What Did Obama Know of Blago’s Selling of Senate Seat And When Did He Know It?

The National Republican Committee wants to know the answer to a few questions…

Once again the exculpatory memo issued by the President-elect’s lawyer, Greg Craig, in December of 2008 is finding itself in conflict with testimony coming out of the Blagojevich Trial in Chicago. First we learned through the testimony of SEIU boss Tom Balanoff that President Obama actually played an active role in promoting Valerie Jarrett as a candidate for his old seat, despite no mention of that in the memo. Now we are learning of another call, this time by Rahm Emanuel that violated Obama’s supposed neutrality policy and again failed to be reported by Craig. Here are a couple of questions for a White House that clearly wants to avoid this topic:

1) How do explain the inconsistencies between Craig’s memo, which said “the President-Elect had ruled out communicating a preference” and John Wyma’s testimony that he received a call from Rahm Emanuel with a message from the President-Elect?

2) How do you explain the reoccurring pattern of omitted or inaccurate information included in the memo, in this case the call from Emanuel to Wyma, and how does that reflect on the veracity of the document as a whole?
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What Did Obama Know of Blago’s Selling of Senate Seat And When Did He Know It?”


(2nd District) Hayes Condemns NAACP

From the Isaac Hayes for Congress campaign (2nd District)…

Republican nominee for Illinois 2nd Congressional District Isaac Hayes released the following statement regarding the NAACP’s vote to condemn the Tea Party movement.

“Today’s vote by the NAACP to condemn the Tea Party movement highlights its ignorance of the history of the Tea Party movement and reminds us it has not changed its tactics in 100 years. A quick survey of American history will reveal the first American to shed blood in the American Revolution was both a Tea Partier and Black by the name of Crispus Attucks.
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(2nd District) Hayes Condemns NAACP”


Ill. Dem. Senate Candidate Raising $$ From Trial Lawyers in Canada

-By Warner Todd Huston

The Illinois Democrat candidate for Senate, Alexi Giannoulias, wasn’t too keen of admitting it but he was in Vancouver, Canada over the weekend at a fund-raiser at a trial lawyer’s convention. Along with a dozen other Democrats, the candidate was in Canada to rake in thousands in donations from trial lawyers who know what side of their bread is buttered, for sure.

Chicago Sun-Times reporter Lynn Sweet has all the details at her Scoop blog. But suffice to say that the Giannoulias campaign did not report the whereabouts of their candidate until the National Republican Senatorial Committee sent out a press release urging reporters to grill the Giannoulias campaign.
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Ill. Dem. Senate Candidate Raising $$ From Trial Lawyers in Canada”


(2nd District) Hayes New Video Ad: ‘Enough With The Lies’

From the Hayes for congress campaign (2nd District)…

The campaign committee for Republican nominee in Illinois 2ndCongressional District Isaac Hayes released the following video today challenging Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. to tell the truth.

In the video, Jackson is heard saying he is not “aware” that he is Senate Candidate 5 in the Rod Blagojevich indictment. The very next day the Chicago Sun-Times confirms he is.

The second half of the video shows Jackson at a press conference where he said, “I did not initiate or authorize anyone at anytime to promise anything to Governor Blagojevich on my behalf.” But on July 7, 2010 the Chicago Tribune reported testimony from the Blagojevich corruption trial that placed Jackson at a meeting where Indian businessman Raghuveer Nayak told Jackson, “I will raise a million if he appoints you to the Senate seat.”

.

This statement appears on the Citizens for Isaac Hayes website at:
www.isaac4honesty.com.


Chicago Young Repubs Video: Aaron Schock, Isaac Hayes, Joel Pollak

From the Illinois Review YouTube Channel:

U.S. Rep. Aaron Schock joined U.S. House candidates Joel Pollak and Isaac Hayes in pumping up a Chicago Young Republican VIP reception Friday night before joining over a thousand CYRs in the group’s 2010 Summer Membership bash at Chicago’s Cubby Bear, across from Wrigley Field.


