Obama's Suspicious Illinois State Senate Earmarks
By Tom Fitton
October 15, 2008
You may recall I told you earlier about Barack Obama's controversial Illinois State Senate earmark for the "Garden to Nowhere." By way of reminder, Obama secured a $100,000 grant for a former campaign volunteer to build a garden project called the Englewood Botanical Garden. The project never happened and Obama's campaign volunteer, Kenny Smith, distributed $65,000 of the funds directly to his wife and another $20,000 to a construction company set up by his wife that is now no longer in business.
We have uncovered more evidence of suspicious Illinois State Senate earmarks by Obama, including one $25,000 grant for his wife's cousin. Here are a few of the details from Judicial Watch's documents obtained through the Illinois Freedom of Information Act:
Blue Gargoyle: Barack Obama helped secure a $25,000 grant for Blue Gargoyle in August 2000, an organization that was headed by Capers C. Funnye, Jr., Michelle Obama's first cousin once removed. (web site)
Community of St. Sabina: Obama helped secure a $100,000 grant for the Community of St. Sabina in July 2000, a church headed by Father Michael Pfleger, a controversial and radical Catholic priest and Obama campaign contributor. Pfleger made news in March 2008, for mocking then-presidential candidate Hillary Clinton from the pulpit of Trinity United Church of Christ, formerly run by Obama's personal pastor the Reverend Jeremiah Wright. (web site)
FORUM: Run by Yesse Yehudah, Barack Obama gave a $75,000 grant to the organization in 2000. Although Yehudah ran against Obama in a 1998 election, five people from FORUM donated $1000 to Obama's campaign after receiving the grant. FORUM also contributed another $5,000 to help pay Obama's debt after he failed to be elected to congress in 2000. In 2002, the State sued Yehudah for failure to account for hundreds of thousands of dollars he received from Obama's grant. (web site)
These earmarks, especially the one related to his wife's cousin, Rabbi Funnye, raise serious ethical questions. From documents obtained from only one state agency, we were able to figure out that Obama was responsible for over $3 million in earmarks from 1999-2002. Not exactly pocket change, especially when this taxpayer money is used to take care of your family and campaign contributors.
Some of these earmarks suggest that Barack Obama may have abused his office in the Illinois State Senate. We have yet to hear major media outlets ask Obama why he earmarked money for his wife's cousin.
It is never too late to demand accountability.
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