Judicial Watch, "10 most corrupt politicians in 2007:"
Judicial Watch, 10 Most corrupt politicians of 2008:
Judicial Watch, 10 most corrupt politicians of 2010
Judicial Watch "10 most corrupt politicians of 2011:"
You know what I think about Barack Obama's ratings? (1) They are far too high and (2) The man has no intention of learning from past mistakes.
He is mapping a role as emperor of the world when he's done destroying America's Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and private enterprise, which has funded the power he has to date. Nothing above discusses the oil industry in the Gulf he destroyed and the businesses that fed them, not to mention his international gaffes of destroying ties with America's long-held alliances. I'd say he is a fail and would like America to fall on his arrogant pretense that everyone who differs in opinion with him or his policy is somehow a racist, which is the second worst of his dalliances with the truth, the first being that President Bush is responsible for his years of failure to lead. Not!
8. Senator Barack Obama (D-IL): A "Dishonorable Mention" last year, Senator Obama moves onto the "ten most wanted" list in 2007. In 2006, it was discovered that Obama was involved in a suspicious real estate deal with an indicted political fundraiser, Antoin "Tony" Rezko. In 2007, more reports surfaced of deeper and suspicious business and political connections It was reported that just two months after he joined the Senate, Obama purchased $50,000 worth of stock in speculative companies whose major investors were his biggest campaign contributors. One of the companies was a biotech concern that benefited from legislation Obama pushed just two weeks after the senator purchased $5,000 of the company's shares. Obama was also nabbed conducting campaign business in his Senate office, a violation of federal law.
Judicial Watch, 10 Most corrupt politicians of 2008:
Judicial Watch, 10 most Corrupt Politicians of 2009:President-Elect Barack Obama (D-IL): As Barack Obama assumes the presidency he already brings to the White House a large amount of ethical baggage. Obamas presidential campaign had some of the ethical trimmings of a Chicago ward election. It was marked with enormous corruption issues, ranging from its alliance with the sleazy ACORN operations "voter registration" and "get out the vote" efforts to its acceptance of untraceable, and in too many cases, illegal online contributions. There are also Obamas corrupt dealings with convicted felon Tony Rezko and unrepentant terrorist William Ayers, his below-market rate mortgage loans, his stock dealings and related "earmark" votes in the U.S. Senate, and his missing or non-existent official papers from his years in the Illinois State Senate. His ongoing cover up of his and his teams role in the Blagojevich "pay-to-play" scandal is ruining his presidency even before he takes the oath of office.
7. President Barack Obama: During his presidential campaign, President Obama promised to run an ethical and transparent administration. However, in his first year in office, the President has delivered corruption and secrecy, bringing Chicago-style political corruption to the White House. Consider just a few Obama administration lowlights from year one: Even before President Obama was sworn into office, he was interviewed by the FBI for a criminal investigation of former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevichs scheme to sell the Presidents former Senate seat to the highest bidder. (Obamas Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and slumlord Valerie Jarrett, both from Chicago, are also tangled up in the Blagojevich scandal.) Moreover, the Obama administration made the startling claim that the Privacy Act does not apply to the White House. The Obama White House believes it can violate the privacy rights of American citizens without any legal consequences or accountability. President Obama boldly proclaimed that transparency and the rule of law will be the touchstones of this presidency, but his administration is addicted to secrecy, stonewalling far too many of Judicial Watchs Freedom of Information Act requests and is refusing to make public White House visitor logs as federal law requires. The Obama administration turned the National Endowment of the Arts (as well as the agency that runs the AmeriCorps program) into propaganda machines, using tax dollars to persuade artists to promote the Obama agenda. According to documents uncovered by Judicial Watch, the idea emerged as a direct result of the Obama campaign and enjoyed White House approval and participation. President Obama has installed a record number of czars in positions of power. Too many of these individuals are leftist radicals who answer to no one but the president. And too many of the czars are not subject to Senate confirmation (which raises serious constitutional questions). Under the Presidents bailout schemes, the federal government continues to appropriate or controlthrough fiat and threatslarge sectors of the private economy, prompting conservative columnist George Will to write: The administrations central activitythe political allocation of wealth and opportunityis not merely susceptible to corruption, it is corruption. Government-run healthcare and car companies, White House coercion, uninvestigated ACORN corruption, debasing his office to help Chicago cronies, attacks on conservative media and the private sector, unprecedented and dangerous new rights for terrorists, perks for campaign donorsthis is Obamas ethics recordand we havent even gotten through the first year of his presidency.
Judicial Watch, 10 most corrupt politicians of 2010
6. President Barack Obama: Remember the promise President Obama made just after his inauguration in 2009? Transparency and the rule of law will be the touchstones of this presidency.
Instead, Americans have suffered through lies, stonewalling, cover-ups, corruption, secrecy, scandal and blatant disregard for the rule of law this has been the Obama legacy in its first two years.
