ObamaHood.org

Posted on the Huffington post of all places

President-elect Barack Obama’s chief of staff Rahm Emanuel had direct conversations with Gov. Rod Blagojevich about Obama’s replacement in the US Senate, FOX News Chicago reports.

Citing “a source familiar with the investigation,” Fox says that Emanuel had “multiple conversations” with Blagojevich and his chief of staff John Harris, who was also arrested Tuesday on federal corruption charges, about the seat and that they we’re “likely recorded and in FBI possession.”

Fox’s source said that Emanuel gave the governor’s office a list of “candidates that would be acceptable to President-elect Barack Obama” but no “quid pro quo” or “dealmaking” is suspected.

Meanwhile, an angry Emanuel says he won’t go to work because of the media stakeout. He told an ABC News cameraman that has received death threats:

The President-elect’s chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, said today he won’t go to the Chicago Presidential transition offices in order to avoid reporters seeking to ask him whether he had contact with Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich about the Senate seat vacated by Barack Obama’s election.
Emanuel appeared “beet-red,” according to an ABC News cameraman who was invited inside by Emmanuel to use his bathroom this morning.

“I’m getting regular death threats. You’ve put my home address on national television. I’m pissed at the networks. You’ve intruded too much, ” Emanuel said, according to the cameraman.

Emanuel has refused to comment as to whether he is the un-named Presidential advisor cited in the FBI affidavit filed in the Blagojevich case. “You’re wasting your time,” Emanuel told a Chicago Sun-Times reporter yesterday. “I’m not going to say a word to you. I’m going to do this with my children. Don’t do that. I’m a father. I have two kids. I’m not going to do it.”

POSTED AT 11:23 AM ON DECEMBER 13, 2008 BY ED MORRISSEY at HotAir.com

The categorical denials coming from Barack Obama on the Rod Blagojevich pay-to-play scandal took another hit today from the Chicago Tribune.  Two sources confirm that Rahm Emanuel, Obama’s new chief of staff, had a number of conversations with Blagojevich chief of staff John Harris to discuss acceptable candidates to fill the rest of Obama’s Senate term.  These conversations got captured by federal wiretaps and will likely be reviewed by a grand jury looking to indict people on corruption charges:

Rahm Emanuel, President-elect Barack Obama’s pick to be White House chief of staff, had conversations with Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s administration about who would replace Obama in the U.S. Senate, the Tribune has learned.

The revelation does not suggest Obama’s new gatekeeper was involved in any talk of dealmaking involving the seat. But it does help fill in the gaps surrounding a question that Obama was unable or unwilling to answer this week: Did anyone on his staff have contact with Blagojevich about his choice for the Senate seat? …

One source confirmed that communications between Emanuel and the Blagojevich administration were captured on court-approved wiretaps.

Another source said that contact between the Obama camp and the governor’s administration regarding the Senate seat began the Saturday before the Nov. 4 election, when Emanuel made a call to the cell phone of Harris. The conversation took place around the same time press reports surfaced about Emanuel being approached about taking the high-level White House post should Obama win.

Emanuel delivered a list of candidates who would be “acceptable” to Obama, the source said. On the list were Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett, Illinois Veterans Affairs director Tammy Duckworth, state Comptroller Dan Hynes and U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky of Chicago, the source said. All are Democrats.

Sometime after the election, Emanuel called Harris back to add the name of Democratic Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan to the approved list, the source said.

As I wrote this week, no one would be surprised to hear that Emanuel and Obama had enough interest in the latter’s replacement to get in contact with the man who would normally make that appointment, Governor Blagojevich.  After all, the composition of the Senate matters a great deal to Obama, who needs to ensure that his agenda gets the most support possible in the next two years.  Given the corruption in Illinois politics, it might make it even more important to get involved in the process early to avoid getting someone who would embarrass the administration at a later point in time, especially with Patrick Fitzgerald’s years-long probe into Illinois politics still ongoing.

