Barack Obama -- I don't take money lie

Obama's "I Don't Take Money" Lie

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Their activism relies on the tactic of overloading the system

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Exxon, Shell, And Others

Last week, Obama aired a television ad in Pennsylvania called "Nothing's Changed" that outlines his energy proposals while declaring, "I don't take money from oil companies or Washington lobbyists, and I won't let them block change anymore."

The Clinton campaign last week accused Obama of "false advertising."

"Senator Obama says he doesn't take campaign contributions from oil companies but the reality is that Exxon, Shell, and others are among his donors," Clinton spokesman Phil Singer said.

THE FACTS: True enough, Obama does not take money from oil companies. No candidate does. It is illegal for corporations to give money to politicians. Corporations, however, do have political action committees that collect voluntary donations from employees and then donate them to candidates. Obama doesn't take money from PACs. He also doesn't take money from lobbyists.

But he does accept money from executives and other employees of oil companies and two of his fundraisers are oil company executives. As of Feb. 29, Obama's presidential campaign had received nearly $214,000 from oil and gas industry employees and their families, according to an analysis by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. Clinton had received nearly $307,000 from industry workers and their families and Republican Sen. John McCain, the likely GOP presidential nominee, received nearly $394,000, according to the center's totals.

Two of Obama's fundraisers are Robert Cavnar, the chairman and chief executive of Houston-based Mission Resources Corp., and George Kaiser, the president and CEO of Tulsa-based Kaiser-Francis Oil Co.

In January and February alone, Obama received nearly $18,000 from Exxon Mobil workers, according to Federal Election Commission records. Most of the donations were of $250 or less; the money came from workers ranging from executives to engineers to geologists to shift supervisors. Overall, he has raised about $34,000 from Exxon Mobil workers since the beginning of his campaign. Exxon Mobil employees have given Clinton about $16,000 since the beginning of last year.

Influence Of Lobbyists

April 14th -- Obama has pledged to end the influence of lobbyists, but that doesn’t keep him from fundraising at the offices of one of the most notoriously corrupt lobbyists in years.

Newsday reported over the weekend that Obama took about $125,000 from Greenberg Traurig employees at their Miami offices last October. The firm made headlines when its biggest lobbyist, Jack Abramoff, admitted to several counts of corruption and was sentenced to prison.

Show Me The Money

Barack Obama repeatedly attacks his opponents for taking lobbyists money or having lobbyists on their campaign staff.

What he doesn't tell you is that he has raised $264,492,301 from 358 bundlers and 14 lobbyist bundlers, himself.

Go here to see the detailed list.

Most Excellent Exelon

Reader, "JCM," suggests reading this article (requires login), and please keep in mind that Obama received the following Presidential contributions -- Exelon employees $236,211 (Source: OpenSecrets, The Center for responsive Politics):note, Exelon employees also gave over $270,000 to Obama's State Senate campaign, total over $500,000.

Mr. Obama scolded Exelon and federal regulators for inaction and introduced a bill to require all plant owners to notify state and local authorities immediately of even small leaks. He has boasted of it on the campaign trail, telling a crowd in Iowa in December (30, 2007) that it was the only nuclear legislation that I've passed.

"I just did that last year," he said, to murmurs of approval.

But, contrary to Mr. Obama's comments in Iowa, it ultimately died amid parliamentary wrangling in the full Senate.


The history of the bill shows Mr. Obama navigating a home-state controversy that pitted two important constituencies against each other and tested his skills as a legislative infighter. On one side were neighbors of several nuclear plants upset that low-level radioactive leaks had gone unreported for years; on the other was Exelon, the country's largest nuclear plant operator and one of Mr. Obama's largest sources of campaign money.


IN TRUTH, Mr. Obama told the Iowan's that he PASSED nuclear legislation, "just last year (2007)."

IN TRUTH, Mr. Obama LIED, LIED, LIED-his nuclear legislation bill NEVER PASSED!!!

This was a KEY Issue that swayed the Iowa Caucus in his favor, as the folks of Iowa were facing similar issues in regards to nuclear power plants, and they mistakenly were "hoodwinked and boondoggled" by a slick Chicago politician, who was willing to tell them anything to get there votes, even lying about his legislative record.

Mr. Obama in his 3+ years in the US Senate has sponsored ONLY TWO pieces of legislation that have become law:

A bill to promote democracy in the Democratic Republic of Congo
A bill to name a post office