I might be beating an old horse but...what about Hillary's time at Wal-Mart

[AllentownJake]

WalMart the most anti-union company in the country.
http://wakeupwalmart.com/facts/

WalMart that does this to its workers when they get hurt.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/03/25/walmart.insurance.battle/index.html

Very old article on her relationship
http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0021,harkavy,15052,5.html

She spent 6 years as a member of the board of directors. Is there any evidence she made any attempt to improve employees working conditions? Just curious.

[Maddy McCall]

1. What about Michele Obama's time with walmart?

Working for the largest pickle supplier or walmart?

[AllentownJake]

3. I think

Being a member of the board that oversees the management team is a little different than being involved with a supplier.

[democrattotheend]

6. Walmart suppliers are not the same thing as Walmart

Plenty of good companies are suppliers to Walmart. Walmart often strongarms its suppliers though. My grandparents have a friend who owns a company that makes children's pajamas, and he was forced to ship jobs overseas because Walmart was so aggressive about the price. But a lot of the other stores he supplied have gone out of business, so without Walmart his company would not be in business.

[MADem]

14. They were a MAIN supplier, not just "a" supplier. And they gave her a 50K payday for her work.

She clearly thought it was a problem, too, because she ran like hell from those guys.

Michelle Obama Cuts Ties with Controversial Wal-Mart Supplier
May 22, 2007 6:53 PM

ABC News' Sunlen Miller Reports: Michelle Obama, the wife of democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., has resigned her position as director of TreeHouse Foods Inc where she has served since 2005.

....Her position on the board of the company was not without controversy. Many pointed to her role on the board as a direct conflict with her husband's stance against the company Wal-Mart. TreeHouse Foods is one of the main suppliers to Wal-Mart and Senator Obama has come out against Wal-Mart's labor practices in the past....

[AllentownJake]

15. Supplier

I did a search and I can't find anything about their labor practices.

If you make food in the US. Chances are Wal-Mart is a customer.

[Maddy McCall]

16. WalMart was THE customer.

The ONLY customer of their pickle plant.

So she worked with WalMart through the pickle company.

Hard to impeach Clinton when Michele Obama was so closely tied to WalMart.

[mckeown1128]

20. No it wasn't... they had other customers...

but like most companies that produce food goods.. they have to supply to the largest retailer in the country.

This is hysterical... it's a double guilt by association...


Obama -> his wife -> pickle company -> Walmart

compared to

Hillary -> Walmart

hmm.... interesting.

[MADem]

26. Compared to 1992....and "Just Quit!!!" Oh, and that's "Biggest Customer" FWIW.

Citations: http://time-blog.com/real_clear_politics/2006/12/the_messiah_cometh_to_new_hamp.html via http://www.walmartfiles.com/barack-obamas-wife-has-wal-mart-as-her-biggest-customer/

And here's some good news for '08 wannabe John Edwards: Obama's wife, Michelle, earns $45K a year sitting on the corporate board of Treehouse (formerly Dean) Foods, whose biggest customer is - you guessed it - Wal-Mart. Not to mention that Treehouse appears to have a bit of an executive compensation issue.

According to the article by Greg Hinz of Crain's Chicago, the CEO of Treehouse earned $26.2 million in salary and stock options last year, making him the second highest paid exec in the state, ahead of the CEO's of corporate giants Motorola and Abbot Labs. And three other execs at Treehouse made over $10 million last year, all working for a company with only $700 million in revenues.

[mckeown1128]

27. So the CEO's of a large pickle company make money...

that doesn't mean the company as a supplier is mistreated like most suppliers to walmart... again I fail to see what this has to do with Obama...


How is Obama's wife working for a company that does business with walmart... worse than Hillary sitting on the board of walmart..(not speaking up when walmart attacks unions)


I shop at walmart... does that mean my wife is guilty in walmart's bad trade policies???

[MADem]

33. You fail to see what hundreds of newspapers have seen and reported on. Fine.

The phrase is "deliberately obtuse" and it is certainly operative.

No one is saying one is "worse" save the thread originator, trying to stir up a little shit.

What's good for the goose is certainly good for the gander. though, that's MY point. I'd say quitting a post in 1992 shows a little more judgment than taking one ON with Wal-Mart's top supplier in 2005, and only quitting a month after your bigmouth husband starts trashing the goose that laid your golden egg (after being renamed to the board for another three year term, too)...no wonder Ms. Obama is a little pissed off at times, and said "We're only doing this ONCE"--her husband is cutting into her bottom line in a big way.

I think people can make their own decisions about where they want to (or have to, depending on if one lives in a rural location or doesn't have much choice in retailers or simply is on a budget and needs to take advantage of the discounts) shop. I'm not one of those people that will wag a finger at you like some of the so-called liberal (but intolerant) scolds here. We all do what we have to do to get by, and it certainly isn't getting easier of late.

[AllentownJake]

50. Stiring the Pot

Is there not a thread on here that isn't meant to stir the pot except for the 1 in 50 Unity threads?

BTW if she's the nominee I will vote for her. I'll shower after words but I'll do it will you do the same.

[MADem]

57. I've said that repeatedly, I will vote for the party's nominee.

And while I will do so unenthusiastically if my choice doesn't make the cut, I will go to the polls, I will drive people to the polls, as I always do, and I won't whine about my vote, either.

I see this election as a vote for future Supreme Court justices, too. The continued contest does not bother me, though--what's wrong with letting people vote? The insistence that one candidate 'must' step aside is very undemocratic. It's a tactic that will piss off half the party, frankly, and just might ensure that a less-qualified candidate, McCain, wins.

This thread is more of a pot-stirrer than most. What's the point of bringing up Clinton's association with Sam Walton's Wal-Mart almost two decades ago, except to be a baiting asshole and play the "Gotcha" game? And when people fling shit, they shouldn't be surprised when it gets flung right back at them.

[AllentownJake]

60. Have no problem

With the shit flinging....Two days ago there were 4 post questioning if Obama did drugs with Revrend Wright.