However, Barack Obama and his team chose not to give that honest and common-sense explanation.  Instead, they issued categorical denials that Obama and his staff had contacted Blagojevich or his staff about the succession.  It’s a mystifying claim, and one that will apparently get proven false fairly easily.  Now, instead of just saying that contact existed but that no one had tried making deals, they have thrown away their credibility on a very foolish point — which will lead to the conclusion that Team Obama has something very significant to hide.

Now it comes down to the Watergate question for both Emanuel and Obama: What did they know, and when did they know it?  Did Emanuel’s conversations with Harris or anyone else involve discussions of quid pro quo?  Team Obama will deny it, but they spent all of this week denying any conversations took place, and only the most gullible will believe denials from this point forward.  The wiretaps will go to the grand jury, and we will see whether Emanuel got himself caught in Fitzgerald’s nets.

If he did discuss quid pro quo and didn’t report it to the feds, Emanuel may or may not have committed a crime, but Obama will have no choice but to fire him.  And axing a Chief of Staff before even taking the oath of office does not lend much confidence in either the competence nor the honesty of the new President.

Update: Here’s what Obama said in his December 11th statement:

I had no contact with the governor’s office. I did not speak to the governor about these issues, that I know for certain. What I want to do is to gather all the facts about any staff contacts that may have taken place between the transition office and the governor’s office, and we’ll have those in the next few days and we’ll present them. But what I’m absolutely certain about is that our office had no involvement in any deal-making around my Senate seat. That, I’m absolutely certain of, and that would be a violation of everything this campaign has been about. That’s not how we do business.

So Obama said in one part that he himself hat no contact with the governor’s office or the governor regarding the appointment, which makes sense, because he’s got other issues to handle. He then claims that his office “had no involvement in any deal-making around my Senate seat.” If that’s true, then what was Emanuel discussing with Harris — and how did Blagojevich know that they wouldn’t give him anything but their appreciation? From the complaint, it doesn’t sound like an assumption Blagojevich made. (Hat tip: HA reader David M)

Obama taps Timothy Geithner to be Treasury Secretary.  Geithner is currently the New York Federal Reserve chief.

Read the full Fortune Magazine article here: Obama Treasury pick means small-dose change

By MIKE ALLEN & GLENN THRUSH at Politico.com

Negotiations between the Clintons and President-elect Obama’s transition team are rapidly moving toward a formal offer of secretary of State for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), with both sides expecting a formal announcement in the next seven days, according to numerous officials who are involved.

As a key part of satisfying Obama’s vetting team, former President Bill Clinton is open to giving up foreign sources of income if she becomes secretary of State, according to a close friend.

The friend said the former president is willing to make “changes” in his lucrative post-White House career.

“There’ll be things that he did in the past that he won’t do now,” the friend said. “He’s open to looking at what the Obama people think make sense. The Obama people will say, ‘Here’s what we’re comfortable with you doing.’ And President Clinton will look at it and most likely, say, ‘OK, I can do that.’ Like her, he wants the best for this country. My read of the situation is that he’s open to working something out – that everybody’s happy. It doesn’t feel to me like that’s going to be terribly difficult.”

The officials believe the vetting can be wrapped up this week, with an announcement before Thanksgiving, which is a week from Thursday.

The Clintons will try to satisfy Obama lawyers about potential conflicts of interest without making all the information public, according to an official involved in the process.

“There’s a big difference between letting the vetters look at it and putting it online for the rest of the world.”

Clinton’s negotiating team is led by Cheryl Mills, a former Clinton administration and campaign official. The Clinton team also includes Bruce Lindsey, CEO of the William J. Clinton Foundation, and longtime Clinton aide Doug Band.

The Obama side is represented by John Podesta, a former Clinton White House chief of staff who heads the Obama transition, and his deputy Todd Stern. The teams, confirmed by Clinton intimates, were first reported by The Wall Street Journal.

Earlier this week, people close to Obama said they were frustrated with the pace of cooperation from the Clintons, but the collaboration has picked up speed.”

A key Clinton source said the job is likely to be offered and accepted.

