SubscribeObama Gave Biden Son’s Clients $3.4M
This article, buried deep in the bowels of the Washington Post, almost slipped by us:
Obama, Biden’s Son Linked by Earmarks
Candidate Got Funding for Nursing Program
By James V. Grimaldi and Kimberly Kindy
Wednesday, August 27, 2008; A16Sen. Barack Obama sought more than $3.4 million in congressional earmarks for clients of the lobbyist son of his Democratic running mate, Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware, records show. Obama succeeded in getting $192,000 for one of the clients, St. Xavier University in suburban Chicago.
Obama’s campaign has taken a hard stance against the world of lobbying in the nation’s capital. Obama said he limits his own efforts to get money for pet projects — a process known as earmarking — to those that benefit the public. He has posted his earmark requests on his presidential campaign Web site to encourage transparency.
Since Obama announced his selection of Biden on Saturday, attention has focused on Biden’s lobbying connections as well as his son’s lobbying activities. R. Hunter Biden is one of many relatives of members of Congress who work as lobbyists.
The younger Biden started his career as a lobbyist in 2001 and has registered to represent about 21 clients that have brought in $3.5 million to his Washington firm, according to lobbying disclosure forms.
Sen. Biden has collected more than $6.9 million in campaign contributions from lobbyists and lawyers since 1989, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
A spokesman for the Obama campaign said that Hunter Biden himself has never lobbied his father. Another lobbyist in the firm successfully sought an earmark from the senator for the University of Delaware. But Hunter did not work on the account, the spokesman said…
Hunter Biden, a 38-year-old Georgetown graduate and Yale-trained lawyer, is a name partner in the firm Oldaker, Biden & Belair, founded by William Oldaker, an election lawyer and lobbyist who worked on Sen. Edward M. Kennedy’s 1980 presidential campaign and has been a fundraiser and campaign adviser for Sen. Biden.
An analysis for The Washington Post by Taxpayers for Common Sense of Hunter Biden’s firm’s lobbying business found that its clients collected $2.7 million in earmarks in the last fiscal year.
One of those clients was St. Xavier University, a four-year, 5,600-student institution run by the Roman Catholic Sisters of Mercy in Orland Park, Ill. Steve Murphy, vice president for university advancement, said Hunter Biden approached him in 2005 offering to secure congressional earmarks…
Murphy said he found Biden’s parentage a selling point. Murphy then accompanied Biden to the offices of the Illinois delegation, including Obama’s.
Obama requested $1.4 million for St. Xavier, including $900,000 to establish an early-childhood teacher training center “to meet the demand in the southwest Chicago metropolitan area,” according to a news release on the Web site of Obama’s Senate office. Obama requested the early-childhood money in both 2006 and 2007.
Obama also in June 2007 sought $500,000 for a skills laboratory for St. Xavier’s nursing school, which has one of the largest nursing programs in the state…
In 2006, Obama also asked for $2 million for a cancer research treatment center at Chicago’s Thorek Memorial Hospital, according to an Obama letter requesting the money posted on Obama’s campaign Web site. Hunter Biden was the registered lobbyist and his firm was paid $120,000 for representing Thorek, which has not received funding.
Obama’s spokesman also acknowledged lobbying for Mercy Hospital, another client of Hunter Biden.
In addition to his work for universities, Hunter Biden has done consulting work for MBNA, the largest employer in Delaware.
From 2001 to 2005, Hunter was paid an undisclosed amount by the credit card giant, which has since been purchased by Bank of America. It has been widely reported that he received $100,000 a year.
At the time, Sen. Biden led a successful, high-profile battle in the Senate for a bankruptcy bill that ultimately benefited credit card companies. The law makes it more difficult for people to file for personal bankruptcy protection under Chapter 7.
“He was a crucial supporter of the law in that he paved the way for other Democrats to support it,” said Travis Plunkett, legislative director of the Consumer Foundation of America, a consumer group that opposed the bill. “Senator Biden provided a lot of political cover for the credit card industry because they wanted to show that the proposal had bipartisan support. He aggressively undermined the opposition to the bill.”
