Judicial Watch: Obama ‘intended to leave no paper trail’

[Breeze54]

Judicial Watch: Obama ‘intended to leave no paper trail’

http://thehill.com/campaign-2008/judicial-watch-obama-intended-to-leave-no-paper-trail-2008-03-26.html

By Klaus Marre
Posted: 03/26/08 01:01 PM

The president of a prominent watchdog group said Wednesday that he believes Democratic presidential frontrunner Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) “intended to leave no paper trail” during his time in the Illinois Senate.

Judicial Watch, which has been seeking access to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s (D-N.Y.) records from her time in the White House, argued Wednesday that the Illinois senator, who has criticized the former first lady for a lack of openness, has his own “records problem.”

“The more we learn about the Illinois Senator, the more obvious it becomes that he is anything but the ethically upright outsider he purports to be,” said Tom Fitton, the president of Judicial Watch.

The group rose to prominence when it repeatedly took on former President Bill Clinton during his time in office. It also sought records from the Bush administration regarding Vice President Dick Cheney’s energy task force.

In a statement, Fitton noted that his group has sought access to Obama’s records as a state senator and questioned whether the presidential candidate has been forthcoming with regard to what happened to those documents.

However, he said that “nobody knows where they are, if they exist at all” and claimed that “Obama’s story keeps changing.”

The senator’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Fitton argues that Obama’s public accounts of what happened to his records do not mesh with information from the Illinois Office of the Secretary of State. He added that the Judicial Watch investigation “suggests” that the senator could have had his records archived in a way that would grant the public access to them.

“It appears that Obama never kept records of his time in the Illinois state legislature, or he discarded them,” Fitton stated. “Either way, he clearly intended to leave no paper trail.”

--------

ON EDIT:

About Us

http://www.judicialwatch.org/about.shtml

Judicial Watch, Inc., a conservative, non-partisan educational foundation, promotes
transparency, accountability and integrity in government, politics and the law....

[AX10]

1. To all of those naive Obama supporters (most of you)..

if you did not think the right wing was coming after him, you were obviously fooled.

[ellacott]

16. Most? How Silly

Very few people are naive enough to believe that the right wing is not going to go after Obama or Clinton. I would say that there might be some Clinton supporters who naively believe that she's already been vetted and there's nothing new that can be used.

What is most amazing is why are so many Dems such wimps when it comes to fighting back. It seems that so many cower at the thought of the right wing is going to come after us. I wish we would learn to fight and would stop being so wimpy.

We deserve to get our butt kicked if we are not going to stand up and fight back.

[MidwestTransplant]

19. Uh huh Naive. What do you call the last few weeks? Wait until HRC's tax returns are released.

[redqueen]

26. That's satire, right?

Do you really think most Obama supporters thought he'd be ignored by the people currently helping Hillary?

[Breeze54]

35. Doesn't everyone know that?

I would think they would or should be ready for it by now.

[Beacool]

43. The way the left and the MSM have trashed Hillary,

now even comparing her to Tonya Harding, is despicable. Wait until their guy gets the nomination and they'll soon find out what swiftboating is all about.

Me, I'll be buying popcorn wholesale.

Get ready, it's going to be a bumpy ride.

:popcorn:

[Cant trust em]

50. Right, and it's only Obama supporters who are rude to Clinton supporters

That meme is so fucking tired.

[EFerrari]

55. What do you mean "coming"? It's here and out of the Clinton campaign.

Good work, guys!

[niyad]

2. k & r

[BOSSHOG]

3. Time for another once in a lifetime speech

[anamandujano]

20. He'll be doing a lot of those.

:rofl:

[ElsewheresDaughter]

4. can we all now say REZKO!!!!

[scheming daemons]

9. Rezki.... er.... refko. .....er.... rizko .....er..... rosco..... er....

...Nope.


Apparently I *CAN'T* say it......

[olkaz]

5. More RW criticism used by the Hillaryfolk.

And a vetting we will go.

[Breeze54]

10. Is Judicial Watch a RW group? They also went after Cheney.

:shrug:

[TahitiNut]

24. Tom Fitton succeeded Larry Klayman and Fitton has been a "family values" and ...

... "moral majority" hired gun for years. Judicial Watch was PREDOMINANTLY targeted at the Clinton Adminstration but made do during the Cheney/Bush regime by offering the appearance of criticism. They're right-of-center at a minimum.

A decent reference for such organizationos is SourceWatch ...

Judicial Watch, Inc., at www.judicialwatch.org, describes itself as "an organization made up of lawyers, investigators, and concerned citizens." It was established in 1994 "to serve as an ethical and legal watchdog over our government, legal, and judicial systems to promote a return to ethics and morality in our nation's public life."

