The name of Obama funder and terrorist sympathizer Jodie Evans turns up twice in recently released White House visitor logs.

Buffy Wicks, center, 2008 photo by St. Louis Argus

The logs show that a ‘Jodie Evans’ met with Buffy Wicks, the Deputy Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement (OPE) on June 19, 2009. The meeting came just days after Evans’ group, Code Pink, visited the terrorist group Hamas in Gaza from May 28th to June 14th and was given a letter by Hamas to deliver to President Barack Obama.

On December 30th, the Obama administration released 25,000 records of visitors to the White House complex from the latter half of September. Mixed in those records were visits from other dates, including two by ‘Jodie Evans’ in June.

One visit is listed as a two-person meeting with Buffy Wicks in Room 146 in the Old Executive Office Building (OEOB). The meeting was scheduled at 19:02, June 16th for 10:30, June 19th by Ashley Baia, Staff Assistant with OPE. The meeting end time is recorded in the default setting of 23:59 for that day.

The record slots are blank for arrival, departure and cancellation notations, as are many of the records for visitors. There is no record of who was the second person in the meeting between ‘Jodie Evans’ and Buffy Wicks.

A week later, on June 24th, ‘Jodie Evans’ is listed as part of a group of 183 people given a “10 AM STAFF TOUR” that the log says met in the “RESIDENCE” in “WH.”

The log shows that visit by ‘Jodie Evans’ was scheduled five minutes after the tour began and was set by “VISITORS OFFICE.”

The June 24th appointment was apparently made by ‘Max Palevsky,’ a name shared by Jodie Evans’ ex-husband and current partner (it’s a California thing), on June 22nd at 17:53.

Taliban sympathizer Jodie Evans and President Barack Obama, Oct. 15, 2009

Like Jodie Evans, Max Palevsky was a bundler and donor for Obama’s presidential campaign. He was a co-host of Obama’s breakthrough Hollywood fundraiser in February 2007 along with Jodie Evans and the Dreamworks Trio.

When names of controversial associates of Obama and his administration have turned up in the visitor logs, the White House has denied that it was the controversial person and just a coincidence that similarly named people were on the list–including  ‘Jeremiah Wright’, ‘Bill Ayers’ and ‘Malik Shabazz’.

In last week’s holiday data dump, the name ‘Bertha Lewis’ turned up. The White House went on the record to deny that it was ACORN chief Bertha Lewis who visited the Obama residence in the White House. ACORN’s Bertha Lewis also denied it was her on the list.  In Big Journalism’s debut on Jan. 6 (Big Government’s sister publication), Andrew Breitbart reported about his confrontation with ACORN’s Bertha Lewis regarding her name on the White House Visitor Log.  She again denied it was her.

The White House will have a harder time denying that it was Obama funder and terrorist sympathizer Jodie Evans who twice visited the White House in June.

Last month, Jodie Evans wrote about her working with Obama’s Office of Public Engagement to coordinate communications undermining public support for Obama’s recently announced Af-Pak war strategy.

Since Obama was elected president, Jodie Evans (and Code Pink) has met with the Taliban, Hamas, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and President Obama, raising questions as to whether she is acting as a conduit for the terrorist groups to or from the president.

Jodie Evans has been quite outspoken in her her sympathies for terrorist groups that target the United States and our allies.

In a reprise of Code Pink’s aid for ‘the other side’ in Fallujah five years ago, Jodie Evans helped deliver ‘humanitarian aid’ to Hamas-controlled Gaza this past week. The trip was Code Pink’s seventh “delegation” to Hamas-controlled Gaza this year.

Jodie Evans was joined in her efforts aiding Hamas last week by Obama’s Hyde Park, Chicago friends and neighbors Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn–both former Weather Underground terrorists who waged war against the United States.

Are they circling the wagons?  The Democrat-party-front-group-acting Media Matters for America took great delight in hectoring Big Government over its report on ‘Bertha Lewis’ visiting the Obama White House.

Media Matters has ignored BG’s articles about Obama and Jodie Evans so far. Let’s see if they also try to knock this story down about Jodie Evans’ visits to Obama’s White House.

Some editors told me they were not immediately aware of the Acorn videos on Fox, YouTube and a new conservative Web site called BigGovernment.com.  When the Senate voted to cut off all federal funds to Acorn, there was not a word in the newspaper, although a report in the Caucus blog that day covered the action. When the New York City Council froze all its funding for Acorn and the Brooklyn district attorney opened a criminal investigation, there was still nothing.

Well Mr. Hoyt, welcome to the world of the “undernews” – Mickey Kaus’s apt word for the news that everyone in the blogosphere knows about but, apparently, no one who gets his news strictly from the Times, other major newspapers, the newsweeklies, and most of the networks has the slightest inkling of.