Her association with Wal-Mart really does bother me. I want to know what she's done about them since she left. The story I read on CNN about the woman who had Wal-Mart take all the money she got from the lawsuit over her accident because of a clause in her insurance policy really bothered me. The woman can't function because she has no short term memory and Wal-Mart took the money from the family that they were using for skilled nursing care. She also had a son die in Iraq...it just sums up everything that is wrong right now in this country and I honestly want to know what HRC has done about them since she left.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/03/25/walmart.insurance.battle/index.html

[MADem]

62. Well, if it bothers you, an association with a company that has changed completely

since the founder died (which is when she LEFT) then you should be VERY troubled by Michelle Obama's association with TREEHOUSE, an association she severed only a month after being reappointed to a three year year term, after her husband started making noise about Wal-Mart.

I had nothing to do with those "other threads" you mention. Didn't even see them.

I feel sad for this woman in your link, but what does she have to do with Hillary Clinton, specifically? She had her car accident EIGHT YEARS AGO, and Clinton left Wal-Mart well before that. The woman didn't read the fine print, and the family admits that.

What would you have Clinton do? She wasn't AT Wal-Mart when this health plan was implemented. I just don't understand your complaint.

The Supreme Court has turned these people down--a Senator can't override them:

Two years after the accident, Shank and her husband, Jim, were awarded about $1 million in a lawsuit against the trucking company involved in the crash. After legal fees were paid, $417,000 was placed in a trust to pay for Debbie Shank's long-term care.

Wal-Mart had paid out about $470,000 for Shank's medical expenses and later sued for the same amount. However, the court ruled it can only recoup what is left in the family's trust.

The Shanks didn't notice in the fine print of Wal-Mart's health plan policy that the company has the right to recoup medical expenses if an employee collects damages in a lawsuit.....Refusing to give up the fight, the Shanks appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. But just last week, the high court said it would not hear the case.





If Clinton had been able to implement health care for all when she was First Lady, this woman would have gotten better care. And been able to keep her lawsuit money, most likely.

[knixphan]

47. 4 degrees - vs - 1 degree.

[MADem]

24. They are a MAIN supplier--not just a casual supplier. There's a relationship there that is

significant. Wal-Mart isn't just 'a' customer. They are a BIG customer.

If you make food in the US, Walmart isn't necessarily, or even generally, one of your most significant customers. Many food producers don't provide ANY of their product to Wal-Mart. But this company does have that relationship with them.

You can play that 'nothing to see here' game, but there IS something to see here. Otherwise, she wouldn't have quit such an easy and lucrative job, 'der Google' wouldn't have hundreds of hits for Wal-Mart AND Michelle Obama.

A small sample: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=michelle+obama%2C+walmart

Obama called hypocrite for wife's Wal-Mart link - TelegraphBarack Obama and his wife, Michelle, Obama called a hypocrite for wife's Wal- ... his wife's profitable role with a company that makes money from Wal-Mart, ...
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/05/13/wobama13.xml - 48k - Cached - Similar pages

FOXNews.com - Michelle Obama, Wife of Presidential Hopeful Barack ...May 22, 2007 ... Michelle Obama, Wife of Presidential Hopeful Barack Obama, Quits Board of Wal-Mart Supplier, Michelle Obama, wife of White House hopeful ...
www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,274853,00.html - 46k - Cached - Similar pages

Political Radar: Michelle Obama Cuts Ties with Controversial Wal ...Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Michelle Obama Cuts Ties with Controversial Wal-Mart Supplier:. User Comments. Post a comment ...
blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2007/05/michelle_obama_.html - 25k - Cached - Similar pages

Barack Obama’s wife has Wal-Mart as her biggest customer | Wal ...Not to mention that Treehouse appears to have a bit of an executive compensation issue.” (RealClearPolitics). Wal-Mart, Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, ...
www.walmartfiles.com/barack-obamas-wife-has-wal-mart-as-her-biggest-customer/ - 12k - Cached - Similar pages

Lynn Sweet: Sweet column: Michelle Obama quits board of Wal-Mart ...WASHINGTON — Michelle Obama resigned Tuesday from the board of TreeHouse Foods Inc., a Wal-Mart vendor, eight days after husband and White House hopeful Sen ...
blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2007/05/sweet_column_michelle_obama_qu.html - 102k - Cached - Similar pages

American Thinker Blog: Lives of the rich and famous: The ObamasDec 18, 2006 ... "The battle to engage Wal-Mart and force them to examine their own ... to its board of directors on June 6 of that year was Michelle Obama, ...
www.americanthinker.com/blog/2006/12/lives_of_the_rich_and_famous_2.html - 16k - Cached - Similar pages

Michelle Obama's ties to Wal-Mart cut :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES ...Michelle Obama's ties to Wal-Mart cut Citing 'increased demands' on her time, Michelle Obama resigns from TreeHouse Foods - CHICAGO SUN-TIMES.
www.suntimes.com/news/politics/obama/396874,CST-NWS-sweet23.stng - Similar pages

The Swamp: Michelle Obama resigns position with Wal-Mart supplierMichelle Obama resigned her position as a director of Treehouse Foods today, ending the relationship with the Wal-Mart supplier that had threatened to ...
www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/2007/05/michelle_obama_resigns_positio.html - 87k - Cached - Similar pages

Michelle Obama gives up director's post at Wal-Mart supplier - On ...Wal-Mart is among the company's largest customers. Sen. Obama had been critical of the retail giant's labor practices. Michelle Obama received $51200 for ...
blogs.usatoday.com/onpolitics/2007/05/michelle_obama_.html - 54k - Cached - Similar pages

Washington Wire - WSJ.com : Michelle Obama Cuts a Wal-Mart LinkCiting the increased demands of her husband's presidential campaign, Michelle Obama quit the board of TreeHouse Foods, an Illinois company whose biggest ...
blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2007/05/23/michelle-obama-cuts-a-wal-mart-link/ - 88k - Cached - Similar pages

[blm]

28. Did Michelle help deep-six BCCI matters for Jackson Stephens, the guy who STAKED WalMart

and brought BCCI into this country with his longtime friend GHWBush, and who also groomed and bankrolled the Clintons' careers in Arkansas AND underwrote Bill's primary campaign in 92?