Judicial Watch, "a non-partisan, non-profit foundation based in Washington, D.C., and with offices throughout the country,... relies on supporters ....to help ... root out corruption in ... government and to make sure offenders are brought to justice."

Funding

In 2002, Judicial Watch received $1.1 million from the Carthage Foundation and a further $400,000 from the Sarah Scaife Foundation. The year before the Scaife Foundation had given $1.35 million and Carthage $500,000.

In all, between 1997 and 2002, Judicial Watch received $7,069,500 (unadjusted for inflation) in 19 grants from a handful of foundations including. The bulk of this funding came from just three foundations - the Sarah Scaife Foundation, The Carthage Foundation and the John M. Olin Foundation, Inc.

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Judicial_Watch

I shouldn't need to point out how far right the Scaife Foundation(s) are, should I? Well, the Olin Foundation is paleoconservative and funds such right wing stink tanks as the American Enterprise Institute and the Heritage Foundation. (The stench SHOULD be a warning for anyone with olfactory senses.)

[Breeze54]

28. Thanks... I wasn't aware of that but that Clinton meme was a red flag.

But I got thrown off by that "Cheney - energy" investigation.

I edited the OP with a short blurb about JW.

Thanks!

[cliffordu]

44. Excellent!!! Thanks!!

[Nickster]

56. Thanks for that. I thought I remembered them being a Scaife construct.

[ellacott]

33. So did Bill Kristol

[Tom Rinaldo]

6. If that was published in The Hill it will definitely be picked up on

The fact that it is the same organization that was after Clinton gives this charge some credibility.

[democrattotheend]

7. Didn't Clinton supporters say last week that Judicial Watch should not be quoted here?

I thought I remembered a thread where someone claimed Obama supporters had sunk to a "new low" by quoting Judicial Watch. Which is it?

[Breeze54]

12. I have no idea but they also went after Cheney.

Your guess is as good as mine.

[Drachasor]

59. You remember correctly.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

8. How can anybody trust this poser ...no wonder nobody can tell us one thing Obama has accomplished...

besides his great disappearing act

[scheming daemons]

11. Um..... you were telling us last week that Judicial Watch is not a valid source.....

.....

[ElsewheresDaughter]

18. got proof of that?

[Scairp]

30. Give me a break

How on earth could you keep track of who posted what on this vast website? I haven't posted that much recently and I can't even keep up with my own posts let alone someone else's. And I agree, if you say that poster claimed that Judicial Watch is not a valid source, and as far as I know they are, then prove it rather than throwing bombs without the fuse attached.

[Breeze54]

15. It's not exactly shady as JW is "suggesting" he didn't leave a paper trail.

Meaning they can't find any papers "IF THEY EXIST AT ALL".

It doesn't mean Obama is shady. It means JW wants the records.

[stillcool]

74. It seems like the "mis-remembering"

thing is contagious...

Non-issue? Looks that way

Thursday, Nov 15, 2007

* There’s been an attempt recently to try to pivot on Barack Obama’s statements about the Clinton archive records…

Barack Obama, who’s been scolding Hillary Rodham Clinton for not hastening the release of records from her time as first lady, says he can’t step up and produce his own records from his days in the Illinois state Senate. He says he hasn’t got any.

“I don’t have - I don’t maintain - a file of eight years of work in the state Senate because I didn’t have the resources available to maintain those kinds of records,” he said at a recent campaign stop in Iowa. He said he wasn’t sure where any cache of records might have gone, adding, “It could have been thrown out. I haven’t been in the state Senate now for quite some time.”

Obama’s statement that he has no papers from his time in the Illinois statehouse - he left in 2004 - stands in stark contrast to the massive Clinton file stored at the National Archives: an estimated 78 million pages of documents, plus 20 million e-mail messages, packed into 36,000 boxes. While any file from Obama’s time in the state Senate would be far smaller, the idea that no papers exist at all is questioned by one historian.

“Most of those guys do keep this stuff, especially the favorable stuff. They’ve all got egos,” said Taylor Pensoneau, a historian who has written about Illinois legislators and governors and worked with them as a lobbyist for the coal industry. “It goes in scrapbooks or maybe boxes. I don’t think it’s normal practice to say it’s all discarded.”

And…

The real issue, Clinton’s campaign said, is the availability of “schedules, memos and other documents” from Obama’s time in the state senate.

On Meet the Press Sunday, Obama said he did not have a scheduler and therefore there are no schedules to be had. A spokesman for the Obama campaign said Obama passed along many of his files to his successor, Kwame Raoul.

