Posted by
PoliCzar on Wednesday, March 07, 2007 1:42:22 PM
The New York Times reported Wednesday that ‘Barack Obama
bought more than $50,000 worth of stock in two speculative companies whose
major investors included some of his biggest political donors.’ One of these companies was a biotech co. that
was starting to develop a drug to treat avian flu.
What was Obama’s first order of business in the Senate? Work on a bill that invested more federal
money into avian flu research. There is no law against senators owning
stock. The only ethical question here is
did these campaign contributions influence Obama’s decision making so much that
he decided to invest in the same company?
It is a strange coincidence. A
spokesman, Bill Burton, stated that Obama had a blind trust with his broker and
had no idea what stocks he was buying.
Let’s get it straight. He goes in
on 2 very speculative companies that are both invested in by his campaign
donors including Jared Abbruzzese who is currently involved in another ethics
scandal involving the State Senate Majority Leader in New York.
The FBI is investigating this case currently. One could point out that a lot of people
invest in stocks because their friends recommend them, and there is nothing
wrong with him investing, apparently.
But when he takes money from these ‘friends’ and uses it to get elected,
then proceeds to allow the influence of this money affect what he does in the
Senate, then we have a major problem, especially when one of these ‘friends’ is
one who has recently ‘emerged as a central figure in a federal investigation.’
These actions are surprising from a guy who refers to ethics
reform over and over now that he is running for president. Maybe he should check his own closet for the
ethical skeletons before he gives another speech on ethics.
Another big concern is ‘Mr. Obama, has already had to
contend with a controversy that arose out of his reliance on a major campaign
contributor in Chicago
to help him in a personal financial transaction. In that earlier case, he
acknowledged last year that it had been a mistake to involve the contributor, a
developer who has since been indicted in an unrelated political scandal, in
deals related to the Obamas’ purchase of a home.’
I suppose Harry Reid gave him instructions on how to get
away with this as well. It will not
surprise me that the media will never pick up on this. After all, it concerns
their superstar candidate. If they do,
it will be such a small story it will die out within a day or two, much like
the Harry Reid land deal which nobody has bothered to look into
apparently. If it were a republican you
can be sure the left wing media would cover it for weeks until a resignation
occurs. Even though, technically, there
is no hard proof of wrong-doing. But that
is why you have an investigation.
Ethics reform is required
in the House and the Senate. We must
pass strict laws making it a major felony for our elected officials to use loop
holes to take bribes. This has been
going on for far too long and until someone steps up to the plate and attacks
these ‘politicians’ for who they really are, I fear we are in for more of the
same. If we can allow our officials to
pad their pockets contributions, then we can allow the FBI to investigate these
same officials. I doubt that will happen in my lifetime. One could argue that it’s the peoples fault
for electing such selfish criminals.
Placing the blame on the voter is definitely not the answer. Hopefully we will learn more in the coming
week.