Olympic-sized boondoggle: What Valerie Jarrett and Michelle Obama are up to
In Culture of Corruption, I spotlight the intimate relationship between Chicago Mayor Richard Daley’s crony lawyer Valerie Jarrett and First Lady Michelle Obama.
Jarrett’s slum lord record in Chicago is highly relevant to her current and ongoing pursuit of Chicago’s 2016 Olympic bid — which will cost taxpayers nearly $5 billion and bring an untold windfall to developers and contractors.
From my chapter on Jarrett’s role as president and CEO of The Habitat Company, which the Boston Globe probed in a rare, non-fluffy look at the Obama’s consigliere:
In an uncommonly hard-hitting investigative piece, the Boston Globe’s Binyamin Appelbaum blew the whistle on the rodent-infested, sewage-clogged Chicago slums run by the Obamas’ most trusted confidante. Jarrett refused to answer any questions about Grove Parc, “citing what she called a continuing duty to Habitat’s former business partners.” A “continuing duty,” presumably, to whitewash the inconvenient truth about the failed public-private partnerships the Obamas continue to promote in the White House:
“They are rapidly displacing poor people, and these companies are profiting from this displacement,” said Matt Ginsberg-Jaeckle of Southside Together Organizing for Power, a community group that seeks to help tenants stay in the same neighborhoods.
“The same exact people who ran these places into the ground,” the private companies paid to build and manage the city’s affordable housing, “now are profiting by redeveloping them.”
In 2006, while Valerie Jarrett was executive vice president of Grove Parc’s management firm Habitat Company, federal inspectors graded the condition of the complex a bottom-of-the-barrel 11 on a 100-point scale. Another Habitat-mismanaged property called Lawndale Restoration was so run-down that city officials urged the federal government to take over the complex.
Jamie Kalven, a veteran Chicago housing activist, told the Boston Globe about Barack Obama: “I hope there is not much predictive value in his history and in his involvement with that community.” Kalven’s hopes will likely be dashed. As Chicago goes, so goes the nation. Obama has made a career of rewarding failure and no amount of overhyped “Hope” will change that. He sponsored a plethora of bills in the state Senate benefitting affordable housing developers. In February 2009, he unveiled a plan to set up a $1 billion Housing Trust Fund “to rehabilitate housing in the nation’s poorest neighborhoods.” “Trust Fund?” Try slush fund, bottomless pit, and eternal stimulus for the real estate moguls posing as saviors of urban America.
In one of those endless Chicago coincidences, Grove Parc Plaza Apartments—now targeted for demolition as a result of years of neglect by Obama’s developer friends—sits in the shadows of the proposed site of the city’s 2016 Olympics Stadium. Valerie Jarrett is vice chair of Chicago’s Olympics committee.
Ever since the Obamas moved to 1600 Pennsylvania, Jarrett has used her power to boost her old pal and employer Mayor Richard Daley’s bid for the Olympics.
Now, FLOTUS is getting in on the act and Jarrett is giddy:
A top White House adviser said first lady Michelle Obama is planning to make a dramatic presentation when she offers the closing argument for the bid by her hometown of Chicago to win the 2016 Summer Olympics.
“There won’t be a dry eye in the room,” said Valerie Jarrett, who plans to travel with the first lady to Copenhagen for the Oct. 2 International Olympic Committee vote.
“I’m sure that it will touch the hearts of each of the IOC members,” Jarrett, a senior adviser to President Barack Obama, said today in an interview.
Jarrett declined to say what the first lady will tell the IOC. The stakes are high because winning the games would be an economic boost nationally, as well as for Chicago, she said.
“It will be a huge economic engine for Chicago, but it will have a ripple effect throughout the country,” Jarrett said, adding that U.S. corporations have voiced support for Chicago’s bid.
That’s the same bogus economic development propaganda government cronies always use for taxpayer-funded corporate welfare (boondoggles I’ve consistently opposed whether championed by Democrats or Republicans, by the way.)
As sports subsidy watchdog Neil deMause properly characterizes the Olympic pursuit:
“The winner gets to be on the hook for billions in dollars worth of velodromes and infrastructure; the losers get to watch on TV for free.”
Crook County will make out like bandits if Jarrett and the First Crony get their way.
I advise the International Olympic Committee to think long and hard about bringing the games to the fetid swamplands of Blago, Rezko & pay-for-play peddlers.