I’ll Be on Chicago’s WGN Radio on Saturday Morning, 11AM

-By Warner Todd Huston

In connection with my ChicagoNow.com Publius Forum site, I have once again been asked to appear at the WGN radio studios in beeeoootiful downtown Chicago tomorrow morning.

Hitting the airwaves at about 11AM, Saturday morning I’ll be again meeting hosts Alex Quigley and Amy Guth for a half hour of politics talk.

If you aren’t in the Midwest where the WGN 720 AM blowtorch can reach, you can always listen live on the Internet tubuals at: http://www.wgnradio.com/.
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I’ll Be on Chicago’s WGN Radio on Saturday Morning, 11AM”


Hayes Calls for A.G. Holder to Step Down

From the Hayes for Congress campaign (2nd District)…

CHICAGO: Republican nominee for Illinois 2ndCongressional District Isaac Hayes released the following statement calling for Attorney General Eric Holder to resign after failure to prosecute the New Black Panther Party for voter intimidation during the 2008 election.

“The Justice Department’s refusal to prosecute the terrorist actions of the New Black Panther Party for its 2008 intimidation and threatening vitriol outside a Philadelphia polling place is criminal affirmative action. This selective justice paradigm was exposed during the testimony of J. Christian Adams – a former U.S. Prosecutor assigned to the Civil Rights Division, Voting Section, before the U.S. Civil Rights Commission – who testified he was told ‘cases are not going to be brought against Black defendants for the benefit of White victims.’
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Hayes Calls for A.G. Holder to Step Down”


Ill. Policy Institute: With Friends Like These…

From the Illinois Policy Institute…

Ooh, That’s Awkward
America is a great country, full of wonderful people…but we should probably beef up on history classes. Last weekend, Jay Leno took a quick walk to find out how much his fellow Americans really know about Independence Day. The results?
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Ill. Policy Institute: With Friends Like These…”


(2nd District) GOPs Hayes: ‘Jackson at Head of Table When Blago Bribe Conspired

From the Hayes for Congress campaign (2nd District)…

CHICAGO: Republican nominee for Illinois 2ndCongressional District Isaac Hayes released the following statement following testimony from the Rod Blagojevich trial placing Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. at a meeting where cash in exchange for the U.S. Senate Seat was discussed,

“Today, we again heard damaging testimony belying Congressman Jackson’s claims of innocence in the Blagojevich Senate Seat scandal. We can now place Mr. Jackson at the head of the table when this conspiracy was first discussed. According to testimony by Rajinder Bedi, on October 27, 2008 he met with Congressman Jackson and his supporter Raghu Nayek at the 312 Restaurant in the loop. During this meeting at which Jackson was present, Nayek asked Bedi to send word to Blagojevich that he would raise a million dollars for Blagojevich if he would appoint Jackson to the Senate seat.
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(2nd District) GOPs Hayes: ‘Jackson at Head of Table When Blago Bribe Conspired”


Gov. Says Ill. is Broke, but His Staffers/State Workers Get Big Raises

-By Warner Todd Huston

Many businesses across Illinois are trying to stave off closing their doors by cutting salaries and hours for employees. Some aren’t so luck and are laying off thousands of workers. Add to that dismal outlook that the state’s budget is billions in the red and politicians are so at loggerheads on how to solve the crisis that no budget can be agreed upon.

Cue accidental Governor Pat Quinn whose job, as he sees it, has been to warn Illinois that we are broke, that we can’t afford the many programs we have, that the poorest of us are at risk and that taxes will have to be raised to “fix” it all.

It’s a very bleak picture, indeed. Bleak, that is, unless you are one of Quinn’s staffers. In that case you are living high off the hog and getting an up to 20 percent raise in salary thanks to the Governor’s generosity… oh, and at the taxpayers expense, of course.
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Gov. Says Ill. is Broke, but His Staffers/State Workers Get Big Raises”


Ill. Dem Senate Candidate Giannoulias a ‘Mob Banker,’ Now ‘Flat Out’ Liar

-By Warner Todd Huston

The sniping between Republican Mark Kirk and Democrat Alexi Giannoulias is beginning to get to full steam these days and Democrat Giannoulias isn’t handling it all very well. As a bank executive, he’s gone from dissembling about his efforts to loan mobsters $20 million that his bank then lost, to now as a candidate lying about his desires to raise taxes.

