It just gets better and better. And dirtier.
It looks like President Obama's new director of the White House Office on Urban Policy, Adolfo Carrion, accepted some very suspiciously timed donations to his political campaign. Developers, some of whom were first time donors, came up with loads of cash just before or after their projects were approved in his New York borough. In many cases the projects were approved by Carrion, and/or government funding was arranged by him.
Will Obama have to deep-six another appointee? Will there be any real consequence to the continued mis-steps in his office's vetting process? What does this say about Obama himself? IMHO, it merely confirms his own corrupt nature.
Buildings sprang up as donations rained down on Bronx Borough President Adolfo CarrionBY Benjamin Lesser and Greg B. Smith
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
Updated Sunday, March 1st 2009, 1:35 PM
The man who is President Obama's newly minted urban czar pocketed thousands of dollars in campaign cash from city developers whose projects he approved or funded with taxpayers' money, a Daily News probe found.
Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion often received contributions just before or after he sponsored money for projects or approved important zoning changes, records show.
Most donations were organized and well-timed.
In one case, a developer became a Carrion fund-raiser two months before the borough president signed off on his project, raising more than $6,000 in campaign cash.
In another, eight Boricua College officials came up with $8,000 on the same day for Carrion three weeks before the school filed plans to build a new tower. Carrion ultimately approved the project and sponsored millions in taxpayer funds for it.
The full story is here:
http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/bronx/2009/02/28/2009-02-28_buildings_sprang_up_as_donations_rained_.html