* I sent an e-mail to a handful of legislators this morning asking about their record-keeping practices. Here are the responses I’ve received so far…

* Rep. Lou Lang…

I think we all have large file cabinets and diaries that we keep for a while but there is not a special requirement that we keep any particular records in any particular way

* Rep. John Fritchey…

I would venture to say that I keep better files than most, but the only record of my meetings would be on the personal calendar that I keep. I do keep most substantive correspondence going back several years though. I would doubt that at the state legislative level, anybody keeps the type of contact records that they are referring to. There is a big difference between the state house and the White House.

* Sen. Jacqueline Collins…

As it relates to records. No, I don’t keep an account of who I meet with. My secretary may have the information jotted down on a daily schedule but I don’t think she retains that information because of the volume of paper we receive on a daily basis.

* Rep. Sara Feigenholtz…

We have old message books and my Chicago staff puts everything in outlook. I keep a lot of stuff… but after 13 years we have to purge so we don’t hoard.

* I’ll post more as they come in, but it looks to me like this Obama thing is just another national non-issue.

* Rep. Susanna Mendoza…

…I don’t religiously keep a detailed file or anything; it’s more like folders on bills with corresponding notes or info in them. Regarding my scheduling, I definitely don’t keep records of that and don’t really know anyone who does. So many of the meetings we end up having are not even scheduled and end up being with people who drive to Springfield to meet with legislators without a previous appointment. I’d be surprised if anyone keeps detailed records of their schedules and definitely believe Obama when he says that there probably aren’t any files or records of his to look over.

From Media Matters...

**Some records from Obama's state Senate career, as the AP later acknowledged, are available via public records requests from various state agencies.

**Illinois agencies have copies of his requests for information or help, but accessing those records would involve contacting the agencies and asking them to comb though eight years of records to find correspondence from Obama."

--------------------------

According to a statement by the Obama campaign:

**The reporter failed to contact State Senator Kwame Raoul to confirm that Senator Obama provided him with records tracking constituent requests and casework.

**The reporter failed to contact other State Senators who served at the time and would confirm that they, like Obama, did not keep records beyond those that the state archived even though contact information was provided.

**And it takes a months-old conversation about whether or not Obama had ever intervened in any capacity in a domestic or international criminal trial in his career in public office out of context and implies the inquiry related to Senate records.

[Breeze54]

79. Great find!

Perhaps JW didn't read that article? Seems like it.

Maybe you should send that to them. ;)

[DerekJ]

84. stillcool47, Good find.

This should be a thread by itself for easier reference.

[damonm]

77. Try doing some research...

Before you go on about how Obama hasn't accomplished anything. It's been posted here several times, and is easily accessible at Wikipedia and elsewhere.
READ before trumpeting your ignorance - it just makes your candidate look bad.

[anonymous171]

13. What could be found in his records as a state senator? His votes are already known aren't they?

I'm a bit confused about this....

[Flyfish]

14. And this is probably just the tip of the iceberg.

[Yes We Did]

17. Tell me... how long to you keep your tax records?

I keep mine for 7 years... just like most people.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

21. these are NOT tax records

[Breeze54]

23. Whom are you asking? Klaus Marre or me?

My records are kept online but many people keep them 20 years or longer.

But these are the senator's records from his time in the Il. state senate.

[Nitrogenica]

22. This is quite a stretch, and quite freeper-eque.

The whole thing is so loaded with the terms I have grown to hate:

"he believes Democratic presidential frontrunner Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) “intended to leave no paper trail” during his time in the Illinois Senate

Are you sure about that belief? So it's a hunch?

"Either way, he clearly intended to leave no paper trail.”

It's clear, although it's just a hunch?

It reeks of the kind of assault where there is an assumption of a person's bad intentions.

Isn't it a Liberal belief to assume the best of people, rather than the right-wing belief that assumes the worst?

[DefenseLawyer]

25. Judicial Watch, Scaife, Limbaugh, the American Spectator, Newsmax...

Is any good Democrat that happens to support HRC really fine with where your candidate's campaign has taken you?

[Breeze54]

29. You are assuming to much and you know what they say...I posted an article from THE HILL!

Take a DEEP BREATH and relax.

[Eurobabe]

67. And Scaife was shown SCHEMING with Hillary in Pitts. today

http://donklephant.com/2008/03/25/hillary-clinton-and-richard-mellon-scaife-together-again/

[Pawel K]

27. Judicial Watch? The same group that was set up in the 90s to destroy the Clintons?

wow, you hillary bots are really pulling at straws, aren't you?

[Breeze54]

31. Excuse me, gasbag, but the article is ABOUT JW from 'The Hill' and why do you

assume because I posted an article from the Hill about what JW said that I'm an HRC supporter?

Do you always go around accusing people with out any knowledge?

You know what they say about people who ass-u-me?

U would be the ass.

[Pawel K]

48. I didn't assume anything about you

I was talking to every knee jerk reaction to your OP from the average hillary bot. The fact is that Judicial watch was a group hell bent on destroying the Clinton's in the 90s, and what you posted shows nothing concrete about Obama's records, simply ass-u-mptions on their part. But your average hillbot jumped right in to totally agree with your OP without taking a second to think about it.