Gee - don't you think the Clintons deep-sixing BCCI matters for the various Bush cronies throughout the 90s was a REALLY BAD THING for this country and the world, let alone our party?

Geez - if you think Michelle is suspect because of HER link to WalMart, you must be FURIOUS and STEAMING over the Clintons and the relationship with WalMart backer Stephens that ended up doing SO MUCH DAMAGE to this nation and the world.

[MADem]

34. Gee--where are YOUR links? Where is YOUR proof?

Why don't you walk back the cat, to the FIRST POST in this thread, and tell me who's stirring the shit pot, here? Hmmmmm?

[blm]

35. You know damn well that Stephens staked WalMart AND Clinton. You know he brought BCCI into

this country. Everybody does.

You want to know what Bill did with BCCI report he was handed when he took office and all the matters left outstanding? Gee - READ HIS BOOK AND TELL US WHAT HE SAID.

I'll save you the trouble - he doesn't mention ONE WORD about BCCI.

You feel good about that?

[MADem]

38. Where are your cites? Without cites, you're just talking trash. Nt

[blm]

40. All of a sudden you don't know this? Most everyone at DU knows this stuff by now.

Why don't you tell me WHICH facts you know and which you don't and we'll go from there.

And if you're saying you never heard of any of this before and this is new to you, then how in the heck did you research your candidate and how the hell did you stay away from so many corruption threads in GD that you missed all the Stephens, BCCI, WalMart connections and research?

[MADem]

42. Is the third time the charm? Where are your cites? Where is your proof? NT

[blm]

48. Proof of WHICH fact, MADem? WHICH requires proof to you?

Did you never CARE enough about your country to ever read the Stephens or BCCI threads with the extensive LINKS?

Here's one for starters - there are many links to articles and excerpts from books. You do know there are several books that have been written about BCCI, don't you MADem, including the BCCI report which is also linked in this thread.


One problem with links, though, MADem - you have to actually CLICK ON THEM and READ. Apparently you never have, even after all these years.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=125&topic_id=194635&mesg_id=194635

[MADem]

51. There's no "there" there. You have to PROVE what you say. Not

play this bullshit supposition game. And that's all 'your' link does.

Prove your points, or cut the crap.

[blm]

69. There are links in that post - and it is CLEAR that Jackson Stephens brought BCCI into this

country, staked WalMart and bankrolled Clintons career and underwrote Bill's primary campaign.

You are PRETENDING there are no links in that post because you don't have the integrity to read and absorb the facts in those links.

You STILL don't even DARE post what part you know and what part you DON'T BELIEVE.

[MADem]

72. You make unsupported accusations. Frankly, I think your assertions are shit. NT

[blm]

73. Name the assertions you claim are false or are wrong in those links.

.

[MADem]

75. The whole thing is bullshit--it suggests causality that isn't proven. NT

[blm]

76. It's KNOWN that Jackson Stephens brought BCCI into this country. It's KNOWN that he

staked WalMart.

It's KNOWN that Stephens, a longtime ally of GHWBush, bankrolled the political career of Bill Clinton and underwrote his primary campaign in 92.

It is KNOWN that Clinton had no desire to see the follow through on all the outstanding matters in the BCCI report, and does not even mention BCCI one time in his book. Most objective people would call that sweeping matters under the rug.

You NEED to believe BCCI matters were innocently ignored. Stephens was TOO CLOSE to both GHWBush and Clinton to believe there is anything innocent about it, but that doesn't stop you and other Clinton devotees.

It is MORE THAN FAIR to conclude that GHWBush, expecting to be impeached after the release of the BCCI report, wanted to lose in 92 as long as he ws protected from the aftermath of that report. Stephens also needed protecting, and he tapped his boy in Arkansas.

[MADem]

77. "It is known" is a lot like "It is written." Your passive voce proves nothing. NT

[blm]

78. Dare to post what facts are WRONG to you. Here's the link that contains MORE LINKS

to articles ....
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=125&topic_id=194635&mesg_id=194635

>>>>>
There has always been something incongruous about Stephens Inc. Despite the Little rock firm's attempts to portray itself as a small- city operation that closes for the duck season and got fabulously lucky on a couple of down-home deals like Wal-Mart, it was, at the incinerator's inception, the ninth-largest investment bank in the country. Since it is not headquartered in New York, its dealings are local news, little noticed by the national press, even when they have national implications. And, as a source close to the company once remarked, "The farther you get from Arkansas, the better it looks."

Stephens Inc. was founded by Witt Stephens, a state legislator's son who parlayed a Depression-era belt-buckle, Bible, and municipal-bond business into an immense personal fortune. After his retirement in 1973, the company was run by his shy younger brother, Jackson (a classmate of Jimmy Carter's at the Naval Academy). Witt Stephens and Stephens Inc. did much to create the economic paradox that is modern Arkansas: a desperately poor state with a scant 2.3 million inhabitants that is nonetheless home to a number of wealthy companies. Without the financial assistance of the Stephens brothers, Sam Walton might have ended his days as the most innovative merchant in Bentonville. Stephens money was also important to the fortunes of enterprises as various as Tyson Foods and Linda Bloodworth-Thomason, the television producer and reigning First Friend. Stephens Inc. is an important client of the Rose law firm, whose chairman, C. Joseph Giroir, made Hillary Rodham Clinton a partner. And back in 1977, Stephens assisted BCCI's infiltration of the American banking system by brokering the latter's purchase of National Bank of Georgia stock held by Bert Lance, former President Jimmy Carter's friend and disgraced budget director.

Jackson Stephens (who turned over the reins to his son, Warren, in the late eighties) and his firm were both substantial contributors to the campaigns of Presidents Reagan and Bush (to the tune of at least $100,000 in 1980 and 1989), but they have been closer still to Bill Clinton (whom Witt Stephens had been known to call "that boy").