In 2010, Obama was caught in a lie over what he knew about Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevichs scheme to sell the presidents vacated Senate seat. Blagojevichs former Chief of Staff John Harris testified that Obama had personal knowledge of Blagos plot to obtain a presidential cabinet position in exchange for appointing a candidate handpicked by the President. In fact, according to Harriss court testimony, Obama sent Blagojevich a list of acceptable Senate candidates to fill his old seat. Obama was interviewed by the FBI even before he was sworn into office. He claimed he and his staff had no contact with Blagojevichs office. Unfortunately federal prosecutors never called the President or his staff to testify under oath.
The President also broke his famous pledge to televise healthcare negotiations. And in 2010, we learned why he broke his pledge. In what is now known as the Cornhusker Kickback scheme, Obama and the Democrats in the Senate purchased the vote of one of the last Democrat hold-outs, Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson, who opposed Obamacare over the issue of covering abortions with taxpayer funds. Nelson abandoned his opposition to Obamacare after receiving millions of dollars in federal aid for his home-state, helping to give the Democrats the 60 votes they needed to overcome a Republican filibuster. Same goes for Louisiana Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu, who received a $100 million payoff in what has been called The Louisiana Purchase. (The Kickback was so corrupt that Democrats stripped it out at the last minute. The Louisiana Purchase, on the other hand, became law of the land.)
Obama lied about his White Houses involvement in this legislative bribery that helped lead to the passage of the signature policy achievement of his presidency.
Judicial Watch "10 most corrupt politicians of 2011:"
President Barack Obama: President Obama makes Judicial Watchs Ten Most Wanted list for a fifth consecutive year. (The former Illinois Senator was also a Dishonorable Mention in 2006.) And when it comes to Obama corruption, it may not get any bigger than Solyndra. Solyndra was once known as the poster child for the Obama administrations massive green energy initiative, but it has become the poster child for the corruption that ensues when the government meddles in the private sector. Solyndra filed for bankruptcy in September 2011, leaving 1,100 workers without jobs and the American taxpayers on the hook for $535 million thanks to an Obama administration stimulus loan guarantee.
Despite the Obama administrations reticence to release details regarding this scandal, much is known about this shady deal. White House officials warned the president that the Department of Energys loan guarantee program was dangerously short on due diligence, nonetheless the Obama administration rushed the Solyndra loan through the approval process so it could make a splash at a press event. The companys main financial backer was a major Obama campaign donor named George Kaiser. While the White House said Kaiser never discussed the loan with White House officials, the evidence suggests this is a lie. And, further demonstrating the political nature of the Obama administrations activities, the Energy Department pressured Solyndra to delay an announcement on layoffs until after the 2010 elections. Despite the public outrage at this scandalous waste of precious tax dollars, President Obama continues to defend the indefensible and has refused to sack anyone over the Solyndra mess.
President Obama continues to countenance actions by his appointees that undermine the rule of law and constitutional government:
- Despite a ban on funding that Obama signed into law, his administration continues to fund the corrupt and allegedly defunct community organization ACORN. In July 2011 Judicial Watch uncovered a $79,819 grant to AHCOA (Affordable Housing Centers of America), the renamed ACORN Housing which has a long history of corrupt activity. In absolute violation of the funding ban, Judicial Watch has since confirmed that the Obama administration has funneled $730,000 to the ACORN network, a group that has a long personal history with President Obama.In 2011, JW released a special report entitled The Rebranding of ACORN, which details how the ACORN network is alive and well and well-placed to undermine the integrity of the 2012 elections evidently with the assistance of the Obama administration.
- Barack Obama apparently believes it is his prerogative to ignore the U.S. Constitution and the rule of law when it comes to appointing czars. According to Politico: President Barack Obama is planning to ignore language in the 2011 spending package that would ban several top White House advisory posts. Obama said this ban on czars would undermine the Presidents ability to exercise his constitutional responsibilities and take care that the laws be faithfully executed. In other words, Barack Obama believes he must ignore the U.S. Constitution to protect the U.S. Constitution. Many Obama administration czars have not been subject to confirmation by the U.S. Senate as required by the U.S. Constitution. In 2011, JW released a first-of-its-kind comprehensive report on the Obama czar scandal, entitled President Obamas Czars.
- In an historic victory for Judicial Watch and an embarrassing defeat for the Obama White House, a federal court ruled on August 17, 2011 that Secret Service White House visitor logs are agency records that are subject to disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act. U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell issued the decision in Judicial Watch v. Secret Service. The Obama administration now will have to release all records of all visitors to the White House or explain why White House visits should be kept secret under the law. The Obama White House continues to fight full disclosure and has stalled the release of records by appealing the lower court decision.(Judicial Watch gave Obama a failing grade on transparency in testimony before Congress in 2011. (Read the testimony in full as well as additional congressional testimony during a hearing entitled White House Transparency, Visitor Logs and Lobbyists.))