[Breeze54]

51. I know and I'm sorry I misinterpreted your reply.

I didn't, as you know, go to JW to get this, as some morons are saying.

The Hill is reporting what JW is saying. It's lost on them, I guess.

"You see what you want to see, and hear what you want to hear"; said the Rock Man.

[Catherina]

32. Hillary left such a trail the very serious BBC is picking it up today

BBC Today - TuzlaGate

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ao2D-YBb1Zo

[JTFrog]

34. The same Tom Fitton that made the Top 10 Conservative Idiots List?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/top10/01/top10_2001_22.html

Tom Fitton - NEW! Weeks on chart: 1 - And while we're on the subject of lying about trashing the White House, here's Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch: "I know based on sources who have proved credible in the past, that Bush officials – whether they be career staff or political staff – have knowledge that laptops were stolen," said Tom in the oh-so-reliable online rag WorldNetDaily.com. But Fitton has decided to keep his sources confidential because "they still fear retaliation from officials in the Bush White House who are holdovers from the Clinton administration." Holdovers? Maybe they're worried that a mean-spirited janitor might suddenly attack them with a broom. Or a caterer with a grudge might spill hot soup on their pants. Or maybe it's all in Tom Fitton's imagination. Who can tell?

This Tom Fitton?

Judicial Watch, a public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption released their List of Washington’s “Ten Most Wanted Corrupt Politicians” for 2007 this week.

Surprisingly, the Top Ten includes a total of 4 candidates currently running for the office of President of the United States. Seven that made the list are Democrats, two are Republican and one, I. Lewis ‘Scooter’ Libby is not even a politician, but is aligned with the Republicans.

Arranged alphabetically, the list is comprised of, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY), Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), Senator Larry Craig (R-ID), Senator Diane Feinstein (D-CA), Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R-NY), Governor Mike Huckabee (R-AR), I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, former Chief of Staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, Speaker of the House Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Senator Harry Reid (D-NV).

Clinton made the list due to her ties to fugitive felon, Norman Hsu as well as potential involvement in scandals that plagued her husband’s administration. Conyers earned his spot for the misuse of staff while on the government payroll. Craig, as all will recall, made it for his being caught up in a homosexual sting in an airport restroom.

Bully for you and your awesome sources!!! Aren't you just a proud and noble democrat!

[Name removed]

37. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Debi]

47. AAccckkk beat me to it!

:banghead:

[RememberWellstone]

36. Oopsy

That word honor just pops up with this guy. He does'nt have it.

[Breeze54]

41. Why would you say such a dumb thing? Because a group can't find some papers,

you jump to the conclusion that something seedy is going on?

That's stupid.

[rinsd]

38. Fuck Judicial Watch. It was BS when so called Obama "supporters" posted it too.

[Breeze54]

46. But this is The Hill reporting what JW is saying....

They also report about the RW.

[rinsd]

52. So what? Its Judicial Watch and it should not be used against a fellow Democrat.

Its bad enough Obama trolls post crap from NewsMax, Peggy Noonan, & World Net Daily while breathlessly reporting how Tweety & Bill'O are treating the latest Clinton scandal.

We do not need to add to it.

[Breeze54]

57. Excuse me, but I didn't post AGAINST anyone.

Maybe it's time everyone here realized that the RW is after their collective Dem candidates?

I know, information is scary but I'd rather know what the RW is saying although I hate RW sources too.

I didn't know that JW was conservative, I just saw the article on The Hill and they did a hit job on the GOP today.

[bigtree]

39. that group is a cancer on the political process.

[Debi]

40. You mean THIS Tom Fitton?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/top10/01/top10_2001_22.html

"Tom Fitton - NEW! Weeks on chart: 1 - And while we're on the subject of lying about trashing the White House, here's Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch: "I know based on sources who have proved credible in the past, that Bush officials – whether they be career staff or political staff – have knowledge that laptops were stolen," said Tom in the oh-so-reliable online rag WorldNetDaily.com. But Fitton has decided to keep his sources confidential because "they still fear retaliation from officials in the Bush White House who are holdovers from the Clinton administration." Holdovers? Maybe they're worried that a mean-spirited janitor might suddenly attack them with a broom. Or a caterer with a grudge might spill hot soup on their pants. Or maybe it's all in Tom Fitton's imagination. Who can tell?"

(Wow, making DU's Top Ten Conservative Idiots and then to be used as a source is quite a feat!)

[shayes51]

42. Interesting indeed.

[Forkboy]

45. "conservative, non-partisan". Two words in and they've already lied.