“She does have a sense of history, and we are at a critical moment in our history,” the official said. “It’s all hands on deck as far as making the Obama administration a success. This isn’t done. There are some mechanical steps that have to be taken.”

Some insiders say the backup nominee would be Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass). Other possibilities include New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) or, less likely Richard Holbrooke, a former Clinton assistant secretary of State.

Joe Lockhart of the Glover Park Group, said on CBS’ “The Early Show” that the Clinton nomination would send “a strong message to the rest of the world that someone of Senator Clinton’s stature is going to engage in a way that we haven’t engaged in the last eight years.

“We have a big deficit to make up with the rest of the world,” he said. “This speaks well of both [Clinton and Obama]. I believe that she’s torn. What gets lost in a lot of the campaigning is how much she loves being a senator. What could she do that best serves the country at this time? They’re both critical jobs. At the end of the day, she’ll look at this and say, ‘How can I serve my country? What is the greatest need?’ These are two great options. I think she’ll be happy with either.”

By CHRIS FRATES on Politico.com

One of the leading members of President-elect Barack Obama’s Health and Human Services transition team was an anti-tobacco lobbyist as recently as September, a position that would appear to break a transition team rule that prevents lobbyists from serving in policy areas they have worked to influence within the past year.

But in an example of how the tough-sounding rules can provide Obama plenty of wiggle room, the campaign explained how the lobbyist’s work didn’t violate the restrictions.

Bill Corr, executive director of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, unsuccessfully pushed Congress to give the Food and Drug Administration the authority to regulate tobacco.

But because the legislation granting that authority failed, there is no dovetail between Corr’s lobbying and HHS policies, said a transition spokeswoman, who did not wish to be identified.

Asked whether it created a problem that Corr would now be in charge of reviewing HHS after having lobbied to increase the authority of the FDA, which falls under HHS’ jurisdiction, the spokeswoman said it wasn’t an issue because the HHS secretary and FDA commissioner are separately confirmed by the Senate.

Also, she said, Corr has agreed to recuse himself from tobacco-related issues.

Corr is an experienced choice to help head Obama’s HHS transition team. He’s a former senior staffer to former HHS Secretary Donna Shalala in the Clinton administration and former Sen. Tom Daschle (D-S.D.), a close Obama counselor.

Working with Corr on the HHS team is fellow Clinton administration alum Nicole Lurie, who served as deputy assistant secretary for health.

Leading the veterans affairs team is Maryland Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown. A former Maryland state legislator, Brown served in the Army and was deployed to Iraq as an Army reservist in 2005. The other team leader is William Scott Gould, a vice president at IBM Global Business Services and a retired captain in the U.S. Naval Reserves. He also served in the Commerce and Treasury departments.

Heading the Consumer Protection and Safety Commission Review team is Pamela Gilbert, former executive director of the Consumer Product Safety Commission under President Bill Clinton.

The team reviewing the Housing and Urban Development Department is former Clinton-era HUD official Roberta Achtenberg, the first openly gay person to be confirmed by the Senate.

Her nomination was opposed by the late Sen. Jesse Helms (R-S.C.), who voted against her, he said, “because she’s a damn lesbian.” Achtenberg gave the individual maximum to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) and $2,300 to Obama, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Joining Achtenberg are former HUD alums Xavier de Souza Briggs, an associate professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Bruce Katz, a vice president at the Brookings Institution.

Overseeing the Social Security Administration review team is Susan Daniels, a veteran who served under President George H.W. Bush and Clinton in HHS, the Education Department and the Social Security Administration.

Joining Daniels is Jim Roosevelt, a former Clinton Social Security Administration official and chief executive of Tufts Health Plan, who gave $1,000 to Obama, as well as donations to other Democrats.

Jonathan Moreno, a University of Pennsylvania professor, is heading the President’s Council on Bioethics Review Team.

Tom Perez, secretary of the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation, oversees the Health and Human Services, Veterans Affairs and Housing and Urban Development departments.