On two occasions, once when Clinton was running for reelection in Arkansas in 1990 and again in March 1992, when his battered presidential campaign was broke, the Stephens family saved Clinton's bacon with an infusion of money. Indeed, it may not be too much to say that their Worthen Bank's emergency $3.5 million line of credit saved the presidential campaign from extinction. --L.J.D.
>>>>>>>

And this excerpt is JUST A SAMPLING from the links provided in that thread about Stephens, Clintons and Bushes.



Feel free to tell us which facts you know and agree they occurred - and which you disagree with or believe never happened.

[MADem]

81. Why should I "dare" to engage you about total crap? You haven't proven shit.

Facts my ass.

[blm]

83. Prove WHAT? What PART are you disputing? Jackson Stephens' role in Clintons careers?

Jackson Stephens role in BCCI?

Jackson Stephens' role in WalMart?

If you can prove that Clinton DID deal with BCCI matters, then I would gladly admit I am wrong in concluding he swept those matters under the rug.

See - YOUR job would be so much easier because it should be EASY to find proof that Clinton DID move effectively to deal with those matters.....IF he dealt with them as YOU believe.

If he DIDN'T deal with them, as I have searched and concluded, then WHY is it not fair to ASSUME the logical reason, that it would have destroyed the chief benefactor of his career?

[MADem]

84. You're the one shopping a load of crap, not me. My job is to be mildly amused at this stage. NT

[blm]

85. You call it being mildly amused, while others see it as grossly and deliberately uninformed.

You won't acknowledge simple truths in an effort to maintain your belief system - just like Bush devotees who would never even TRY to read, let alone absorb any report that revealed his complicit actions.

[MADem]

86. Awww, try to feed me crap, get mad when I don't buy it! Belief system, my ass! nt

[blm]

87. Heh - you won't even pinpoint what assertion you call crap because you don't want to

be responsible for it.

You don't fool me. If you HAD confidence in what you're saying you would pinpoint the point of dispute instead of saying it's all crap. But you can't....you know it's true - you're just dug into your defiance stance.

I hope you find some comfort in that position. Cuz once you start admitting the simple truths to yourself you won't be comfortable for long.

[MADem]

88. You got it partly right--I don't want to. Because it's crap, see? NT

[blm]

89. BCCI matters just disappeared in some vacuum, eh? No need for open government for YOU, eh?

Ever hear of the word CITIZEN?

[MADem]

90. Travelling a bit desperately far afield with that accusation, aren't you!

:rofl:

Ever hear of the word CREDIBLE?

[mckeown1128]

19. ohh no not the return of Picklegate....

I crack up every time Clinton supporters try to bring it up.

Ok ok ok... lol... let's go through this again...

Working for a company with rotten trade, equality, and union policies....- Hillary

Working for a company that gets screwed (like all the other suppliers) by Walmart... Michelle (who isn't even running for president)

it is ridiculous to even compare the two...

[madrchsod]

23. union policies?-union where i`m at

great place to work-"cradle to grave" employment.

[MADem]

31. Uh, you might want to check the FIRST post in this thread--who brought what up, now?

Treehouse is one of Wal-Mart's LARGEST suppliers. They don't get screwed--they THRIVE. They overcompensate their high ranking executives, more than most companies in the nation, relative to their total profits.

And you'd know that if you did an iota of research.

May 23, 2007, 11:58 am
Michelle Obama Cuts a Wal-Mart Link
Citing the increased demands of her husband’s presidential campaign, Michelle Obama quit the board of TreeHouse Foods, an Illinois company whose biggest customer is Wal-Mart Stores. The move clearly helps Sen. Barack Obama, a big critic of the giant retailer’s labor practices, by putting the Wal-Mart connection behind him.

Mrs. Obama didn’t put it that way, of course. As my campaign commitments continue to ramp up, it is becoming more difficult for me to provide the type of focus I would like on my professional responsibilities,” she said in a statement.

Last year, Mrs. Obama, a Harvard-trained lawyer and an administrator at the University of Chicago Hospitals, collected $51,200 from the company, according to the Obama’s tax returns. She recently has scaled back her hours at work to help her husband’s campaign. (See Obama’s tax return and tax summary.)

Just how big a deal was that for the campaign? Earlier this week on Tucker Carlson’s MSNBC show, columnist Lynn Sweet mentioned the Obama connection: By the way, in Trenton last week, Barack Obama proclaimed that he will not shop at Wal-Mart. His wife is on the board of a company that is a vendor to Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart could emerge as a second or third issue. It’s a litmus test of something.

Permalink | Trackback URL: http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2007/05/23/michelle-obama-cuts-a-wal-mart-link/?mod=WSJBlog/trackback/

................................
Michelle Obama resigns position with Wal-Mart supplier
Posted by Christi Parsons at 4:35 pm CDT

Michelle Obama resigned her position as a director of Treehouse Foods today, ending the relationship with the Wal-Mart supplier that had threatened to become a problem for her husband, Barack Obama, in his bid for the Democratic nomination for president.

Treehouse supplies pickles and other specialty foods to Wal-Mart, a frequent target of union leaders who say the company treats its workers unfairly.

Michelle Obama cited increased demands on her time for resigning the position, which she had held since the summer of 2005.

But the decision comes as Democratic presidential candidates are distancing themselves from any ties to Wal-Mart, a key target of one of the party's most important constituencies. Several labor unions are engaged in a public campaign to change Wal-Mart's business practices.

"While we regret her resignation, we understand and respect her decision," said Sam K. Reed, the chairman of the Treehouse board.

http://www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/2007/05/michelle_obama_resigns_positio.html

................................

Michelle Obama's ties to Wal-Mart cut
Citing 'increased demands' on her time, Michelle Obama resigns from TreeHouse Foods

May 23, 2007
BY LYNN SWEET Sun-Times Columnist
WASHINGTON -- Michelle Obama resigned Tuesday from the board of TreeHouse Foods Inc., a Wal-Mart vendor, eight days after husband and White House hopeful Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) said he would not shop at the anti-union store.
Obama has been a director of the suburban Westchester food maker since June 27, 2005. Board chairman Sam Reed received a resignation letter from Obama on Tuesday. The company said she quit because of "increased demands" on her time. Obama was re-elected to the board April 19 for a term ending in 2010 -- during a period she was preparing to take on a larger role in the campaign. ....