The latest Giannoulias gaffe comes as a result of his announcement of his tax returns. It seems that he declared a personal business loss that negated his entire tax bill and so Giannoulias paid no federal tax in 2009. Yet, as Mark Kirk says, even as Giannoulias wants to raise all our taxes, he skates by himself without paying any at all!

For his part, the Ginnoulias campaign says that the candidate never said he wants to raise our taxes. They say that Kirk is lying about it. This newest claim makes Giannoulias himself to be a “flat out” liar as far as Illinois political watchdog Rich Miller is concerned. After all, Miller has the video to prove that Giannoulias has said that he wants to raise taxes.
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Ill. Dem Senate Candidate Giannoulias a ‘Mob Banker,’ Now ‘Flat Out’ Liar”


County President Stroger: Lame Duck Still Rolling Out Gravy Train for Pals

-By Warner Todd Huston

One of the main reasons that little Todd Stroger lost his comfy job as president of the Cook County Board — the office left him by his deceased father — is because of the graft and payoffs to his friends and family members that he constantly perpetrated. It was so bad even Democrats were ashamed of him and voted him out of office in the last primary.

But thanks to the fact that Illinois Democrats moved the primary to February President Stroger has eight months to continue giving his friends and family members cushy jobs paid for by the County taxpayers. And this week he’s done it again.

This time Stroger has given a plum job to his former campaign manager, Vincent Williams. Williams now has a $38,000-a-year job on the Cook Zoning Board of Appeals thanks to his pal President Stroger.

Let us recall that Williams was the campaign manager of a losing campaign, shall we?
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County President Stroger: Lame Duck Still Rolling Out Gravy Train for Pals”


Illinois Blog Rankings (We Moved Up)

Last year (well, not even a whole year ago, it was Nov. of 2009) Publius Forum was the 13th most visited Illinois blog according to Alexa rankings. And now, not even a year later, Publius Forum stands at the 11th most visited blog in Illinois. We moved up a few slots, folks.

Cao’s Blog has all the details in her Top Illinois Blogs Survey Updated post.

Thanks to all you readers for helping Publius Forum expand.

Another interesting thing about the rankings is how many dropped out of the top twenty to be replaced by new entrants in only so few short months. The world wide web is volatile, apparently!


Daley’s Newest Stab at a Gun Ban

-By Warner Todd Huston

Daley’s temper tantrum against guns continues, but at a much subdued pace. With its recent McDonald v the City of Chicago ruling the Supreme Court of the United States essentially made Daley’s outright gun ban unconstitutional so the mayor has had to retrench and come up with new onerous rules to try and limit guns in his kingdom.

As always, the Chicago City Council rubber stamped Richard “King” Daley’s whims — why do we have a city council anyway?

The new rules do show the mayor’s defeated position, however, as they are much less stringent than his previous mandates. Daley also shied from insisting that there be a one-gun limit and also dropped the idea of expensive and onerous insurance requirements for gun owners, the latter an idea popular with many gun banners.
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Daley’s Newest Stab at a Gun Ban”


Even With Troubles GOPs Kirk Raises $2.3 Mil

-By Warner Todd Huston

While the media has been all aflutter about Illinois Senate candidate Mark Kirk’s bio flap, even as the media has been sternly shaking a finger at the man he’s somehow raised $2.3 million in campaign cash.

According to the Kirk campaign he raised $1 million in June alone as the news over his bio inflation was at its height.

So far, Kirk has raised $9 million for the race and is starting some new TV ads.

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Even With Troubles GOPs Kirk Raises $2.3 Mil”


Peraica Statement on County Sales Tax Decrease Going into Effect

From the office of Cook County Commissioner Tony Peraica…

CHICAGO, IL — Cook County Commissioner Tony Peraica (R-16) issued the following statement regarding the .5 percent reduction in the Cook County sales tax, which goes into effect today:

“This is an important step forward for Cook County taxpayers, who are struggling to make ends meet amidst rising unemployment and a growing tax burden.