10. “Fistgate”

Why it’s important: Because Obama’s “Safe Schools Czar,” Kevin Jennings, appears to be the kind of guy parents used to warn their kids about, and his elevation by Obama to a position of national prominence shows how far and how fast the culture has changed.  Jennings’s views – alien to most of America, but perfectly normal in his Harvard-educated social circle – are only now beginning to sink in, as his at least tacit approval of teaching various gay sexual practices to children has come to light.

Why the MSM ignored the story: Are you kidding?  And get branded as “homophobic?”  Far better to simply mainstream homosexuality in a non-judgmental way,  which has been one of the goals of the The New York Times for years now.   For a time after his appointment, Jennings appeared to be on the ropes over his 1988 counseling of a teenage boy regarding a sexual relationship with an older man.  But the boy turned out to be 16 at the time, not 15, so that’s okay then. (For a defense of Jennings, such as it is, go here:

9. Van Jones

Why it’s important: Because a self-identified communist, “Free Mumia” radical and 9/11 “Truther” nut became, however briefly, Obama’s “Green Jobs Czar,” a bogus position addressing an imaginary issue that turned out to be just another way to get Hussein’s camel’s nose under the tent in the president’s continuing end-run around the Constitution.

Why the MSM ignored the story: Are you kidding?  Jones is exactly the kind of target the MSM isn’t going to go near: black, articulate, persuasive – and absolutely hostile to the kind of country America used to be.  Fundamental change!  What’s not to like?  Which is why the Huffington Post readers were stunned when Glenn Beck finally got Jones’ scalp.  Oh well…

8. Anti-Americanism as official State Department policy

Why it’s important: Because  Foggy Bottom – long regarded by sensible policy-makers as “Indian country” – has now fully embraced its inner Kim Philby and has gone completely over to the other side.  Yes, an institution so penetrated by enemy operatives that it makes porn star Jenna Jameson look like Bernadette of Lourdes, came down squarely on the side of the mullahs as protesters battled the evil Iranian regime during the recent “elections” and, via its lapdogs at CNN, barked at the Hondurans about an illegal “coup,” as they, perfectly constitutionally, removed a Chavez-wannabe from office and, in an orderly transition, replaced him and then held free elections.

Why the MSM ignored/distorted the story: Are you kidding? The CNN en Español correspondent on the case was named Krupskaia Alis, “Krupskaya” being the famously randy wife of you-know-who; they don’t call it the “Chavez News Network” south of the border for nothing!  (Remind me to tell you my favorite Soviet-era joke about “Lenin in Warsaw” some day.) In lockstep, the rest of the media parroted the White House party line that what occurred in Honduras was a “coup” — apparently the only word they could think of to describe a “constitutional regime change.”   Bravo to the Hondurans for telling the State Department to go pound sand.

7.  The National Endowment for the Propagation of Obama

Why it’s important: The White House and the National Endowment for the Arts were recorded during a conference call encouraging pro-Obama arts types to create “art” on the theme of health care (among other issues) at a time when health care reform legislation was heading toward hot-button status. This shameless attempt at propaganda was abruptly halted after the appearance of the story on Big Hollywood, and the revelations led to the resignation of the NEA Communications Director, Yosi Sargent, and the issuance of conduct guidelines by the White House to deal with the “appearance” issues of the call.

Why the MSM ignored the story: Are you kidding? There was a direct connection to Valerie Jarrett, one of Obama’s top aides, since Sergant’s boss, Buffy Wicks, reports to Jarrett, the jewel of Shiraz, Iran, who’s a major player in Obama’s Chicago mafia.  And you know how disinclined the MSM is to harm a Democratic administration, especially while their legs are still tingling.  Luckily, Sergant’s forced resignation gave the media a perfect excuse to roll over, go back to sleep, and not cover the story.  La Buffy, meanwhile, could not believe her good fortune:  “I’m actually in the White House and working towards furthering this agenda, this very aggressive agenda.” Smile, Buffy — you’re a model public servant!

6. Andy Stern and the SEIU

Why it’s important: Return with us now to those glorious days of yesteryear, when the labor movement ruled the roost and “collective bargaining” was often negotiated at the point of a gun, one way or the other.  It was a time when labor and capital were at each other’s throats, and every right-thinking, soon-to-be-the-parent-of a red diaper baby knew whose side the Engels were on.  Because, if your cause is just, it’s OK to beat the crap out of Kenneth Gladney, a conservative African-American selling patriotic gear, and call him a “nigger.”  After all, in the ongoing struggle between labor and capital, the ends justify the means, and if a black guy gets in the way of Hope and Change, tough.