Wal-Mart is a target of organized labor in the U.S., a Democratic constituency playing a key role in determining the 2008 Democratic nominee. Obama's link to Wal-Mart through TreeHouse was a potential liability for Sen. Obama. On May 14, during an AFL-CIO forum in Trenton, N.J., Sen. Obama was asked about Wal-Mart. "I won't shop there," he said. Chief rival Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) served on the Wal-Mart board between 1986 and 1992.

In a SEC filing, TreeHouse stated Obama's resignation "is not due to any disagreement with the company on any matter.''

According to the Obamas' income tax returns, Michelle Obama collected $51,200 from TreeHouse in 2006. She leaves the board with an option to buy 2,266 TreeHouse shares at a strike price of $29.65. Shares closed at $28.10 Tuesday.

Obama's resignation from the lucrative part-time position comes as she cut back her hours as a University of Chicago Hospitals vice president by 80 percent. To showcase Obama's role as chief surrogate for her husband, the campaign has orchestrated a high-profile media blitz in recent weeks.
http://www.suntimes.com/news/politics/obama/396874,CST-NWS-sweet23.stng
.................................................

Obama called hypocrite for wife's Wal-Mart link
By Philip Sherwell in New York, Sunday Telegraph
Last Updated: 11:37pm BST 12/05/2007

As a fluent public speaker, independent-minded wife, devoted mother and professional woman, Michelle Obama has been hailed as an invaluable asset to her husband Barack's mission to capture the Democratic 2008 presidential nomination.

Yet, while her style and performance are winning plaudits on the campaign trail, a little-reported business interest of Mrs Obama's has opened her husband up to one of the criticisms that politicians fear most - the taint of hypocrisy......

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/05/13/wobama13.xml

Hundreds of newspapers all have the same headlines, but you go on and insist that there's no connection. Mrs. Obama was reelected to a three year term on that board, and then a month later, she resigned, rather suddenly, right after her husband answered a questioner, saying "I won't shop there.". Ohhhh-kay.....

A cite, because I do that: http://blogobama08.blogspot.com/2007/05/michelle-obama-leaves-treehouse-board.html

:rofl:

[jakem]

43. selling to walmart does not = working for walmart.

[The Doctor.]

64. Wow! Michelle Obama had a hand in creating the policies that ruined all those little towns!

Now I'm convinced!

[Blue_State_Elitist]

2. Walmart was a different company back then.

They used to make products in the United States.

[AllentownJake]

4. Did They

Allow their workers to organize or provide Health Benefits?

[Oilwellian]

12. Uh, no

While Hillary was on Walmart's BOD, Walmart was scamming customers by claiming their products were made in America, under a Made In America sign, yet if you checked out the merchandise it was made in other countries. One report in particular stated Walmart was selling clothing made in Indonesia by children. That's our Hilly for you!

[JuniperLea]

32. Not while Sam Walton was at the helm!

That didn't happen until after he passed on... and his greedy kids took over. Ask anyone who worked for him... he was a great old guy.

[MADem]

44. Clinton QUIT the year Sam Walton died. NT

[JuniperLea]

52. Good for her...

He was a good guy. He paid off many mortgages for his employees... forgave their debts... and he was hell bent on making sure everything in his store was made in America.

Nothing wrong with working for that kind of person. Nothing wrong at all.

[blm]

70. Till Jackson Stephens threw his weight around - why do WalMart defenders FORGET that part?

.

[msongs]

5. have you ever been in a walmart or shopped there? nt

[AllentownJake]

I stopped

Except when we take my mentally challenged brother out because its the only store near his group home he can pick up DVDs. I'd rather not go there but he's in a group home in the middle of nowhere.

[mckeown1128]

21. many don't have a choice.. since walmart causes businesses

to close down. My family and I can't afford places other than Walmart...(sometimes we go to Target when we can afford them)

[DemVet]

67. Yes.

In my town, it's the only place where I can get dried chile peppers and Latino food products. Sorry, but you gotta go where the stuff is.

[Barack_America]

7. No. Just the opposite. She stayed silent while Wal-Mart's union-busting strategies...

were presented during board meetings.

ABCNews had a story about it a while ago.

Here it is.

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=4218509&page=1

[AllentownJake]

9. Kind of what I thought

Profiles in Courage.

[FrenchieCat]

8. When one couple that with NAFTA and China Trade Deal.....

it looks nefarious....and it might just be!

[Johnny__Motown]

11. also money donated from Chinese nationals,, and I agree

[AllentownJake]

13. Did you see this

http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB120649414499564341.html?mod=blog

China and Mexico love her.

[FrenchieCat]

36. and they love Wal-Mart too!

It's just that made in China and Made in Mexico does not a good campaign slogan make.

[blm]

80. Go back to the outstanding matters in BCCI report - You'll see a section on the Chinese banks

and bear in mend that Stephens brought BCCI into this country and staked WalMart and made many of these deals with the Chinese financiers and industrialists, too. Gee - why would Clinton deep-six that BCCI report for GHWBush, anyway? You don't suppose he was being instructed by Stephens, eh?

From the link in a post above, here's a view of Stephens from motherjones article.....

>>>>>
There has always been something incongruous about Stephens Inc. Despite the Little rock firm's attempts to portray itself as a small- city operation that closes for the duck season and got fabulously lucky on a couple of down-home deals like Wal-Mart, it was, at the incinerator's inception, the ninth-largest investment bank in the country. Since it is not headquartered in New York, its dealings are local news, little noticed by the national press, even when they have national implications. And, as a source close to the company once remarked, "The farther you get from Arkansas, the better it looks."

