by Steve Franklin
An official from Sen. Barack Obama's campaign today rejected the suggestion that his endorsement by the Teamsters came as a trade for his vow to lift the government's supervision of the union.
"It's completely ludicrous," said Bill Burton, chief spokesman for the Obama campaign. "His position is that the consent decree has run its course.''
To avoid a government takeover to stem rampant corruption, the union had agreed in 1989 to the federal supervision.
Teamsters spokesman Bret Caldwell said Obama had told the union's leaders in March 2007 that he thought the union "deserved to find a way to end the consent decree." The union also made its endorsement after consulting its members, he added.
The flurry of interest was stirred by a Wall Street Journal story today which reported Obama's meeting with Chicago Teamsters leader John Coli, the head of Local 727 and the Chicago Area Joint Council, over the union's political endorsement.
Caldwell said Coli and Obama have met "on a pretty regular basis" and Coli "spent some time educating Obama" on the union.
Coli's local was the target of a FBI investigation into whether money was being siphoned off from a benefit plan for the local's members, according to a Tribune report in January 2005.
Local officials denied any wrongdoing. The probe followed one of a number allegations raised in a 300-page internal union investigation that had pointed to alleged organized crime control over several Teamsters locals in Chicago.
But the union's internal clean-up effort that had raised the charges collapsed when the head of the effort and his 20-person staff resigned in April 2004, saying Teamster officials in Chicago used their influence over the union to quash their probe. The report was never made public, but the Tribune obtained a copy of it.
Teamsters officials disputed the investigators' claims and a report issued later by a former U.S. prosecutor hired by the union to look into the situation upheld the union's rejection of the investigators' allegations.
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Comments
this is purely another typical clintonista tactic - pretend and insinuate your opponent might be doing what you are actually doing (in this case influence peddling)
do we really need more of the same old political games ??
isn't 16 years of short-term solutions enough ????
Posted by: katt | May 5, 2008 6:25 PM
Speaking of Unions......again.
Clinton Decries China's Acquisition of Indiana Company--Ignoring Her Husband's Role in the Sale:
By JAKE TAPPER
Apr. 30, 2008
"As she campaigns throughout Indiana, Sen. Hillary Clinton has been talking quite a bit about Magnequench, a Valparaiso, Ind., factory that moved to China".
"We've got to elect a president next January who's going to remember Magnequench," Clinton told voters in Valparaiso on April 12.
"It seems, however, that when it comes to Magnequench there's quite a bit that Clinton has conveniently forgotten".
"We went to Valparaiso," Clinton told voters in Princeton, Ind., last night, "where there used to be a plant called Magnequench that made the magnets that helped to guide the precision-guided missiles, the so-called smart bombs. You've seen those they take off, they go down the chimney, they were incredibly sophisticated and these magnets, you know not the kind you put on the refrigerator, like we all do but these really sophisticated magnets were instrumental making that happen."
"Clinton continued, saying, "Well, a Chinese company bought Magnequench and then they decided that they were going to move the whole company from Indiana to China. Now the president of the United States has the authority to veto that kind of a move, but Senator [Evan] Bayh begged the Bush administration not to export it it was going to lose jobs but it was also going to lose the know-how, the technical sophistication that created those magnets. President Bush and his administration wouldn't, basically wouldn't even give Evan Bayh the time of day. Those jobs left, and along with them went the savvy to make the magnets."
"What Clinton doesn't tell voters is that Magnequench was originally sold to Chinese interests during her husband's administration, which okayed the move despite concerns about national security and eventual job loss. Experts say the Chinese acquired the "technical sophistication" that created the magnets long before George W. Bush took office."
"Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind,, Clinton's top surrogate in the state, often joins her on the stump in bashing the president for allowing Magnequench to move abroad. What Bayh doesn't tell voters these days is that he has blamed the company's moving on a 1995 decision made by Clinton's husband's administration."
Full Story here:
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Vote2008/story?id=4757257&page=1
Posted by: John E | May 5, 2008 6:51 PM
Given Obama's association with political fixer and extortionist Tony Rezko, it's very easy to believe that he would be bought by the Teamsters, one of the most corrupt and crime ridden organizations in America.
It's completely consistant with his character... anything for money and power.
Posted by: MJ | May 5, 2008 7:03 PM
This is a juducial decision, not an Obama decision. The teamsters have lawyers, they are aware of the consequences and how this judicial watch started in the first place. Common sense.
Posted by: arian | May 5, 2008 7:27 PM
katt,
you are so right - let's let the mob back iinto the teamsters union - sounds like a good idea to me.
Posted by: Terry | May 5, 2008 7:41 PM
Wonder what he promised them???
Posted by: kaye m. | May 5, 2008 7:44 PM
Great endorsement, Senator Obama!! That is what the Democratic Party used to represent, workers, union and non-union!! It is good to see Senator Obama sticking with the traditional values of our Party. I hope the Democratic voters in tomorrow's primaries will vote for Senator Obama for staying with the Democratic traditions!!
SUPPORT OUR TROOPS, BRING THEM HOME, ALIVE. NOW.
Posted by: Don Fitzgerald, Chicago | May 5, 2008 9:40 PM
Remember that Richard Nixon had the endorsement of the Teamsters.
Posted by: Obamas = Spoiler | May 5, 2008 9:42 PM
Get a life,and a clue!
Posted by: team Stir | May 5, 2008 10:11 PM
Speaking of Obama - Here's an article and a picture of one his early and favorite fund raisers. I'll bet this will play well in "fly-over country".
http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/August-2001/No-Regrets/
Posted by: Terry | May 5, 2008 10:26 PM
I sure hope NC and Hoosier voters save us from OURSELVES in Illinois---I mean the Illinois/Chicago combine is so embarassing!
Posted by: Even ABE is blushing! | May 5, 2008 10:33 PM
SWAMP---Why do you let John E of the Obama camp(?) post and repost an old article and take up all this space?
I like the Tennessee Guerilla Women blog---
Mr. Holier than Hillary Launches New Attack Ad (Video)
"And what does Hillary Clinton offer us," asks Mr. New Politics? "More of the same old negative politics." Oh, yeah? That's funny, because everyday I hear Hillary Clinton talking policy. Everyday, I hear Hillary Clinton offering specific solutions to specific problems. But all I hear from Mr. Hope are negative attacks aimed at Hillary's solutions. And, um, Mr. Hope's negative attacks sound suspiciously like "more of the same old negative politics." Does Mr. New Politics ever look in the mirror?
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http://guerillawomentn
.blogspot.com/
Posted by: Anonymous | May 6, 2008 7:08 AM
So it seems that the Obamessiah isn't the Saviour of the World after all. Just another corrupt, quid pro quo, racist Chicago politician. Enough of those already!
Posted by: Bike man | May 6, 2008 9:36 AM