- In 2011, the Obama National Labor Relations Board sought to prevent the Seattle-based Boeing Company from opening a $750 million non-union assembly line in North Charleston, South Carolina, to manufacture its Dreamliner plane. Judicial Watch obtained documents from the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) showing this lawsuit was politically motivated. Judicial Watch uncovered documents showing NLRB staff cheerleading for Big Labor, mouthing Marxist, anti-American slurs and showing contempt for Congress related to the agencys lawsuit against Boeing, including email correspondence attacking members of Congress. And it starts at the top. Obama bypassed Congress and recess-appointed Craig Becker, who is connected to the AFL-CIO, the SEIU and ACORN, to the NRLB.
- Obamas corrupt Chicago dealings continued to haunt him in 2011.Obamas real estate partner, campaign fundraiser and Obama pork recipient Antoin Tony Rezko was finally sentenced to jail this year as was former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, who is now set to serve 14 years for attempting to sell Obamas former Senate seat to the highest bidder. The FBI continues to withhold from Judicial Watch documents of its historic interview of then-Senator Obama about the Illinois corruption scandal. The FBI interview was conducted in December, 2008, about one month before Obama was sworn into the presidency.
President Barack Obama:
Were there a Hall of Fame for broken promises, here is one that would get in on the first ballot: Let me say it as simply as I can: Transparency and the rule of law will be the touchstones of this presidency (President Barack Obama, January 21, 2009). Instead of transparency and the rule of law over the past four years, we have witnessed the greatest expansion of government in modern political history and, consequently, an explosion of government secrecy, scandals, and abuses of power. Among the low-lights:
- Illegal recess appointments: Perhaps former Attorney General Ed Meese and Todd Graziano summed it up best in their January 5, 2012, Washington Post guest commentary: President Obamas attempt to unilaterally appoint three people to seats on the National Labor Relations Board and Richard Cordray to head the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (after the Senate blocked action on his nomination) is more than an unconstitutional attempt to circumvent the Senates advice-and-consent role. It is a breathtaking violation of the separation of powers and the duty of comity that the executive owes to Congress.
- Illegal immigration: In mid-June, Obama announced that by executive decree and in apparent violation of his oath of office his administration would stop deporting and begin granting work permits to younger illegal immigrants who came to the U.S. as children. According to The AP, the policy change bypasses Congress and partially achieves the goals of the so-called DREAM Act, a long-sought but never enacted plan Lest anyone doubt that Obama knew he was overriding the law of the land, in March, 2011, he said, There are enough laws on the books by Congress that are very clear in terms of how we have to enforce our immigration system that for me to simply, through executive order, ignore those congressional mandates would not conform with my appropriate role as President.
- Unprecedented secrecy: Judicial Watch has had to file almost 1,000 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests and nearly 100 lawsuits against the Obama administration on issues ranging from Obamacare to the continued funding of the criminal ACORN network; from tracking Wall Street bailout money to the unconstitutional use of czars; to White House visitor logs; to the attacks on the integrity of our nations elections. This president touts transparency but condones law-breaking of open records laws by his administration.
- Unconstitutional czars: As far back as 2009, Reuters reported, Name a top issue and President Barack Obama has probably got a czar responsible for tackling it.By the time the Judicial Watch Special Report President Obamas Czars was published in October 2011, the number of Obama czars had skyrocketed to 45. Largely unconfirmed by and unaccountable to the Senate, many of Obamas czars are often outside the reach of FOIA. Some of these czars exercise unprecedented and unconstitutional control over major aspects of government policy and programs. And a number of the czars have been linked to scandals, thefts and kickbacks, flagrant and offensive statements, conflicts of interest, and radical leftist political ideologies and policies.
The list could go on ad infinitum with Benghazigate, bailouts, abusing the perks of office for luxury vacations for his family, and, of course, his personal involvement in the Solyndra scandal. But the bottom line is this: The federal government under Barack Obama is off the rails and out of control. And now, with Obama having been given the flexibility of a second term, it can only be expected to get worse.
- Use of Executive Privilege to protect Eric Holder: On June 20, 2012, Barack Obama acquiesced to a plea from Attorney General Eric Holder and asserted executive privilege to protect the Attorney General from being prosecuted for failing to provide Congress with Fast and Furious documents. On March 22, 2011, when asked by a Univision TV if he had been informed of the Holder gunrunning program, Obama bluntly stated, Absolutely not. This is a pretty big government, the United States government. Ive got a lot of moving parts. So, as Judge Andrew Napolitano said on Fox News, They cant have it both ways. If the President was not personally involved, executive privilege does not apply. To this day, President Obama refuses to detail the specific documents he is withholding from Congress.
You know what I think about Barack Obama's ratings? (1) They are far too high and (2) The man has no intention of learning from past mistakes.
He is mapping a role as emperor of the world when he's done destroying America's Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and private enterprise, which has funded the power he has to date. Nothing above discusses the oil industry in the Gulf he destroyed and the businesses that fed them, not to mention his international gaffes of destroying ties with America's long-held alliances. I'd say he is a fail and would like America to fall on his arrogant pretense that everyone who differs in opinion with him or his policy is somehow a racist, which is the second worst of his dalliances with the truth, the first being that President Bush is responsible for his years of failure to lead. Not!