Over the past two decades, MBNA employees have given more than $200,000 to Biden’s Senate campaigns, more than workers from any other company…
Hunter Biden also lobbied for Napster, the music-sharing Web site that ran afoul of intellectual-property laws. Sen. Biden at the time was a senior member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which oversees laws governing intellectual-property rights…
Of course such details do not compare with the scandal of the GOP’s VP candidate having a pregnant daughter.
And, oddly enough, this story made it onto the front page of today’s Washington Post, above the fold:
Palin’s Small Alaska Town Secured Big Federal Funds
By Paul Kane
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, September 2, 2008; Page A01ST. PAUL, Minn., Sept. 1 — Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin employed a lobbying firm to secure almost $27 million in federal earmarks for a town of 6,700 residents while she was its mayor, according to an analysis by an independent government watchdog group.
There was $500,000 for a youth shelter, $1.9 million for a transportation hub, $900,000 for sewer repairs, and $15 million for a rail project — all intended to benefit Palin’s town, Wasilla, located about 45 miles north of Anchorage…
What Mrs. Palin did was not only perfectly legal, it is what her constituents want her to do.
So why is this so much more newsworthy than the Biden story?
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45 Responses to “Obama Gave Biden Son’s Clients $3.4M”
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September 2nd, 2008 at 2:09 pm
Change we don’t need…
September 2nd, 2008 at 2:50 pm
Biden’s Foreign Policy experience, no doubt!? No surprise here!
cs
September 2nd, 2008 at 3:39 pm
As Rush pointed out, funny how the Drive-By’s are digging for any piece of dirt they can, but we don’t get 24/7 coverage about Biden’s son who apparently is under indictment or about to be placed under indictment for fraud. He said it has been weeks since this story was last mentioned some place.
I certainly don’t understand Obama’s “judgement” in his rush to get Biden to be his VP pick. What, he didn’t vett him hard enough?
Edit: Of course the news was mentioned here!
http://sweetness-light.com/arc.....d-of-fraud
September 2nd, 2008 at 4:07 pm
Where is the change and hope in the Obama/Biden ticket? Obama ‘claiming’ to be against earmarks - was that before or after he voted them in for Biden’s son? Biden (who btw in a very Cheney-esque behavior also had repeated deferments from Vietnam) who was cheered for leaving his injured, motherless sons to stay in the Senate. Yet dare we go into the feminists who are in a tizzy because this woman who has it all, does it all and is all - dares to be a conservative Republican? The gyrations to diss Mrs. Palin while attempting to be true to their feminist, abortion uber alles agenda is disgusting and insulting.
I guess I will have to check my local store that sells the unique and see if they sell moose (I know that they sell bison, kangaroo, ostrich, and aligator) - will have to try a moose burger.
Vote for Real Change and Hope in Nov - McCain/Palin ‘08
September 2nd, 2008 at 7:22 pm
HEY-HEY-HEY!!!
You heard Joe Biden today didn’t you.
LEAVE-THE-CHILDREN-OUT-OF-IT!
He actually said it twice. Now maybe you all know why.
September 2nd, 2008 at 9:34 pm
The picture of the Obama bin Biden above is creeping me out–too much of a tender moment.
I gotta look away!
September 2nd, 2008 at 9:42 pm
I wonder if Katie Couric will devote five minutes of her program to air a hit piece against the lobbying firm of Biden & Son like she did to Governor Palin today?
By the way, anyone who may object to my sarcastic ‘Biden & Son’ comment may want to re-read the portion of the article discussing MBNA lobbying and the Bankruptcy bill.
September 7th, 2008 at 4:01 pm
Ummmm, I guess we should not mention the $1 BILLION obama has handed out to his fellow travelers either, huh?
September 7th, 2008 at 4:12 pm
Facts are facts. Learn to live with it.
September 7th, 2008 at 4:54 pm
I am glad I ran across this site and you’ve this WaPo article posted - Yes, I saw the Palin post - on the front page of WaPo - natch. On August 26th, WaPo wrote an article very favorable to earmarks because they are, afterall, a way for local communities to get very needed funds to pay for local issues. Palin article (to my memory) did not mention either the Aug 26th article or the above Aug 27th Obama-Biden article. There’s no innuendo in the above postings - no one can dispute WaPo published the above article. I don’t get the McCarthyism angle. .
September 7th, 2008 at 4:58 pm
First of all, lobbyists don’t have constituents because they’re not elected public officials. Lobbyists are paid shills, usually for special interest groups, specific businesses or industries.