Stephens Inc. was founded by Witt Stephens, a state legislator's son who parlayed a Depression-era belt-buckle, Bible, and municipal-bond business into an immense personal fortune. After his retirement in 1973, the company was run by his shy younger brother, Jackson (a classmate of Jimmy Carter's at the Naval Academy). Witt Stephens and Stephens Inc. did much to create the economic paradox that is modern Arkansas: a desperately poor state with a scant 2.3 million inhabitants that is nonetheless home to a number of wealthy companies. Without the financial assistance of the Stephens brothers, Sam Walton might have ended his days as the most innovative merchant in Bentonville. Stephens money was also important to the fortunes of enterprises as various as Tyson Foods and Linda Bloodworth-Thomason, the television producer and reigning First Friend. Stephens Inc. is an important client of the Rose law firm, whose chairman, C. Joseph Giroir, made Hillary Rodham Clinton a partner. And back in 1977, Stephens assisted BCCI's infiltration of the American banking system by brokering the latter's purchase of National Bank of Georgia stock held by Bert Lance, former President Jimmy Carter's friend and disgraced budget director.

Jackson Stephens (who turned over the reins to his son, Warren, in the late eighties) and his firm were both substantial contributors to the campaigns of Presidents Reagan and Bush (to the tune of at least $100,000 in 1980 and 1989), but they have been closer still to Bill Clinton (whom Witt Stephens had been known to call "that boy").

On two occasions, once when Clinton was running for reelection in Arkansas in 1990 and again in March 1992, when his battered presidential campaign was broke, the Stephens family saved Clinton's bacon with an infusion of money. Indeed, it may not be too much to say that their Worthen Bank's emergency $3.5 million line of credit saved the presidential campaign from extinction. --L.J.D.

[Beaverhausen]

10. Yes, you are beating an old horse. She quit in 1992.

oh why do I bother...I keep forgetting that Obama has never done or said anything wrong.

[Catherina]

18. I get it. Only some parts of that "vast experience" count. n/t

[mckeown1128]

22. So, let me get this straight...

Hillary shouldn't be held accountable for her actions (or in this case, her inaction)... because Obama isn't perfect...ohhkayyy :eyes:

[MADem]

37. The difference--she quit AND bashed them. Obama bashed them, and THEN Mrs. O had to quit.

An interesting cite, with some interesting DETAIL;

But Mrs. Obama is a director of a certain company: Tree House Foods.

Michelle, make $45,000 a year serving on the board of a Chicago-area company that pays its executives a very hefty amount of money while laying off mostly minority workers in an economically deprived area, a company whose No. 1 customer is - you guessed it - Wal-Mart?

The story, by Greg Hinz of Crain's Chicago Business continues:

In early 2005, Texas-based Dean Foods Co. spun off its processed-food subsidiary into an independent company, TreeHouse Foods Inc. Stock in Westchester-based TreeHouse began trading on June 15, 2005. Elected to its board of directors on June 6 of that year was Michelle Obama, who receives $30,000 a year plus $1,500 per board or committee meeting she attends. That totaled $45,000 in 2005, according to Mr. Obama's Senate ethics disclosure. Ms. Obama got 7,500 stock options this year, company filings show. At the current price of TreeHouse stock, she has a paper profit of about $60,000 on the options.

Now, I never thought there was that much money peddling pickles, non-dairy creamer, puddings and related goods to grocery stores, which is what TreeHouse does. Apparently I was wrong. In 2005, TreeHouse CEO Sam Reed was one of the highest-paid executives in Illinois. In fact, on Crain's annual Fortunate 100 list of best-compensated execs, Mr. Reed ranked No. 2, with total compensation of nearly $26.2 million, just ahead of Motorola Inc. chief Edward Zander and Abbott Laboratories boss Miles White.
I am sure that Senator Obama and his wife, with a combined income of about half a million dollars (plus all those book royalties), will somehow manage to scrape by. And besides, the experience of low income will help them empathize with America's poor. And Senator Obama can demagogue on about the gap between rich and poor, since his wife has given him an example of high compensation for executives.


Wal-Mart board of directors veteran Hillary Clinton freely obeys the dogma of the union bosses and bashes her former benfactor. There's no reason why the Obamas can't learn from her example.


http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2006/12/lives_of_the_rich_and_famous_2.html

[Catherina]

49. This is very strange.

Nice cut and paste of that nutball rightwinger Thomas Lifson's post! I gotta hand it to you guys, when it comes to lying down with the dogs, no kennel is too dirty.

When I do a search for Tree House Foods MINUS Obama, I get almost nothing and nothing about layoffs or Wal-Mart.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&rlz=1T4GGIH_enUS236US236&q=%22Tree+House+Foods%22+-obama

Sam Reed was comp'd 26.2 million in 2005. Michelle Obama joined the board in June 2005. Are you suggesting she's involved with his raise or salary? Did she do it retoactively?

This looks like one of these imaginary Clinton memes but I'll forgive you guys and atrribute it to shell-shock from all that sniper barrage.

People make alot of "money peddling pickles, non-dairy creamer, puddings and related goods to grocery stores". Have you ever looked into Whole Foods? Or are these stores too latte for you?

Why are you linking to a right wing hawk source?

The American Thinker is a daily Conservative internet publication with articles on the topics of national security, economics, diplomacy, culture, and military strategy. The articles published are often mentioned on The Rush Limbaugh Show. The site frequently endorses conservative commentators such as Michael Savage and Rush Limbaugh.

...

Writing in The Nation Ari Berman credits Ed Lasky of The American Thinker with drawing the attention of the nation to "One seemingly consistent theme running throughout Barack Obama's career is his comfort with aligning himself with people who are anti-Israel advocates," http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080331/berman

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_American_Thinker

Ever since Bill went on that rightwing Davis/Limbaugh show, some of you Clinton supporters seem very confused to put it kindly.

American Thinker? Thomas Lifson? You guys have lost your damn minds. When do we get to discuss their other memes?