[Teaser]

49. Shorter Judicial Watch: "We got nothin' "

JW? Please.

[Breeze54]

53. LOL no, THE HILL REPORTED WHAT JW IS SAYING!

:eyes:

Please.

[Teaser]

63. Shorter Hill: "JW's got nuthin' "

.

[BenDavid]

54. I can believe that statement.

[kleebo151]

58. Careful. Judicial Watch is a right-wing group

Juditial Watch intend to smear Obama. That is their job. Smear progressives and Democrats only.
Let's be careful with that.

[PoliticalAmazon]

78. JW is funded by Scaife, and has always been after the Clintons...

...including in this election. He has sued HRC for access to records a few times already.

He has done NOTHING against Obama, however.

That is, until now.

Conincidentally, Hillary Clinton recently met with Scaife.

JW was founded on Scaife foundation contributions. He is a perennial favorite. From the time JW was founded until the Clintons left office, JW's only real target was the Clintons.

In other words, he was doing Scaife's bidding, as do the other fundees of the Scaife foundation bucks (Independent Women's Foundation--Ann Coulter, et al.; Arkansas Education Project; Landmark Legal, etc.)

Coincidence? YOU be the judge.

[Up2Late]

60. MORE Hypocrisy!?! Wow! So much for "change."

THREE SHORT WORDS! THREE SHORT WORDS! THREE SHORT WORDS!

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

61. What records do they want?

Anything of an official nature, one supposes, would be held by the State of Illinois (and should be available for public review). Anything else is Obama's personal property and not really subject to review by some self-proclaimed "watchdog" group.

[Megahurtz]

62. Bullshit Opinion Piece

The president of Judicial Watch "believes". :eyes:

Has this guy established any intent? Intent has to be established and they did not do that.

Just print it out and use it for toilet paper, people!

[Kokonoe]

64. I wonder how JD is coming along at finding the white house E-mails

OH, I guess it doesn't matter at all, And the Clintons did it too so who cares.

Clinton White House “Lost” Emails Too
Tue, 01/22/2008 - 14:06 — Judicial Watch Blog

The vast mainstream media coverage and outrage over the Bush White House losing millions of emails implies that it’s an unprecedented Oval Office occurrence instead of an old rerun of the Clinton Administration, which “lost” its fair share of electronic mail.

[Breeze54]

65. What? Don't you mean Bush WH lost E-mails?

:shrug:

[JTFrog]

68. You really are having trouble today aren't you.

Clinton White House “Lost” Emails Too


One of your source's claims is that Clinton did it first.

[Breeze54]

69. 'The Hill' said that? I didn't see that story on 'The Hill' today.

Got the link?

[JTFrog]

70. Try the other link in your OP. n/t

[Breeze54]

75. Why? I don't care. That's old news.

You go look for it if you're so interested in it.

[Kokonoe]

88. OH here it is, stop editing, your making it all difficult.

http://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/clinton-white-house-lost-emails-too

[Breeze54]

89. Hon, I've probably read all of those YEARS ago...

Why are you posting them all now?

They aren't relevant.

[Lucinda]

66. Thanks for the post!

Interesting stuff.

[stillcool]

71. Asked and answered, and answered, and...

answered. Rinse and Repeat...

Non-issue? Looks that way

Thursday, Nov 15, 2007

* There’s been an attempt recently to try to pivot on Barack Obama’s statements about the Clinton archive records…

Barack Obama, who’s been scolding Hillary Rodham Clinton for not hastening the release of records from her time as first lady, says he can’t step up and produce his own records from his days in the Illinois state Senate. He says he hasn’t got any.

“I don’t have - I don’t maintain - a file of eight years of work in the state Senate because I didn’t have the resources available to maintain those kinds of records,” he said at a recent campaign stop in Iowa. He said he wasn’t sure where any cache of records might have gone, adding, “It could have been thrown out. I haven’t been in the state Senate now for quite some time.”

Obama’s statement that he has no papers from his time in the Illinois statehouse - he left in 2004 - stands in stark contrast to the massive Clinton file stored at the National Archives: an estimated 78 million pages of documents, plus 20 million e-mail messages, packed into 36,000 boxes. While any file from Obama’s time in the state Senate would be far smaller, the idea that no papers exist at all is questioned by one historian.

“Most of those guys do keep this stuff, especially the favorable stuff. They’ve all got egos,” said Taylor Pensoneau, a historian who has written about Illinois legislators and governors and worked with them as a lobbyist for the coal industry. “It goes in scrapbooks or maybe boxes. I don’t think it’s normal practice to say it’s all discarded.”

And…

The real issue, Clinton’s campaign said, is the availability of “schedules, memos and other documents” from Obama’s time in the state senate.