Last time I checked, town Mayors or state Governors don’t control or “do something” about federal earmarks. Earmarks are submitted and approved by US Congresscritters or Senators outside of the normal Federal budget process.
Barefoot, I have no idea if the numbers you quote about Gov. Palin are correct or not but I believe you likely pulled them from some less than reliable source.
According to CAGW, for the 2008 Federal budget, Alaska was the recipient of nearly $380 million in so-called “earmarks”.
http://tinyurl.com/34twfc
All that not withstanding, Gov. Palin has fought against wasteful spending at the various government levels she has worked in. She has time and again fought the good fight in keeping government spending down and purposeful. To chastise her for a process she neither controls or approves is rather disingenuous to say the least.
September 7th, 2008 at 5:04 pm
The truth is congressional grants fund projects that benefit us all (that’s a quote from Wapo Aug 26th). So as far as I can tell EVERY mayor seeks out earmarks for their towns (unless they want to be a lousy mayor.)
September 7th, 2008 at 5:17 pm
Okay well maybe mayors don’t ’seek out’ - I’m still trying to learn about this earmarks stuff. One thing, though, after reading the above article nd comments, I know more than I did.
September 7th, 2008 at 6:38 pm
Information from the former Soviet Union and KGB files prove McCarthy was right. Ann Coulter even wrote a book about it. Either get educated or stop wasting my time.
Both Obamas white grandparents and his mother were card carrying members of the CPUSA who also endorsed Obamas current campaign.
September 7th, 2008 at 6:54 pm
I seem to recall several other embarassing moments from history:
Anybody ever hear of the Bay of Pigs and the resulting wonderful dicatatorship which resulted in a WHOLE country being politically and economically hardshipped for nearly 3 generations and counting? If only the President had acted and not flinched maybe things would have been different.
Didn’t the US use to have an ally in a little known backwoods country in the middle east (King no Shau of Iran)? Didn’t our lack of support there cause the down fall of the longest ruling monarchy in the middle east? Oh we later lost an embassy…. IIRC embassies are viewed as soverign soil of their nation, but ours was taken over without any Severe consequences?
IF the Balkans was such a problem for European stability, why did the United States NOT intervene sooner during the conflict. IF intervention was SO necessary in the first place…. why did it take so long to do it?
Draw your own conclusions for who the President was during each event. They all have one party affiliation…. which i why democrats are viewed as weak on national security. They’re last decent warrior was Truman.
September 7th, 2008 at 7:28 pm
Barefoot, I am quite well aware of who McCarthy was and what McCarthyism is, but your accusing someone of employing this - where do you get that?. I am asking you to point out where’s the McCarthyism. And Obama is bashing Palin for earmarks when apparently he’s quite the earmark happy guy himself. Again, where is the McCarthyism angle?
September 7th, 2008 at 7:41 pm
Forget it - I’m logging off. Apparently the topic has changed. I do understand the McCarthyism reference now.
September 7th, 2008 at 7:53 pm
I know who you mean as worst President, but I have to go with Carter.
September 7th, 2008 at 8:19 pm
History is on my side.
Google it.
No need, Carter was a lame duck before he took office.
He also holds the title of the dumbest President in U.S. history as well as being the biggest panty waist.
Google it.
September 7th, 2008 at 8:32 pm
Carter never served on a nuclear sub, he did however apply.
“Upon the death of his father, James Earl Carter, Sr., in July 1953, however, Lieutenant Carter immediately resigned his commission, and he was discharged from the Navy on October 9, 1953. [11][12] This cut short his nuclear power training school, and he was never able to serve on a nuclear submarine, since the first boat of that fleet, the USS Nautilus, was launched on January 17, 1955, over a year after his discharge from the Navy.[13]“
September 7th, 2008 at 8:47 pm
Sounds to me that Carter is almost as smart as you are barefoot.
BTW, Which moonmission were you on and was that the only one?
September 7th, 2008 at 9:05 pm
“an officer aboard a nuclear power submarine.”
Those are the words you typed barefoot, that Carter was aboard a nuclear sub, Carter was a junior officer and washed himself out before he was qualified on a nuclear sub a full year and a half before a nuclear sub was ever launched.
He also has no title as a NUCLEAR ENGINEER.