Obama's Messiah Shtick
How the Leftist Churches Set a Time Bomb for the Democrats
The Right of Return and the Forgotten Refugees
Cultural Affirmative Action
The religion of eternal racism and eternal sexism
Anger, Forgiveness, and Obama
Typical White Fact-Based Reasoning (updated)
The Clinton Campaign's Opportunity
Barack Obama Would Let Shoaib Choudhury Die
Woulda-coulda-shouldas on Iraq

[MADem]

56. Because it was a good summary--hey, if your team can use POLITICO, Newsmax and Drudge, why not?

Apparently the old rules don't apply anymore. You want "better" sources? Here's the SEC filing, and several others as well. You aren't a very good researcher, are you? This popped right up. Most of the affected employees in CO were hispanic, FWIW:

http://www.secinfo.com/dsvRm.zDyn.d.htm
BAY VALLEY FOODS ANNOUNCES PLANS
TO CLOSE LA JUNTA, COLORADO FACILITY
LA JUNTA, CO. – November 16, 2005 – Bay Valley Foods, LLC, a division of TreeHouse Foods, Inc. (NYSE:THS), today announced its intention to close its La Junta, Colorado pickle and relish plant on or about February 3, 2006. The plant, together with an adjacent distribution center, has 153 employees, 39 of whom have been on layoff status since March of this year. The distribution center is planned for closing on June 1, 2006.
Rod Bacon, Senior Vice President – Operations, said, “The plan to close the La Junta plant and distribution center has been difficult because of its impact on employees, families and the community. The La Junta employees have demonstrated exceptional loyalty and dedication. Unfortunately, Bay Valley Foods has experienced a reduction in our pickle business and a significant increase in overhead costs, making it necessary to consolidate our manufacturing network. The La Junta facility is a high-cost plant with the lowest utilization among Bay Valley Foods’ pickle plants. Production at La Junta will be reallocated among our five remaining pickle production facilities.”
Mr. Bacon said the company will in the short-term increase production at La Junta to convert existing raw materials to finished product. Consequently, certain employees currently on layoff will be asked to return to work between now and the planned closing in February. “We anticipate a smooth transition for our customers,” Bacon said.
The La Junta plant first opened in 1940. The plant was acquired in 2002 by Dean Foods. Dean Foods spun-off its Specialty Division on June 27, 2005 and renamed the business Bay Valley Foods, LLC, a division of TreeHouse Foods, Inc. Buyers will be sought for both the 200,000 square-foot plant and distribution center.
TreeHouse Foods, Inc. will incur estimated pre-tax charges to operating income of $13.7 to $14.9 million, or $.27 to $.29 per share, for the closing of the La Junta facilities. $.22 to $.24 per share will be recorded in the fourth fiscal quarter ending December 31, 2005; $.04 per share will be recorded in 2006; and $.01 per share will be recorded in 2007. Included in the estimated pre-tax charges are cash expenditures of approximately $3.5 million. Ongoing annual cost savings from the closing are expected to be approximately $2 million, of which $1.1 million was realized in 2005 and $0.9 million will be realized in 2006.

http://www.costar.com/News/Article.aspx?id=35B2FC9C99D16472D529C57356E70B2A&ref=1&src=rss
Bay Valley Foods, a division of TreeHouse Foods Inc. intends to close its Portland, OR, pickle plant at 10001 N. Rivergate Blvd. in early June 2008. The plant has 88 employees. An adjacent distribution center is not a part of the pickle plant closure.

http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=191105&p=irol-newsArticle_Print&ID=783765&highlight=
LA JUNTA, Colo., Nov. 16 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Bay Valley Foods, LLC, a division of TreeHouse Foods, Inc. (NYSE: THS - News), today announced its intention to close its La Junta, Colorado pickle and relish plant on or about February 3, 2006. The plant, together with an adjacent distribution center, has 153 employees, 39 of whom have been on layoff status since March of this year. The distribution center is planned for closing on June 1, 2006.

Rod Bacon, Senior Vice President - Operations, said, "The plan to close the La Junta plant and distribution center has been difficult because of its impact on employees, families and the community. The La Junta employees have demonstrated exceptional loyalty and dedication. Unfortunately, Bay Valley Foods has experienced a reduction in our pickle business and a significant increase in overhead costs, making it necessary to consolidate our manufacturing network. The La Junta facility is a high-cost plant with the lowest utilization among Bay Valley Foods' pickle plants. Production at La Junta will be reallocated among our five remaining pickle production facilities."
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/other_business/article/0,2777,DRMN_23916_4285788,00.html

LAMAR - The people of southeast Colorado made a plea for help Friday, bracing for severe job cuts at two of the area's largest employers, bus manufacturer Neoplan and pickle producer Bay Valley Foods.

Their challenge is filling the voids left by those two companies and replacing roughly 450 jobs. The setbacks, part of a wider discussion about economic development in rural Colorado, are especially difficult to swallow in an agricultural region stung in recent years by drought.





Pssst--Bill didn't go on that show. Fatboy used a tape of him in another interview. Your facts on that score are about as impressive as your ability to find Treehouse Foods layoffs. But go on, make shit up. It's what your crew does.

[Catherina]

58. Let me help you out here

Only a Clintonista is going to split hairs that it doesn't count because Rush didn't personally conduct the interview. Mark Davis, Rush Limbaugh are the same Right-Wing filth and Davis substitutes for Rush.

Mark Davis is a radio talk show host and newspaper columnist based in the Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex. His program, The Mark Davis Show, airs from 8 AM to 10:45 AM on WBAP 820 AM. His columns are published in the Dallas Morning News. In addition, he joined the rotation of substitute hosts of The Rush Limbaugh Show in March 2008.

...

Prior to summer 2007, Davis's three-hour program was heard from 9 AM to 11:45 AM on WBAP; this resulted in the broadcasts of Paul Harvey, The Rush Limbaugh Show, The Sean Hannity Show, and Mark Levin all being pushed back one full hour. However, when Citadel Commuinications purchased ABC stations, Limbaugh, Hannity and Levin were all moved to their respective live time slots. The Mark Davis Show currently airs from 8:30 to 10:45, preceded by the WBAP Morning News and followed by the Paul Harvey broadcast which fills the quarter-hour to 11 AM and the Rush Limbaugh Show.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Davis_%28talk_show_host%29

The cockroaches are a nice touch don't you think? Once again it's Hillary supporters vs people's memories and their lying eyes. The rest of your post is funny. Thanks Thomas.

[MADem]

59. Uh, help ME out? The assertion that LIMBAUGH did the interview is false. I didn't make that

assertion. And let's have a little CONTEXT, why don't we?

http://www.wbap.com/Article.asp?id=606119&spid=6051

The interview was for a TEXAS audience, on a TEXAS radio station, before the TEXAS primary.