On Meet the Press Sunday, Obama said he did not have a scheduler and therefore there are no schedules to be had. A spokesman for the Obama campaign said Obama passed along many of his files to his successor, Kwame Raoul.

* I sent an e-mail to a handful of legislators this morning asking about their record-keeping practices. Here are the responses I’ve received so far…

* Rep. Lou Lang…

I think we all have large file cabinets and diaries that we keep for a while but there is not a special requirement that we keep any particular records in any particular way

* Rep. John Fritchey…

I would venture to say that I keep better files than most, but the only record of my meetings would be on the personal calendar that I keep. I do keep most substantive correspondence going back several years though. I would doubt that at the state legislative level, anybody keeps the type of contact records that they are referring to. There is a big difference between the state house and the White House.

* Sen. Jacqueline Collins…

As it relates to records. No, I don’t keep an account of who I meet with. My secretary may have the information jotted down on a daily schedule but I don’t think she retains that information because of the volume of paper we receive on a daily basis.

* Rep. Sara Feigenholtz…

We have old message books and my Chicago staff puts everything in outlook. I keep a lot of stuff… but after 13 years we have to purge so we don’t hoard.

* I’ll post more as they come in, but it looks to me like this Obama thing is just another national non-issue.

* Rep. Susanna Mendoza…

…I don’t religiously keep a detailed file or anything; it’s more like folders on bills with corresponding notes or info in them. Regarding my scheduling, I definitely don’t keep records of that and don’t really know anyone who does. So many of the meetings we end up having are not even scheduled and end up being with people who drive to Springfield to meet with legislators without a previous appointment. I’d be surprised if anyone keeps detailed records of their schedules and definitely believe Obama when he says that there probably aren’t any files or records of his to look over.

From Media Matters...

**Some records from Obama's state Senate career, as the AP later acknowledged, are available via public records requests from various state agencies.

**Illinois agencies have copies of his requests for information or help, but accessing those records would involve contacting the agencies and asking them to comb though eight years of records to find correspondence from Obama."

--------------------------

According to a statement by the Obama campaign:

**The reporter failed to contact State Senator Kwame Raoul to confirm that Senator Obama provided him with records tracking constituent requests and casework.

**The reporter failed to contact other State Senators who served at the time and would confirm that they, like Obama, did not keep records beyond those that the state archived even though contact information was provided.

**And it takes a months-old conversation about whether or not Obama had ever intervened in any capacity in a domestic or international criminal trial in his career in public office out of context and implies the inquiry related to Senate records.

[redqueen]

81. I'm SO shocked that they're recycling their talking points.

:sarcasm:

[stillcool]

86. When this came up a while back...

it took me no time to find the answers, but I didn't save it, thinking done deal..over..next. This time, it took me forever to wade through the two un-sourced opinion articles, regurgitated verbatim and blanketed through out the net, on every blog, newspaper, and media station imaginable. Must be pricey to do shit like that.

[intaglio]

72. Judicial Watch, Conservative, non-Partisan, funded by Scaife

As in Richard Mellon Scaife, also funded by John Olin (oil and munitions) They have done some work against the Bush White House; suing Cheney and Haliburton for access to minutes of the Energy Task Force and the Secret service to release the visitor logs relating to Abramoff; but most has been against Democratic targets (mainly Bill)

He likes Hillary - she invited him to the White House

so Judicial watch might not be as non-Partisan as it makes out

[swag]

73. Who is Tom Fitton?

Tom Fitton is the President and Chief Spokesman of Judicial Watch, promoting transparency and integrity in government and in the judiciary in order to create a return to ethics and morality in our Nation’s public life. With over 17 years experience in conservative public policy, Tom Fitton, Judicial Watch President, has helped lead the organization since 1998 and overseen its tremendous growth and success in recent years.

Fitton is also a political analyst, previously working for America’s Voice and National Empowerment Television. He is a former employee of the International Policy Forum, the Leadership Institute and Accuracy in Media.

Mr. Fitton is an expert in campaign finance corruption, and has earned a reputation as a top television political analyst during Senator Fred Thompson’s campaign finance hearings in 1997. Fitton also provides strategic guidance and leadership on Judicial Watch’s other efforts to fight government corruption.

A former talk radio and television host and analyst, he is well known across the country as a national spokesperson for the conservative cause, having appeared on ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, FOX, MSNBC, C-SPAN and dozens of national talk radio programs. He is regularly quoted in hundreds of newspapers and magazines nationwide.

Fitton has authored articles such as “Judicial Activism Hurts our Courts,” “What Bill Clinton Knew About bin Laden,” “Following Terrorism’s Money Trail,” “Senate Abandons Judicial Nominees,” “Every Town is a Border Town,” “The Clinton’s War on Gun Rights” and “Jesse Jackson Exposed.”