“Carter completed a non-credit introductory course in nuclear reactor power at Union College”
If that qualifies him as an engineer, I am a space shuttle pilot!
September 7th, 2008 at 9:11 pm
Be careful DEZ, he/she will block your driveway for at least 2 minutes, maybe less.
I am just guessing on the amount of time to open your gunsafe.
September 7th, 2008 at 9:24 pm
“Umm… what was the party of the president who resigned from office in absolute disgrace?”
President Richard Nixon: Who IMO resigned not just because of pending indictment: but to prevent the damage of a long and draw out impeachment process from having to occurr, Unlike some else already inferred above. Coincidently, the american people remembered how those Senators voted during President Clinton’s trial and many of those Senators are no longer in office.
“Who was president when McCarthy was running amok?” I think you have already touched on it.
“Weren’t you a tad bit embarrassed when you found out Ronald Reagan was supporting Hussein? Or bringing in drugs into this country to support the Contras (to overthrow a democratically elected government)”
Not at all: Sometimes you have to deal with people you don’t like in order to bring about the downfall of one of the biggest threats to humanity: IE Communism.
“Read me lips?” IIRC the power to levy taxes is a sole power of Congress not the President (he can try and veto it); don’t get me wrong… I think it was a dumb campaign slogan and history has bit him in the behind for it.
“Do we even want to talk about the worst president in our life time?” Are you talking abour President Clinton in my opinion? Or is it you measure popularity with Leadership?
***
“Trust me, honey, there have been plenty of embarrassments on both sides of the aisle.” Does the hint “mac’ in the name usually infer a female identification or are you from San Francisco? Only person that calls me Honey is my wife, Last I checked, your not her.
September 7th, 2008 at 9:42 pm
How you doing rmy. Are you back in the states?
September 7th, 2008 at 9:43 pm
BTW bareback, what was your mos?
September 7th, 2008 at 10:16 pm
1st: Nope, still in the Sandbox, Iraquistan- Camp “rhymes with Haji”, Mrs Rmy will be happy by New years. Its been a long a$$ deployment.
BF: Hussein was used as a buffer between Iran and the other Gulf States, to prevent their expansion of legitimate power. Not just because of their terrorist influence. If you dont believe that: then what is the easiest way to defeat a foreign country? Take the capital maybe? If we didn’t want to keep Iraq as a buffer then wouldn’t the easiest way to have taken down Iraq would’ve been to take Baghdad during the first Persian Gulf War and not just stop at the liberation of Kuwait. Remember the strategy involved a 100 mile advance of an armored corp deep into enemy territory effectively cutting off a large portion fo the Iraqi army from thier capital, (incidentally a road bound army) and the road back to the capital was cut.
“Oh, I don’t have you wrong. Anyone that wants to pretend poor Tricky Dick was just misunderstood, and that George the First didn’t go back on his word doesn’t know what he is talking about.”
WOW the second comment is a mantra article of faith from DKOS, but that does not give logic to the point your trying to make: for the sake of argument you could say something like “he didn’t try to veto the budget the congress passed and therefore was for new taxes.”
September 7th, 2008 at 10:26 pm
BF: by giving aide to Hussein, it freed the US to concentrate efforts in other places to prevent Soviet and Communist expansion from succeeding. But I will say this: since nearly all the Equipment Hussein had is of Eastblock origin and no kidding i see it nearly everyday sitting in what can only be described as a tank graveyard. Perhaps Hussein is now regretting who he accepted more coin and coffee from… If he had only been more friendly with the US maybe he and his kids wouldn’t be oops DEAD.
September 7th, 2008 at 10:31 pm
Good to hear that rmy. Not only will Mrs. rmy be glad you are home safe and sound but so will many others including me.
My young one is back at al-asad, this time as a civilian, but still doing the same thing.
September 7th, 2008 at 10:34 pm
“Thing is, Hussein had nothing to do with communism.’
What do you call an oppressive government, what’s that word, Oh yeah a dictatorship.
Whats communism, oh whats it called?
September 7th, 2008 at 10:37 pm
Hope your youngin stays safe. Things have really quieted down here. Probably because the Surge worked so well… Finally, Sen Obama sort of admitted it the other day… at least I read that on the internet. How come nobody in the MSM noticed that?
September 7th, 2008 at 10:45 pm
“Hussein was no dummy, either.’