But then, intellectual honesty isn't a strong suit, is that it? That's pretty low, that mischaracterization.

[Catherina]

65. Did you miss this in my post?

Only a Clintonista is going to split hairs that it doesn't count because Rush didn't personally conduct the interview. Mark Davis, Rush Limbaugh are the same Right-Wing filth and Davis substitutes for Rush.

A little more attention to detail please. I've noticed a real problem with reading comprehension among the boycott wing of Clinton supporters. It must be all that sniper fire.

[MADem]

66. That is NOT splitting hairs, just because you characterize it thusly.

Your veracity is at issue here.

My attention to detail and reading skills are quite fine, thanks for your "concern." And I have no idea WTF you are talking about with your childish little "boycott wing" bullshit. If I were boycotting, I wouldn't be here, now, would I? Talk about reading comprehension--you might want to work on THAT yourself, there, Sunshine.

The whole POINT is that he didn't conduct the interview, yet YOU are trying to make it appear that the interview was done FOR that program, when it wasn't. There's a word for that, and it's the opposite of TRUTHFUL.

That interview was done ON a TX radio station, FOR a TX primary audience. NOT Limbaugh's program, for a national audience.

Apparently, to you, words don't really matter--they can be plagiarized, or have no basis in reality, or be flat-out prevarications--nothing but a thing. Keep on mischaracterizing, it's your only weapon. Be advised though, you get too far down in that gutter, you might not be able to get up.

[Catherina]

68. Just as I thought. Reading comprehension F. Hairsplitting A+

Mark Davis and Rush Limbaugh are joined at the hip. I'b be ashamed too if my candidate's husband had catered to those Right-Wing racists to get more of that White uneducated vote.

I'm sorry your candidate's campaign is worthless and hope she'll put you out of your misery soon. :hug:

[MADem]

71. Polly want a cracker, eh? Repetition does not make a lie the truth. NT

[Catherina]

17. In answer to your question NONE. n/t

[pathansen]

25. There are 3 major reasons not to blame Hillary for Walmart

1. First she was associated with Walmart back in the 1980's. This was about 20 years before the recent scandals that came out just 2 or 3 years ago.
2. Secondly, while she was on the board she did two things: got Walmart to improve its environmental laws and attempted to get them to hire more women on the board. Hillary was the first.
3. Thirdly, the Union leader of Walmart has written a great letter in her defense. Its been posted somewhere here on DU.

[JuniperLea]

30. #1 is all I need...

Sam Walton was a hell of a good guy, and when he was at the helm, Wal-Mart was a completely different animal!

[JuniperLea]

29. What time frame are we talking about? Was Sam Walton still in charge?

Because Wal-Mart was a completely different animal when old Sam was at the helm.

[blm]

39. And what about when Jackson Stephens STAKED WalMart AND brought BCCI to this country w/GHWBush

and bankrolled Clintons' careers AND underwrote Bill's 92 primary campaign?

Gee - you ever wonder WHY the BCCI report and its matters were deep-sixed throughout the 90s?

[MADem]

45. Come on, where are your CITES? Stop shopping that without a cite. It's cheesy. Nt

[MADem]

41. Yes. She QUIT the year he died, in fact, in 1992.

His obit: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CE6DB1639F935A35757C0A964958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all

[ChimpersMcSmirkers]

46. See if you can find Hillary...I'll give you a hint, she isn't the supplier not in the picture

[JuniperLea]

53. You lose... should have done your homework...

All those things happened AFTER Sam Walton died, and AFTER Hillary quit.

[AllentownJake]

54. Huh

You'd think an organized labor movement and decent health benefits would have survived the death of a founder...but I guess I was wrong. Wal-Mart was a model of corporate integrity before Sam died.

[Duder]

55. Well...

"More than two-thirds of all Wal-Mart employees are women -- yet women make up less than 10 percent of top store managers. Back when she was first lady of Arkansas, Hillary Clinton became the first woman appointed to the Wal-Mart board, and tried to get the company to hire more women managers, but that effort apparently went the way of national health insurance. Wal-Mart today has the same percentage of women in management that the average company had in 1975." --Mother Jones 2003

"The Arkansas-based company prospered under the state's native son Bill Clinton when he was governor and President. Sam Walton and his wife, Helen, were close to the Clintons, and for several years Hillary Clinton, whose law firm represented Wal-Mart, served on the company's board of directors. Bill Clinton's "welfare reform" has provided Wal-Mart with a ready workforce of women who have no choice but to accept its poverty wages and discriminatory policies." --Lisa Featherstone, Nation 2005

"I'm always proud of Wal-Mart and what we do and the way we do it better than anybody else." Hillary Clinton at a June 1990 stockholders meeting.

[AllentownJake]

61. Has she rejected and renounced

Walmart?

Great response!

Has she done anything about them since 1992....

[C_U_L8R]

63. It was just a blip

besides there were snipers in the boardroom

[LWolf]

74. If you were beating an old horse,

I'd take the whip/stick away and knock you senseless with it.

Nobody beats horses, or any other animals, in my presence. My old mare out in the barn says thanks.

As far as HRC and Walmart goes, I think it's a relevant topic.

There are enough negatives for both of the candidates that I won't vote for either.

The only way I can see a vote for HRC in my future is if I think it will help arrive at a dead-locked convention that would nominate neither.

[killbotfactory]

79. Yeah, it's hard to believe she supported NAFTA right after she left

And that she and bill are pro "free" trade. What a coincidence.

[Seabiscuit]

82. Lest ye forget: Obama's attempt to smear her by mentioning "Wal-Mart" resulted in

Hillary slamming him for the first time with the Rezko mess, effectively changing the next morning's headlines from "Wal-Mart" to "Rezko". She kept the Rezko card tucked away all that time until the time was ripe, and boy, did she ever take full advantage of it.

Obama stood there stupified, not knowing how to respond except to pretend his involvement was far less than it was.

Hillary's one tough cookie. I'd rather see someone with spunk like that doing battle with McCain than the guy who stands there stupified when his opponent hits him with a left hook.