“But it is only a first step.
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Peraica Statement on County Sales Tax Decrease Going into Effect”


Chicago Roadworkers Vote to Go On Strike

-By Warner Todd Huston

The International Union of Operating Engineers and the Laborers’ District Council of Chicago have voted to walk off the job Wednesday night leaving roadwork on the Eisenhower expressway stalled and travelers inconvenienced.

The union is demanding a 5 percent raise each of three years to come. Employers counter offered 1 percent. Currently workers make $35.20 an hour for the laborers and up to $45.10 for the operating engineers (machine operators).

As it happens, while the construction trades are seeing up to 40 percent unemployment, these roadworkers are demanding a 5 percent a year increase for a three year contract. Interesting that the union doesn’t see the economic situation all around them and don’t find themselves grateful they are working at all.

Also remember, these people are extorting you and me for their 5 percent a year luxury. After all, they are working to rebuild state roads and are being paid by our tax dollars.

Apparently, grateful thy name is not union!
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Chicago Roadworkers Vote to Go On Strike”


Politico: Five Questions for Mark Kirk

-By Warner Todd Huston

Mark Kirk has really made himself look foolish and if he loses this election it will be because of his ridiculous missteps on his biography. Why he felt the need to overstate his bio is anybody’s guess, but he did it. And not just once but at least five times. Politico details the bio inflation Kirk has perpetrated in a new piece headlined “Five questions for Mark Kirk .”

They say that Kirk was “once a favorite,” intimating that his stock has dropped. That is essentially true, but in my estimation Kirk has plenty of time to get past this if he handles it right and I think he’s still the favorite even with this foolishness because Alexi “the Mob Banker” Giannoulias has equally problematic bio problems — not the least of which was the $20 million that he and his bank lent to two known mobsters that never paid back the loan.

Politico presents five questions that they feel that Kirk must answer in a straightforward manner or expect to lose credibility as a candidate.
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Politico: Five Questions for Mark Kirk”


Announcing Palatine Taxed Enough Already Rally on July 3rd

From the Palatine Tea Party…

(Palatine, Illinois) – A group of taxpaying citizens dissatisfied with government spending and expansion are planning a Taxed Enough Already (TEA) rally to be held in Palatine, Illinois. This peaceful rally is part of a national movement to increase public awareness of the spending of trillions of dollars which will leave our children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren a devastating and ruinous debt they must re-pay.

This family-friendly rally encourages all citizens throughout the suburban area who want lower taxes and less government to participate by bringing their American flags, patriotic attire, and signs to display the spirit of the Colonial Patriots of the 1775 Boston Tea Party, which lead to American Independence July 4th, 1776. Re-affirm your commitment to our Constitution and our freedoms by being part of this energizing event on Saturday, July 3rd, 2:00pm to 4:30pm, at Volunteer Plaza in Palatine at the intersection of N. Northwest Hwy (Route 14) and N. Hicks Road.
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Announcing Palatine Taxed Enough Already Rally on July 3rd”


Supreme Court protects Chicagoans 2d Amendment Rights by Overturning Unconstitutional Handgun Ban

From the Ratowitz for Congress campaign (5th District)…

U.S. Congressional Candidate, David Ratowitz (IL-5) praises SCOTUS for upholding the 2d Amendment Rights of Chicagoans and urges Chicago’s City Council to respect the rights of law abiding citizens.

Chicago, IL, June 24, 2010– Long time transparency and pro-liberty advocate Candidate for U.S. Congress from Illinois’ 5th Congressional District, David Ratowitz supports the Supreme Court’s decision in McDonald v. City of Chicago.
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Supreme Court protects Chicagoans 2d Amendment Rights by Overturning Unconstitutional Handgun Ban”


(5th District) Ratowitz Attacks Disclose Act‏

From the Ratowitz for Congress campaign (5th District)…

H.R. 5175 Disclose Act Sacrifices Freedom of Speech to Protect Incumbents.

