After publishing the story on George Soros’ ties to CREW, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, it came to my attention that there was more to this.
One of the founders of CREW, Norm Eisen, is actually the ethics adviser to Barack Obama and his administration. As the Washington Post put it in a flowery article, Eisen is “the guardian of Obama’s integrity.”
Now frankly, this isn’t shocking news, or even big news. I mean if we had a Republican President, she or he would most certainly choose their staff of advisers from people who most fit in with their ideology.
But it is remarkable that Mr. Obama would choose someone from a group whose methods of operation are questionable, at best. Never mind the fact this person is heading up the ethics shop in the White House.
One also has to ask why Norm Eisen was picked. We know the ties that George Soros has to CREW. We also know that Soros is a very big supporter of President Obama. Was it something as simple as Mr. Soros recommending Mr. Eisen for the job, or is there more to it than that?
Frankly, the question I have, is this: Is this position, at least in part, payoff for a job well done?
This brings us back to Governor Sarah Palin, and the ethics complaint filed by CREW, over the wardrobe the GOP paid for. You know, the ethics complaint that was thrown out by the FEC.
Mr. Obama has been known to reward people who have successfully smeared Governor Palin. As I have previously reported, as a candidate, Mr. Obama was very involved in the so-called “troopergate” witch hunt against Governor Palin. He made an initial call to the troopers union in Alaska, and his campaign chief of staff, and now White house adviser, Pete Rouse, reached out to old friend, and former co-worker, Alaska Senator Kim Elton, who then started ram-rodding the so-called investigation through. It was Mr. Obama and Senator Elton’s intention to create an “October surprise” to take down Governor Palin. Senator Elton openly bragged about it.
Of course, the highly partisan Branchflower Report made certain claims that Governor Palin’s actions were questionable, but upon review by Timothy Petumenos, an independent investigator for the Alaska Personnel Board, had this to say, “There is no probable cause to believe that the Governor, or any other state official, violated the Alaska Executive Ethics Act in connection with these matters."
As if to punctuate the point further, Petumenos added that Branchflower had used a wrong statute as the basis for his conclusions, misconstrued the available evidence and did not consider or obtain all the material evidence to reach a proper finding. Petumenos went on to say, "Also absent from the evidence reviewed is any assertion that the Governor directed anyone in the Department of Public Safety to terminate Trooper Wooten, or directed anyone on her staff to seek the termination of Trooper Wooten,"
For those that may not know, Trooper Michael Wooten, is still Trooper Michael Wooten. Still on the job.
You can read more about the troopergate smear on Governor Palin here.
Once President Obama took office, Senator Elton was rewarded for his efforts with a job in the Interior Department. A pretty obvious payoff for a “job well done.”
CREW, did an incredible job of smearing Governor Palin over the wardrobe issue, which was a non-story, or a story best left to the gossip magazines. They managed to turn something that is standard practice in big time politics, “styling” a candidate, into a national obsession.
So the question this writer has to ask, is this: Was Norm Eisen hired as President Obama’s ethics adviser because he was the best they could get, or was this another case of rewarding someone for a job well done smearing Governor Sarah Palin?
In this time for choosing, you decide.
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