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Previous:
Jarrett’s role in recruiting Van Jones
Jarrett, Axelrod, and the Michelle Obama horror health care story you won’t hear about
What the NYT’s 8,100-word Valerie Jarrett profile didn’t tell you
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Categories: Michelle Obama,Olympics,Valerie Jarrett
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“Booty time, Booty time, across the USA, Booty time, Booty time, Hey,Hey, Hey”
Does this Chicago style crap ever stop?
Dey ain’t shoppin’ fo shoes, sista!
Not a dry eye in the house?
Would they be crying because of hard luck stories or crying from laughing so hard that anything in Chicago would be on the up and up?
I used to love the Olympics, but they “jumped the shark” by awarding the games to Beijing and showing how corrupt the Olympic organization is. I won’t be surprised if Chicago wins the games for 2016 just because the world “loves” the Obamas. By the way… it’s the Olympics I have a problem with, not the athletes.
This is where we need to start another No Amnesty type campaign: If Chicago, CRook County and or Illinois want the 2016 Olympics then Chicago, Cook County and or Illinois should pay for it: NOT ONE DIME OF AMERICAN TAXPAYER MONEY.
If the Olympics are a cash cow or not is not the issue; it is not our responsibility to provide Bread and Circuses. Mayor Daley, Valerie Jarrett and First Lady Michelle Obama can borrow the money from Bank of America and ACORN.
it would seem the beast and her lackey are inclined to take taxpayer money for corrupt reasons to give to chicago to foster further corruption. all that ivy league education and now the wh and what do you have, mediocre corrupt unethical lowlife trash.
Yeah, after the First Witch tells how she’s seen to it that the residents of these slums are destitute and desperate as a result of her’s and Jarrett’s actions.
She’s a hateful witch and she’s going to try to get every last drop of benefit out of the ride at the White House. I doubt she’s gives a damn about poor people. She’s a nouveau-Elitest and poor people are just getting in her way.
The same old thing will happen…homeless will be segregated to the other side of town and the world will love us.
ACORN could not be reached for Comment.
Events at the Chicago Olympics:
-50 meter K-9 Dash
-Homeless Broad Jump
-100 meter Sewer Rat Medley Freestyle
Did I miss any?
-Urban Bump-n-Grind
-Cross Country Acorn relay
Putting envelope full of hundred dollar bills under desk pad. Chocolate City Na’leans should give Chicago a run in that event.
- Uneven Parallel Bar Crawl
- Team Shakedown
- Freestyle Mugging
- Dead vote lift
- Vacant House Squat
- Chicago Triathlon (extortion, bribery, murder)
Stash a cadaver relay.
The entire Obama administration is about “payback” for getting him elected. That is why they won’t consider tort reform. Why not just have the taxpayers continue to pay for outragegous lawsuits…don’t touch the trial lawyers! They did, after all, help get Obama to the WH. Same with the corrupt Chicago politicians. Same with ACORN and the unions. This just infuriates me!! They don’t care that every single citizen of this country will be paying for their cronyism and to line their pockets! Well, I am one of those citizens, Mr. “President” and I refuse to continue to pay for your campaign! Olympics in Chicago? He11 NO!! ACORN’s corruption is being exposed. Now we need to concentrate on Valerie Jarrett and her corrupt connections. She is so closely linked to Obama, this might be the one to do him in.
My big fear, however, is…if Obama is impeached…we have President Biden and VP Pelosi.
-Pin The Tail On The Oprah
My, my racist everywhere. That’s what you are going to get from the MSM and Jimmy Carter.
-Pin Back The Ears on the Barak
(this is kinda fun…)
These people could give lessons to spiders on how to weave intricate webs. Just rather than silk it’s corruption.
I don’t give a dam about the Olympics anymore. Weren’t they supposed to be for AMATEUR athletes? Now, we have semi-literate “track stars” who get paid $250,000 in “appearance fees” whenever they race somewhere. Why would anyone pay a “track star” hundreds of thousands of dollars just to run in a race? How stupid is that?
Are you people aware that “track stars” get appearance fees in the HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of dollars when they run in a race? Stupid.
I could not care less who is in the Olympics. Some idiot swimmer wins some stupid races in a swimming pool and comes back home and smokes marijuana all day long, and then gets MILLIONS of dollars in endorsements? Because he swam 1 fraction of a micro-second faster than someone else? How STUPID is that???