U.S. Congressional Candidate, David Ratowitz (IL-5) defends Freedom of Speech and Liberty against nervous incumbents who seek to use the Disclose Act to protect their Congressional Seats.

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(5th District) Ratowitz Attacks Disclose Act‏”


Dan Proft: The Trial of Illinois Politicians We Should be Having

The latest commentary from Dan Proft…

Illinoisans are getting a real education in what happens when politicians flout the laws.

I am not talking about the laws that govern public corruption and Rod Blagojevich’s various schemes to secure cash and prizes as parting gifts for his two terms as governor.

No, I am talking about the laws of economics that govern Illinois’ fiscal vitality and the politicians who have been violating those laws for generations.
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Dan Proft: The Trial of Illinois Politicians We Should be Having”


Revealing Audio From Blago Trial — Obama Admin. Joins Blago’s Fire Sale

-By Warner Todd Huston

The Illinois State House News service has some very revealing audio from the Rod Blagojevich trial from the June 23 court sessions. It shows Blago’s scheming to get some payback for his ability to appoint someone to fill Obama’s vacated Senate seat. It also shows the Obama administration’s complicity in the whole mess.

WARNING: The “F” word is liberally thrown around in this tape of Blago, so be warned.

It is some very, very interesting audio, is it not?

On the Blago trial, some have asked me why I am not covering it much here. For one thing it’s all so ho hum. It is not surprising to find a Democrat as criminally minded as Blago. Most of all, everyone knew he was a creep. But secondly, there isn’t a Chicago Democrat that acts any differently! The whole trial is just nothing that shocks me. It all just doesn’t interest me because it is a foregone conclusion. Blago is a crook and so is his party. Boooooring.

The sad fact is, I just can’t get myself ginned up to cover this thing. It is all nothing out of the ordinary for Illinois’ criminal Democrats.

This tape, though, does show that the Chicago Way extends into the White House, so it was worth posting.
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Revealing Audio From Blago Trial — Obama Admin. Joins Blago’s Fire Sale”


Ill. Senate Race: Accusations Fly About Niecestro’s Republican ‘Flake’

-By Warner Todd Huston

(New info updated at the end of the post)

Doug Ibendahl of RepublicanNewsWatch has named the “flake” operative that Senate candidate wannabe Mike Niecestro claimed screwed him out of enough signatures to file his independent candidacy papers this week. Ibendahl claims it was none other than former comptroller candidate William Kelly. I spoke to Kelly today about the accusations.

Mr. Kelly says that Niecestro’s claims that his whole independent bid fell apart because of Kelly’s failure to come through with the promised signatures is puzzling. “He didn’t even give me the final go ahead to do it until five days before the filing date,” Kelly told me.

Five days to get 25,000 signatures is not feasible, for sure.
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Ill. Senate Race: Accusations Fly About Niecestro’s Republican ‘Flake’”


Protest Domestic Terrorist Bill Ayers at Roosevelt University‏

Please join Reform Chicago Now for this important protest and spread the word by inviting at least one friend to come with you. Let’s send a strong message that terrorism will not be tolerated – even if the terrorist is a friend of Barack Obama’s.

There will be a protest THIS THURSDAY at 5:45 pm of terrorist-turned-university professor Bill Ayers. Weatherman bombing terrorist and friend of President Barack Obama is holding a fundraiser this Thursday at Roosevelt University, 430 S. Michigan Avenue in downtown Chicago. The benefit is for the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability. The admitted bomber and his wife, Bernardine Dohrn planned multiple terrorist bombings in the late 1960s, bombings that resulted in the murder of a San Francisco police officer, the blinding of another with nail shrapnel, and other murders and the injury of many others.