Judicial Watch publishes the monthly newsletter, the Verdict, which has a circulation of over 100,000, and runs the cutting-edge Internet sites JudicialWatch.org and CorruptionChroncles.com.

Under Fitton’s leadership, Judicial Watch was named one of Washington’s top ten most effective government watchdog organizations by The Hill. Fitton has B.A. English from George Washington University.

and

http://www.libertypost.org/cgi-bin/readart.cgi?ArtNum=138340

Washington, D.C., April 13, 2006 - Today, the founder of Judicial Watch, Larry Klayman, brought suit in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia against the current president, Tom Fitton. Lawsuits have also been filed by a donor of Judicial Watch, Louise Benson, and a former director of the Miami district office, Sandy Cobas, against Fitton and the current organization.

Founded in 1994, to fight for ethics in government, over the next ten years before he left to run for the U.S. Senate in Florida, Klayman built Judicial Watch into the leading public interest ethics watchdog nationally and internationally. Having been a Justice Department prosecutor, Klayman created the organization to be a "True Independent Counsel" for the people, since he had come to believe that government could not police itself. Klayman successfully took on Democrats and Republicans alike. The prestigious National Journal called him "a major force in Washington" and the "major public interest litigator at this time." See National Journal, June 24, 2002.

After Klayman left Judicial Watch in the fall of 2003, the current president Tom Fitton set out to hijack the group to further his own personal interests. As alleged in the complaint, 'Fitton sent out false and misleading fundraising letters, misused donor money, disparaged Klayman with supporters and the media, and took other actions which increased the damage to Judicial Watch, the donors and Klayman. Egregiously, Fitton allowed to remain as head of the high dollar Judicial Watch fundraising department an individual, Robert G. Mills, who he knew had a shady fundraising past and was in bed with Congressman Tom DeLay. This high dollar fundraiser, along with Fitton, defrauded donors. Fitton himself defrauded Klayman about his past, passing himself off as a college graduate of George Washington University when Klayman hired him years earlier, when in fact he had not graduated from the school and did not have even an undergraduate college degree.'

Through Fitton's and Mill's actions, the suit also alleges that donors have been defrauded of monies which they donated on the condition that the funds be spent to purchase Judicial Watch's headquarters at 501 School Street, S.W. in Washington, D.C. In a separate suit filed in Miami circuit court, the former director of Judicial Watch's Southern Regional Office, Sandy Cobas alleges that Fitton and others took part in disparaging her Cuban/Hispanic heritage, defamed her, and took other actions to force her out of Judicial Watch because she was loyal to Klayman.

"In the two and one half years since I left, Fitton, who is not a lawyer, has taken over Judicial Watch for himself, never filling my position as Chairman with a distinguished lawyer to lead the organization. And Fitton disparaged and harmed my reputation in an attempt to make sure that I, and others who are loyal to me, could never return to lead Judicial Watch. Regrettably, I have been forced to take strong legal action to preserve this national treasure for all Americans. Not even the current leadership of my former organization is "above the law." It's time to set things straight for the future and return Judicial Watch to the millions of Americans who support it. In this renewed era of government scandal and secrecy, the country needs an honest, forceful and effective Judicial Watch," stated Klayman.


Klayman and Benson are represented by the Philadelphia firm of Spector, Gadon and Rosen, PC. To view the complaint, go to www.savingjudicialwatch.org.

[PoliticalAmazon]

76. I'm SURE this is JUST a coincidence...

...but Hillary Clinton recently met with Richard Mellon Scaife.

Okay, up to now Judicial Watch (a perennial favorite of Scaife funding; JW was founded on Scaife bucks, and JW's main focus until Clinton was out of office was attacking the Clintons, who Scaife loathes) has been pretty hot on Hillary Clinton. In other words, JW does Scaife's bidding, as do the other Scaife foundation fundees.

Now, all of a sudden, he's after Obama?

Coincidence?....YOU be the judge.

[indimuse]

80. RW...LW...It's still FACTTTTTTT!!!!!!

Grow up and learn to accept fact as fact! Obama has from the beginning (I'll say it again!!) PUNKING YOU!
He is ALL about evasive maneuvering...LYING...All the things you want in your candidate is NOT in Obama , unless you want a DIRTIER guy in the WH..LOOK at WHO has made him...what favors does he owe...follow the money...ALL the way to an Iraqi fugitive billionaire...deeply connected to Rezko and Emil Jones.

Rezko’s contacts and partners are not restricted to Arab Americans, his partners include other Americans, which he did business with and as the government alleges conspired with to commit criminal conduct.