I say ban the Olympics forever. They are stupid and do nothing but promote the use of human growth hormone.
Shush, Michelle don’t spill the beans! I’ve heard that Burris’s re election campaign platform will be to CLEAN UP the swamp and show a model city for the Olympics when they are held in Chicago!
Also, when I see the olympics, I think of the incentive that keeps a lot of these athletes going. No, not to win, no, not to get a gold medal, but to become wealthy. I know not all of them feel this way, but it has become so commercialized, I am no longer interested. I dread the olympics coming because it means wall-to-wall coverage and it is boring!! Even FOX News is full of olympics. I just hunker down and stock up on good reading material.
What a cheerful thought to start the day!
Liberals are parasites who prey on the powerless.
Can she incorporate the park that was never built into the Olympic site?
Isn’t it obvious?
Fencing
Yeah, I was sorry as soon as I hit “submit”! Reality sucks.
Not a bad thought. If “The One” (PBUH) can get impeached how hard would it be to do the same to the other two? Should be rather easy!
Not only is Obama a liar, he and his associates are as corrupt as they come. I’m sorry, but this man and his wife are not made of teflon and all of the dirt they are involved in not only needs to be exposed, but disinfected with the Lysol of exposure.
Obama is no better than ACORN, the Apollo Project, ACLU and any other conglomerate of crime that is currently active.
Any journalists willing to step up to the plate to help Michele Malkin?
Being called a racist by America’s Senior anti-Semite is indeed an honor. Chris the homoerotic Matthews, the clowness from 24 Janeane Garofalo and Maureen Dowd were just warm ups. If I am to be called a dirty name I want to be called one by an important jerk, not the run of the mill jerks.
We self loathing minorities have our pride. Coconut pie anyone?
I still want to know why MO has her attorney license in “inactive” status…was this or was this not to avoid disciplinary action??
““There won’t be a dry eye in the room,” said Valerie Jarrett, who plans to travel with the first lady to Copenhagen for the Oct. 2 International Olympic Committee vote.”
Can’t disagree with that. Every time I hear either of the Obamas talk it brings tears to my eyes. It also brings whatever I just ate into my throat.
The Olympics THEMSELVES are a boondoggle! They’re like a massive leech that keeps finding a willing host every two years. China had no problem hosting the last Olympiad because the last two US presidents gave them all of America’s factories. But we have no need to invite this leech back onto our soil.
A few months ago, there was a major fund raising event here on Oahu to help Chicago in its bid for the 2016 Olympic hosting. I could not understand how this was relevant to the people of Hawaii, but I suspect that there is a coordinated nationwide effort to further this push.
Chicago won’t benefit much from the Olympic boondoggle. The games curse every town they come to, running up huge expenses that never quite pay off.
But the Obamas’ cronies will make out like bandits.
This is just another opportunity for the well-connected in Chicago, and elsewhere, to make a buck…while ignoring the oft lamented “poor” folks in the Chicago area. These people are going to be even worse off now, since the corruption of ACORN (and soon, SEIU) has been revealed for all to see.
To understand these people, one only has to look (or parse, if you will) what they say. If you don’t know by now, everything coming out of their mouths is housed in caveats, lies, obfuscations, and double meanings.
The word of the day, each and every day should be “trust.”
Do you trust these people to do the right thing?
Do you trust that every action they take is within the law?
Do you trust that any of their actions DO NOT, in some way, pay off a political note of debt?
The easy answer is always the most simple answer. If any issue of legality arises for each plan of action, then the action (the proposal) IS not legal. There should never, ever be a question of legality when proposing a universal plan “for the people.” It can’t be any clearer than that.
sounds a lot like the crap going on among the movers and shakers here in Houston. Bill White (current Mayor/wannabe Senator), David Mincberg (his chief corruption czar), Hubert Vo, State Rep and slumlord extrodinaire.
Hey, you shouldn’t talk about the First Derriere like that!
Reason, 3,594 to build permanent Winter and Summer Olympic sites in Switzerland and Greece funded by the world’s nations based on their GDP.
No pay, no get to play.