Ayers, a bomb designer, has boasted publicly that he participated in the bombings of New York City Police Headquarters in 1970, of the Capitol building in 1971, and the Pentagon in 1972. In all, the Weatherman claimed responsibility for more than 25 other bombings in its infamous reign of terror.
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Protest Domestic Terrorist Bill Ayers at Roosevelt University‏”


Stroger Serves Up a Tasty Double-Dip Doles Out County Job to Crony State Representative

From Cook County Commissioner Tony Peraica…

The Cook County Board failed to override Todd Stroger’s veto of the board’s hiring freeze.
So it appears Todd is going to continue to thumb his nose at the taxpayers by hiring cronies for sweetheart, taxpayer-funded county jobs.

The latest is Todd’s friend, State Rep. Art Turner. You see, he makes more than $87,000 per year as a state legislator.

But now, thanks to Todd, Turner will also make a $110,575 salary as the director of the county’s President’s Office of Employment and Training (POET).

Do you want to be the first to receive important county reform updates like this?
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Stroger Serves Up a Tasty Double-Dip Doles Out County Job to Crony State Representative”


Those Poor Muslims Forced to Sell Pork Rinds in Chicago

-By Warner Todd Huston

The Chicago Tribune has a long lament of an article bellyaching about how so many wonderful and devout Muslim grocery store owners in Chicago are somehow forced to sell liquor, lottery tickets and pork products in their stores. The article worries over their Muslim souls for having to violate their un-American Shariah codes. Naturally, a group of do-gooders have a solution. Just as naturally it comes in the form of our tax dollars.

For the Tribune, writer Manya A. Brachear tells us of South Side store owner Mazen Materieh who prays five times a day in Muslim fashion behind his cashier’s counter. Mrs Brachear apparently wants us to feel sorry for Materieh because he is somehow forced to sell lottery tickets, pork products like pork rinds, and liquor in his store. “I’m an honest person. I don’t like to be a man of two faces,” Materieh says about doing what he knows is “wrong,” namely selling the “forbidden” products.

Brachear then gravely inform us that this is a “conflict” that is “common” throughout Chicago.
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Those Poor Muslims Forced to Sell Pork Rinds in Chicago”


Cook County Commish Caught Violating Own Ethics Rule

-By Warner Todd Huston

Oopsie. Cook County Commissioner Peter Silvestri (R, Elmwood Park) was caught violating his own ethics rule, one he wrote and ushered through the County Board himself. He says it was an accident — don’t they always say that, though?

As FoxNews Chicago reports, last Wednesday a full page ad paid for by a state disaster grant (in other words, our tax money) appeared in the Chicago Sun-Times. The ad featured a photo of Silversti and several other area pols all speaking in favor of the county’s flood relief grant program.

The ad violates Silvestri’s ethics policy because politicians are barred from appearing in ads touting public service campaigns when said pol is up for reelection. With this policy an incumbent is barred from flooding the voters just ahead of an election with ads paid for by county funds saying what wonderful things he’s done while in government.

Silverstri says he had no idea he was to be in the ad and when asked about it said he didn’t even know who authorized it all.
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Cook County Commish Caught Violating Own Ethics Rule”


Aide to Alexi ‘Mob Banker’ Giannoulias Manhandles Videographer

-By Warner Todd Huston

OK, OK, this one has been making the rounds all last week. It shows one of Illinois Democratic Senate candidate Alexi “The Mob Banker” Giannoulias’ staffers pushing around a videographer who was trying to get a look at who was attending a private fundraiser.

Yeah its uncomfortable to watch, but I have to come down on this in a way that is a bit out of orthodox from all the other conservative websites railing about this video. In fact, that’s why I hadn’t posted about it until now.

I just don’t think it’s a big deal that Giannoulias’ people wanted to keep a private function… well, private.

It was a reserved section, it was a by-invite event not open to the general public and the cameraman wasn’t on the guest list. As much as I think Giannoulias is a crook, deserves to be beaten in the election, and would make a horrible Senator if he wins, I think Giannoulias should be able to expect to see a private fundraiser remain private without being harassed about it all.

As far as this one incident goes, I don’t see any there, there. But, I’ll post it anyway and you decide.
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Aide to Alexi ‘Mob Banker’ Giannoulias Manhandles Videographer”