When running in the primaries Obama pointed to one of his very, very few legislative endeavors and then — in his post partisan, post-racial mode –posed as someone who championed it:
“It’s no secret that most Americans think the country is on the wrong track,” Obama told the group. “But the reason isn’t just failed policies. It’s a system in Washington that has failed the American people. A system that has not kept the most fundamental trust of American democracy: that our government is of the people, and that it must govern for all the people – not just the interests of the wealthy and well-connected.”
It’s a decent, good government position to advance, but there’s nothing in the record of the candidate or his close associates to suggest that what they want is to lift the curtain on the doings of others while keeping their own activities hidden behind the screen.
His record for opaqueness was clear early on in the campaign. He tried to hide who managed his Pac — Hopefund — which received money from lobbyists, and when he finally stopped stonewalling it was evident that the PAC was being used to advance his presidential ambitions. Nor was he open about campaign events with his most generous donors.
The latest example of the lengths Obama and his associates have gone to keep whatever still extant records of his early life from reaching the public involves the failed Chicago Annenberg Challenge records, — virtually the only records of his pre-US Senate career not claimed to be missing or destroyed.
In 2001, the Chicago Annenberg Challenge (CAC) turned over its records to the University of Illinois Chicago’s (UIC) Richard J. Daley library. The records are of value because they document the close working relationship Obama had with domestic terrorist leader and “bomb designer” William Ayres. They also demonstrate that Obama failed at the one executive position he ever held, chairman of the board of the CAC. And they reveal how the charitable funds donated to improve the public education of Chicago schoolchildren were used to fund extreme radicals like Ayers and Maoist Mike Klonsky.
Last month when National Review reporter Stanley Kurtz tried to review the files, the university blocked that request — ostensibly to review the terms of the record gift. That explanation may not be fully correct, however. A third year law student, Jason Wilcox, made a Freedom of Information request to which he received a response. That reply reveals that Kenneth Rolling, the CAC’s former executive director and associate of Barack Obama, contacted the university and induced them initially to refuse Kurtz’ request.
Rolling claims he saw references to the Annenberg files on the internet on August 11 and immediately contacted university officials asking them to withhold “confidential” information like social security and credit card numbers.
But did he?
Steve Diamond, publisher of the blog site Global Labor and Politics, who has played a lead role in exposing the work of the CAC, writes that he contacted Mr. Kurtz who told him he first got in touch with the University about examining the Annenberg files on August 11 – the same day Rolling claims to have seen references to the documents on the internet.
The question arises; were the documents scrubbed prior to the press being granted access to them? President of the University Joseph White has denied withholding any documents from the press despite an email from Rolling discovered in the FOIA files from the former CAC executive director to the University Counsel referencing a conversation with White in which the president indicated that Rolling could submit a list of papers that the library would consider redacting from the general release of the Annenberg files.
The University Counsel — Thomas Bearrows — said that the University did not honor any request for withholding files from Mr. Rolling.
Having reviewed the board minutes of the CAC in which the members agreed to turn over the records to UIC in 2001, the school determined it had the right to open the records.
Rollings, however, continues to assert that the gift to the university was never executed, that the university had no right to release the records, and is threatening to block Stanley Kurtz from publishing what he’s found in the records.
I asked Steve Diamond to explain in the comments section of the blog Just One Minute what the present situation is and he responded:
“Rolling also told the Tribune he is thinking of suing to block the documents that Kurtz is using for a story. The Tribune was also told that someone else accessed the records this past summer. Rolling said he saw reports about CAC records on the web and unilaterally called UIC. But the only reports all summer about the CAC records were mine based on what I clearly identified as CAC records provided by Brown University not UIC. However, soon after I posted my analysis on June 18 based on those records Brown stopped answering my email inquiries, while until then they had been very responsive. I have now asked them if they were also contacted by anyone associated with the CAC.”
Tom Maguire smells a rat:
Kurtz went public with the library’s evasions on August 18. By his account Mr. Kurtz had been in discussions with the library and had made an appointment to view the documents prior to the 18th.
So why did Mr. Rolling contact the library on the 11th? Was his spider sense tingling? Or did someone at the library mention to him that the Annenberg Challenge files were in play? One might think that the library spokesperson could address the question of whether someone from the library contacted Mr. Rolling, thereby precipitating his call.
The only thing that’s transparent about Obama is that he and his friends are anything but. Undoubtedly there’s a good reason for that.
Editor’s Note: In an earlier version of this article, the author wrote that Jason Wilcox and Steve Diamond were working together on the FOIA request. This is incorrect and we regret the error.
Also, it was inferred that the author had spoken directly to Mr. Diamond for this article. In reality, Mr. Diamond’s response was in the form of a comment at the blog Just One Minute. We regret the confusion.
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