Not MY money.The Olympics have little to do with Continental Defense, Navigable Rivers or anything else enumerated in the Constitution (Bill of Negative Rights per PBHO). Let people interested in the Olympics pay for the Olympics. Tax Dollars for Steroids does sound like an ACORM program though
ACORM is the new improved version of ACORN
Agreed, no tax dollars. The US Olympic Committee has to find the funding. Given corporate sponsorship and TV money, piece of cake.
two chicago piglets sucking at the chicago trough for decades now get to the majors. chicago is a great training ground for washington d.c., but it has minor league money to siphon from.
Graniteman
Burris isn’t running again.
He was found to have been a bit to friendly with Blago.
btw-As a Chicago-burbite-I hope we DON’T get the Olympics.
Let’s not legitimize Chicago graft!
I don’t understand what everybody is so worked up about. I’m sure the President will ask Mitt Romney to help out to make the Olympics profitable.
First Klinon’s $400k trip to the farmer’s market to buy $20 per pound arugula…
I’ve always been grateful for Governor Dick Lamm who turned down the Olympics for Colorado back in the 70s.
Back when there were Dems who weren’t Marxists
I may come off as sounding like Charlie Gibson here, but I seriously had never heard that idea before! And it makes total sense!! Why haven’t I ever heard this? It is so logical, it will never happen.
happyscrapper,
It is an old idea that’s recycled occasioanlly. The main reason is political.
The Russians invade Afghanistan in 1979 so we boycott the 1980 Moscow Olympics. The Soviets boycott the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. No one wants the ChiComs showcasing their country containing 2 billion prisoners in 2008.
The Olympics should be non-political and thus held on “neutral ground.”
I am a nationalist to the hilt, but if they want to drop flags and national anthems at the Olympics, it would not bother me at all. It’s for the athletes, not their leaders or other interests.
***
Doesn’t matter who the waitress or server is. A C**P SANDWICH still tastes like hell–and I don’t want one! (Or two. Or three!)
***
Tell Michelle Obama she can have my sandwich. And have her pay for it–not me. A Gusto!
***
John Bibb
***
Can you imagine how many stories would appear in the NY Times if Carl Rove or Sarah Palin were linked to Habitat Co. instead of Valerie Jarrett? Nah, there’s no media bias.
As a staunch capitalist I have no problem with athletes making money for performing– as long as it is not taxpayer money. Also I am willing to compromise; Withdraw from the UN, evict the Aholes who constantly work against us and we can fund the Olympic Games easily and at a substantial savings overall.
Happy Talk Like A Pirate Day!
You missed another one:
Hermaphrodite 50/50 Yard Dash
Investigate the board members of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs.
-Colt 45 guzzling Contest in the Waffle House Parking Lot…with crack.
Maybe Mrs. O will enhance her “dramatic presentation” by wearing the same foxy outfit she debuted so classily at the recent ceremony to award a posthumous Medal of Honor.
It’s really all about them, isn’t it?
Unfortunately I think Chicago has a very good chance of getting the Olympics. Given Chicago’s reputation I’m sure the IOC is already salivating over how much they will pocket in bribes. And Obama being in the White house is the kicker, he will squash and federal investigation into corruption.
I don’t know of any City that came out ahead after hosting the Olympics. I’ve heard Sydney did but I can’t confirm that and most are almost bankrupted by the event. Of course DC is still saying their new stadium if good for their citizens. Of course the city imposed a new tax to pay for it, but it’s “Only on Businesses”, who just turn around and raise prices to pay it.
It’s odd how nothing any elected official says “will be good for x” is ever good for anyone but their banker.
Unfortunately no impeachment will ever happen, Pelosi should already be serving a life term for corruption and I suspect “Honest Joe” Biden should be as well.
I don’t know which would be worse, Biden or Pelosi, but I suspect Pelosi would not allow Biden to be President for long, she just can’t stand being second to anyone.
Which is worse would be a very difficult debate.
Democrats busily turning Chicago into Detroit. You gotta love ‘em.
Have you been to Baltimore lately?
If Barack Obama can help bring the 2016 Olympic summer games to Chicago then I’m all for it. This can be the one great thing he does during his one term presidency. My perspective is that of a track & field athlete who wishes will be very excited to have the opportunity to make a USA Olympic team that gets to compete here at home.
Plus, it will be great to have the Olympic baseball final in Wrigley Field. They could have pool baseball games in Fenway Park, Yankee Stadium, etc.
You might see this during an Olympic baseball game in Boston:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PxHqMEcSuQ
They are up to lining their pockets, thats what they are up to. Its all about money.
All the other countries have to pay to play.