That explains how he kept his head through it all, oh wait…
September 7th, 2008 at 10:51 pm
WOW its like arguing with a wall: :) Earlier post “Didn’t the US use to have an ally in a little known backwoods country in the middle east (King no Shau of Iran)? Didn’t our lack of support there cause the down fall of the longest ruling monarchy in the middle east? Oh we later lost an embassy…. IIRC embassies are viewed as soverign soil of their nation, but ours was taken over without any Severe consequences?”
BF later and were back to a circle “The US hated Iran and wanted to stir up as much as it could between Iran and Iraq.” Yes, the US had a very good reason to deal with Iraq/Hussein because he was, at the time, the lesser of two evils. We had good reasons NOT to like Iran. Now he and his sons are dead, kinda hard to become un-dead. Lesson that should be learned is this: Play along with the US, dont become their suppossed enemy, when they speak listen closely. Maybe you can jawbone yourself into a deal of some sort “example Quaddaffi”. If you don’t…. well you saw what happened to Saddam. And I totally disagree: Hussein was a dumbass.
September 7th, 2008 at 10:53 pm
“I know- it’s got to be confusing for you.”
No its not confusing at all my asshatted Friend, all communists are dictators, your just having a problem getting light where your head is stored.
Watching an asshat like you walk should be an amusing sight though!
September 7th, 2008 at 10:55 pm
‘Carter was a qualified submarine officer- he earned his dolphins- and was selected by Richover, and was attached to the the nuclear submarine program.
That makes him a nuclear submarine officer’
Holy Christ!! You were never in the navy, no sailor would ever screw up that one!
I learned quick, fast and in a hurry while serving in RADCON on a subtender that yeah, he got his guppies but not on a nuke, therefore he had NO NUKE QUALS, and no bubblehead would EVER call him a nuke submariner.
I’ve been in sub reactors, Carter hasn’t. Does that make me a nuclear power officer too?
Tool.
September 7th, 2008 at 11:04 pm
During the time of all this support maneuvering WHO was the suppossed enemy of the US? Maybe Communist Soviet Powers. Remember we were looking for ANYBODY who would say NO to Commie ism. Im not proud that we had bedfellows who were lesser enemies of the US ie: Iraq/Iran. But did you REALLY know that the collapse of the Soviet Union was coming? That almost every commie nation was about to undergo huge poiltical changes? That are suppossed biggest enemy was about to go bankrupt? Most folks; even our vaunted intel services were caught by surprise. Now that the dragon was vanquished without shots fired maybe we can start working on some of the lizards. Which is where the big change in outlook towards Iraq came from.
September 7th, 2008 at 11:10 pm
Sorry, but we don’t allow McCarthyism here.
– Not Charlie McCarthyism, anyway.
September 7th, 2008 at 11:20 pm
SG; …..”–Not Charlie McCarthyism, anyway…..”
Posted in reference to a dummy, I presume? ;-}
September 7th, 2008 at 11:28 pm
he started as with, “as a life long Republican”
That is all I needed to see.
September 7th, 2008 at 11:30 pm
Sorry, I havent been posting here for a while but been a little busy. Things are slowing down so got time again.
September 7th, 2008 at 11:38 pm
Not to change the subject…. but you will never believe what I saw on AFN tonight during the football coverage:NFL NBC Keith Olbermann on a Sportscast. I thought he was a political commentator. Did the NFL turn political?
September 7th, 2008 at 11:41 pm
“he started as with, “as a life long Republican”
That is all I needed to see”
Damn right 1st!
Still he was a funny little troll!
Rmy-mac-was-here.
I am damn glad to hear from you!
September 7th, 2008 at 11:47 pm
Olbermann used to be pretty good at sports. since he got fired today from hosting the Pres. debates along with Matthews, that may be his new job.
September 7th, 2008 at 11:51 pm
Olbermann was never better than mediocre, even when doing sports. His trouble began when he started believing what other people thought, vis-a-vis his talent.
He’d screw up a one-car junk yard if left to his own devices.
September 7th, 2008 at 11:59 pm
You mean to say I gotta put up with weird football times AND Olberman? IT was bad enough we had watch his head explode 5 times a day during the election. Now I gotta watch it explode during football?…Tanj (There aint no justice)