Rezko even was trying to get the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani, to partner with him in one of his businesses! He was quoted in Springfield newspaper, last year saying, "I'm planning to get him to do business in Illinois," Rezko said of the emir. After the Emir visited Springfield in May of last year.
Rezko told columnist Bernard Shoenburg of the Star Journal Register, a Springfield newspaper, that he is “ friend with the Emir”
The Emir of Qatar later made a $1 million donation to the Lincoln presidential library and Museum in Springfield.This was also reported by Chicago Tribune last year.



Obama is HIDING THINGS...OPEN YOUR EYES!!

[Hepburn]

82. If you think stuff on Obama is bad...OMG on Hillary:

Search results for "Hillary Clinton" on Judicial Watch:

Hillary Watch Corruption Chronicle Posts
2005-2007 2007 Top Clinton Donor Helps Defraud Elderly (May 25, 2007) Hillary’s Golden Palestinian Money Trial (May 17, 2007) Big ...

Page - dgrothe - 6 Feb 2008 - 12:45 - 0 comments - 0 attachments

Judicial Watch Announces List of Washington’s “Ten Most Wanted Corrupt Politicians” for 2007
... in alphabetical order, includes: 1. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY): In addition to her long and sordid ethics record, Senator ...

Page - JudicialWatchWeb - 16 Jan 2008 - 14:42 - 0 comments - 0 attachments

Judicial Watch Monitors Hillary Clinton's Campaign for Election
Updates pertaining to Hillary Clinton's presidential election campaign will be posted in this space, so be ... like any other native-born American over the age of 35, Hillary Clinton is free to run for president. But, as she well knows, with her ...

Page - Anonymous - 25 Mar 2008 - 10:43 - 0 comments - 0 attachments

Judicial Watch Releases Records Regarding Hillary’s Health Care Reform Plan
... corruption, today released records obtained from the Clinton Presidential Library related to the National Taskforce on Health Care ... task force chaired by former First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton during the Clinton administration. Specifically, these ... “P.S.,” makes the startling admission that critics of Hillary’s health care reform plan were correct: “I can think of parallels ...

Page - JudicialWatchWeb - 7 Mar 2008 - 14:34 - 0 comments - 3 attachments

Clinton Library Documents - Health Care Reform
... task force chaired by former First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton during the Clinton administration. Specifically, these documents come ... 26, 1993 Memorandum from Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) to Hillary Clinton entitled, “Health Care Reform Communications” ...

Page - dgrothe - 19 Mar 2008 - 14:17 - 0 comments - 0 attachments

Clinton Records Contradict Her Touted Experience
Records of Hillary Clinton’s tenure as First Lady, released this week thanks to a lengthy ... experiance Wow did that come as a suprise ... lol Hillary Clinton Thanks for your efforts to expose this fraud. She and Bill ...

Blog entry - Judicial Watch Blog - 20 Mar 2008 - 10:23 - 4 comments - 0 attachments

Latin American Communists Back Obama
... ruling dictator, Cuba’s Fidel Castro, endorsed an Obama-Hillary Clinton ticket as unbeatable. In an editorial published in Cuba’s ...

Blog entry - Judicial Watch Blog - 15 Feb 2008 - 11:58 - 6 comments - 0 attachments

Illegal Immigrants Register U.S. Voters
... elect a president that is pro illegal immigrant. Both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have supported legislation ( Development, Relief and ...

Blog entry - Judicial Watch Blog - 4 Mar 2008 - 14:51 - 5 comments - 0 attachments

Clinton Library Documents - Hillary Clinton's Calendars
These documents are First Lady Hillary Clinton's White House schedules. On March 19, 2008 the Clinton Library ... January 2001 Revised 1999-2000 Schedules (Hillary Watch, Special Projects) ...

Page - dgrothe - 20 Mar 2008 - 15:27 - 0 comments - 0 attachments

Missing Mayor Traveling With Clinton On City Hall Dime
... time to travel around the country campaigning for Hillary Clinton accompanied by a City Hall staffer and his police security detail. ...

Blog entry - Judicial Watch Blog - 3 Mar 2008 - 12:05 - 2 comments - 0 attachments

123456789…next ›last »

http://www.judicialwatch.org/search/node/Hillary+Clinton

Wow!

[Breeze54]

83. Better you go there, than me.

:P

[Catherine Vincent]

85. Anything on McCain's records?

Or is JW only interested in democratic candidates?

[Breeze54]

87. I don't know. I didn't go there. You can though.

'The Hill' outed the GOP today though. That was a pretty humorous article. :P

[Tellurian]

91. Good, the Obama People used JW to point to Hillary last week..

I guess, equal time and Fair Play are words not currently available in their vocabulary!

[madrchsod]

90. fuck this right wing bullshit

the senators in illinois do not have to keep records ..he did keep several years then like everyone else in the illinois senate-both thugs and dems- he did`t keep anything...

the fuckers at judicial watch can take their accusations and shove them up their asses.

ya he`s my senator