Obama’s Pick For AG “Forgot” To Note Important Blago Connection

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The incoming Attorney General, Eric Holder, appears to have omitted a little contact he had with Blagojevich when he filled out a Senate Judiciary Committee questionnaire. A questionnaire that was answered AFTER the arrest of Blagojevich mind you:

Before Eric Holder was President-elect Barack Obama’s choice to be attorney general, he was Gov. Blagojevich’s pick to sort out a mess involving Illinois’ long-dormant casino license.

Blagojevich and Holder appeared together at a March 24, 2004, news conference to announce Holder’s role as “special investigator to the Illinois Gaming Board” — a post that was to pay Holder and his Washington, D.C. law firm up to $300,000.

Holder, however, omitted that event from his 47-page response to a Senate Judiciary Committee questionnaire made public this week — an oversight he plans to correct after a Chicago Sun-Times inquiry, Obama’s transition team indicated late Tuesday.

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Holder signed the questionnaire on Sunday — five days after Blagojevich’s arrest for allegedly putting Obama’s U.S. Senate seat up for sale. The Judiciary Committee asked him to provide lists and “copies of transcripts or tape recordings of all speeches or talks delivered by you” and “all interviews you have given to newspapers, magazines or other publications.”

The Obama camp’s response? He forgot.

Riiiiight.

It couldn’t be because Holder was hired to ensure that the interests of one Tony Rezko and Blagojevich…something he wants the public to just plain forget:

The March 2004 Chicago news conference where Holder and Blagojevich spoke was widely covered because of a controversial 4-1 Gaming Board vote earlier that month to allow a casino to be built in Rosemont. That vote defied the recommendation of the board’s staff, which had raised concerns about alleged organized-crime links to the Rosemont casino’s developer.

Besides that, the Gaming Board’s staff had been concerned that the governor had named his close friend and fund-raiser, Christopher G. Kelly, as a “special government agent” to be involved in official state negotiations about the casino. Kelly, the Sun-Times later learned, was a business partner of Tony Rezko, another Blagojevich fund-raiser who had held an option to lease a hotel site next to the proposed casino site in Rosemont.

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In an interview Tuesday, the Gaming Board’s chief investigator in 2004 said the timing of Blagojevich’s appointment of Holder raised the staff’s suspicions.

“The concern was Holder had a bias to do whatever Blagojevich wanted, which was to give the casino to Rosemont,” said Jim Wagner, who was a top Chicago FBI agent before he joined the Gaming Board, from which he retired in December 2005. “We all believed the only reason Holder was coming in was to fashion an investigation that would manipulate the casino into Rosemont.”

Wagner also said the matter should be explored by the Senate Judiciary Committee. “It ought be brought up and vetted totally as to what motivated him to leave it off” the questionnaire, Wagner said.

I’m telling ya, Obama sure knows how to pick them eh? Fact is Blago was happy to appoint Holder to ensure his interests were taken care of. Not to mention Rezko.

And Obama was happy to appoint Holder to AG.

That tells us volumes about Obama once again.

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Obama has no morality and no brain. I am anxious that Larry W. finds that out. Obama with all his manipulations and corrupted deals is not smart enough to never get caught. Every crooked deal done in Chicago since Obama is a Senator is related to him, Rezko, Blago, etc.. It will all get in the open and probably sooner that we think. He think he is smart but he isn’t. He is dumb!

While agreeing that Holder’s appointment is, perhaps, the weakest and will probably be the only controversial one of Obama’s top appointments, I think it’s pretty evident that this indicates that Obama and his staff have absolutely no culpability in the Blagojevich affair.

As Curt points out, the appointment came 5 days after Blagojevich’s arrest. Obama would hardly draw more attention to Blagojevich if he (Obama) had any concern whatsoever concerning the dealings of his staff with Blagojevich.

Rezko, Rezko, Rezko. The biggest “scandal” of Obama’s life. And precisely how did Obama run afoul of the law, regarding Rezko?

Guilt by association. You can’t throw a stone through Chicago without hitting a seedy politician or political influence peddler. The fact that Obama went from community organizer to President without the slightest hint of wrongdoing is a great testament to his good character.

Getting back to Holder: he filed a 47 page response and neglected to note something which was “widely covered” in the media. It’s highly doubtful that Holder made a conscious decision to conceal something which was so prominently in the public domain. He’s an experienced political attorney and I seriously doubt that he’s that stupid. It’s not like Tom Eagleton trying to conceal a personal history of depression and electroshock therapy. Sometimes the simplest explanation is the correct explanation. Holder just forgot to include it.

I think that Holder’s confirmation hearings will be the most interesting of all of Obama’s appointments. I’m certain that there will be a thorough exploration of his past career.

– Larry Weisenthal/Huntington Beach, CA

“The fact that Obama went from community organizer to President without the slightest hint of wrongdoing is a great testament to his good character.” (Larry W.)

LOL! You are ridiculizing yourself, here.
Larry, when will you cut the spin. It is so obvious for us. You are losing all credibility.

Holder was appointed November 18, Blago was arrested December 9. Holder has had almost a month to correct his application, yet he signed it anyway 5 days after the well publicized arrest. We’ve seen the application Obama appointees have to fill out, if the questions on that app didn’t trigger Holder’s memory of his association with Blago, he’s either incompetent or crooked.