of federal law and must be investigated.

Fortunately for those of us who still believe in the rule of law, Rep. Darell Issa, the top Republican on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, has called for a special prosecutor to probe these allegations. Congressman Issa is confident that a special prosecutor will be appointed. "What you have is a credible allegation by a member of Congress of a felony," Issa told Fox News. "It is a felony to offer somebody a federal job in order to get them to affect an election."

We are watching our very system of government corrupted before our very eyes. We encourage all Americans who still believe in our Constitution and the rule of law to join us and Rep. Issa in calling for a special prosecutor to investigate these crimes of the Obama administration.

Arnold Schwarzenegger: 'Bribes' infect health reform

By MIKE ALLEN | 1/6/10 2:42 PM EST

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger savaged congressional plans for health reform in his 2010 State of the State address on Wednesday, calling the legislation "health care to nowhere" that's infected with "bribes, deals and loopholes."

With the nation's largest state enduring a fiscal crisis, Schwarzenegger said California's lawmakers should vote against the bill or push to get the Medicaid subsidies that were written into the Senate bill in order to secure Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) as the 60th and passing vote for that chamber's version of reform. The deal has been attacked as the "Cornhusker Kickback."

"While I enthusiastically support health care reform, it is not reform to push more costs onto states that are already struggling while other states get sweetheart deals," Schwarzenegger said before a joint session of the California State Legislature.

"Health care reform, which started as noble and needed legislation, has become a trough of bribes, deals and loopholes. You've heard of the bridge to nowhere. This is health care to nowhere. California's congressional delegation should either vote against this bill that is a disaster for California or get in there and fight for the same sweetheart deal Senator Nelson of Nebraska got for the Cornhusker State. He got the corn; we got the husk."

Congress Probes Alleged U.S. Bribes to Afghan Warlords

U.S. would be unintentionally involved in a protection racket and indirectly financing the enemy


WASHINGTON -- Congress is investigating allegations that U.S. tax dollars are being paid to warlords and the Taliban for security on supply routes used to truck food, water, fuel and ammunition to American troops in Afghanistan.

If the allegations are true, then the U.S. would be unintentionally involved in a protection racket and indirectly financing the enemy, Rep. John Tierney, the Massachusetts Democrat leading the inquiry, said Wednesday.

The Obama administration is escalating the U.S. mission in Afghanistan amid concerns that corruption throughout the country is a major roadblock to progress.

Bribes and kickbacks are frequently used to do business there, raising worries among many Democrats on Capitol Hill that the U.S. investment will fall short of stabilizing Afghanistan's shaky government.

Tierney is seeking documents from the Defense Department and companies connected to a $2.1 billion U.S. contract to transport goods and materiel through Pakistan to Bagram Airfield, the U.S. military's main hub in Afghanistan. From Bagram, the supplies are distributed to several hundred smaller camps and bases spread throughout the country.

Tierney said his staff has been told by credible informants that security guards hired by the trucking companies funnel money to the local warlords or the Taliban to ensure the convoys get to their destinations unscathed.

"It's protection money," said Tierney, who heads the House Oversight and Government Reform national security subcommittee. "Early indications are payments are either made as a lump sum for a period of time, or payment per container."

Multiple layers of subcontractors are often used in these transactions, making it difficult to follow the trail of cash, Tierney added.

The Defense Department had no immediate response to Tierney's investigation.

At a Dec. 2 Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton acknowledged the long, rugged supply lines to landlocked Afghanistan through Pakistan's port city of Karachi offer numerous opportunities for fraud and corruption that pad the Taliban's accounts.

But Clinton said the problem is not solely an Afghan one and neither is the solution. "We just have to be honest here about how complex and difficult this problem is," she said.

The arrangement for moving supplies throughout Afghanistan, known as the Host Nation Trucking contract, began in May 2009. There are eight companies handling the work.

Before this umbrella contract was in place, there were far more contractors involved and less oversight, according to John Dawkins, chief executive officer of the Mesopotamia Group in Kabul, one of the current contractors.

But he also said it's no secret that payments are made to ensure safe passage through dangerous patches. Without U.S. or NATO security to guard the convoys and the routes, which is a risky and time intensive task, there's no other option.

"We have to pay certain security companies to get from one place to another place," Dawkins said. "And everybody's interconnected and there's huge money involved. If you don't pay for your security, you're on your own."

Dawkins also downplayed the notion that much of the money flows to the Taliban. "Most of the people are just bandits on the road," he said. "I think you'd have a really hard time defining exactly who the Taliban are."