Why the MSM ignored the story: Are you kidding?  Under Andy Stern – the most frequent visitor to the Obama White House – the Service Employees International Union has gone from “who?” to the most powerful muscle operation in the country.  Recruiting heavily from the minority community – which he uses as human shields, testifying by their presence to his good motives – Stern has cleverly positioned his collection of labor gangsters as the champions of the Little Guy, the better to fly under the radar of the MSM, which is more concerned the with the “narrative” than, you know, the facts.   Following in the footsteps of such great “labor leaders” as Louis “Lepke” Buchalter and Jacob “Gurrah” Shapiro, the new Stern Gang bids fair to surpass their achievements.  But he might want to avoid their fate:

This Afternoon: Part Two

Margarida Jorge

On the evening of August 6^th hundreds of citizens were shut out of the meeting and not allowed to question their elected official while hundreds of SEIU members were ushered in a side entrance to sit in reserved seats in the front of the hall.  This followed precisely the instructions penned by Margarida Jorge of HCAN.

• We need to stack our folks in the front to create a wall around the Member…
• Get to your location early and make sure you set up the venue in a way that ensures that the attendees you want are at the front and that any protesters who come are sequestered as far as possible from the stage.
• Make sure that you assign marshals to take care of moving the crowd, keeping people organized and orderly, and acting as security

According to eye-witnesses, Elston McCowan and Perry Molens approached Kenneth Gladney and began grabbing the “Don’t Tread on Me” materials that he was distributing.  This also was in line with the instructions laid out in the HCAN memo.

• Another way to limit protesters’ ability to hijack your event is to confiscate signs or leaflets that they may bring into the venue from outside.

The climate of intimidation and frustration created by following HCAN’s rules of “Responding to Right-Wing Attacks” led to the confrontations outside of Rep. Carnahan’s town hall meeting.

The St. Louis Police were dispatched that evening to respond to the assault on Kenneth Gladney and arrests were made.  Big Government has already revealed the 24-page police report detailing the police’s own account of the events as well as eye-witness testimony.  The suspects taken by the police that night were booked on assault charges and last Wednesday, November 25^th, more than three months after the incident, charges were finally brought against the suspects.

Elston McCowan

As anyone who has taken a high school civics class can tell you (or, more likely, anyone who has ever seen an episode of ‘Law and Order’), city and county attorneys are responsible for prosecuting suspects who the police arrest.  The County Prosecuting Attorney has ultimate authority over cases such as the arrest of SEIU senior staff members Elston McCowan and Perry Molens.  And the Prosecuting Attorney is an elected official which by definition makes that person a politician.  Who is the politician ultimately responsible for ensuring the crimes against Kenneth Gladney are brought to justice?

Meet Robert McCulloch .  Robert McCulloch  is the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney in whose jurisdiction these arrests were made.  Last year, during the presidential election, Robert McCulloch was a central figure in something called “The Barack Obama Truth Squad”.  This “truth” squad was created at the request of the Missouri Obama for America campaign.  As KMOV reported at the time:

“They will be reminding voters that Barack Obama is a Christian who wants to cut taxes for anyone who makes less than $250,000 a year. They also say they plan to respond immediately to any ads and statements that violate Missouri’s ethics laws.”

McCulloch himself was quoted in the report saying:

“If they’re not going to tell the truth, somebody’s got to step up and say, ‘That’s not true. This is the truth.’”

That is what McCulloch said he would do on “The Barack Obama Truth Squad” in his capacity as Prosecuting Attorney, NOT as a paid employee of the Obama for America Campaign.  Please understand, in September of 2008, St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Robert McCulloch  took on as his responsibility as a public official, paid for by the good people of Missouri, the role of “Rapid Response” for the Obama Campaign responsible for informing the voters of what is true and what is not, all the time reminding everyone that Barack Obama is a Christian who wants to cut taxes for anyone who makes less than $250,000 a year.  I think even the most casual observer can look at this and reach the conclusion that Mr. McCulloch  brings with him a certain level of partisan bias when executing his duties as Prosecuting Attorney.

As the KMOV report stated:

“The Barack Obama campaign is asking Missouri law enforcement to target anyone who lies or runs a misleading TV ad during the presidential campaign.”

“The Barack Obama campaign is asking…”  We have already discussed who was in charge of the Barack Obama campaign in Missouri, but I think it bears repeating:

• Buffy Wicks ran the Obama for America campaign in Missouri, Buffy Wicks now works for Valerie Jarret in the White House Office of Public Engagement and was involved in the NEA Conference Calls.
• Sara Howard worked with Buffy Wicks on the Obama for America Campaign in Missouri and Sarah Howard worked at SEIU in St Louis.  The day before the St. Louis town hall she was hired by Rep. Russ Carnahan.
• Margarida Jorge also worked at SEIU in St. Louis, just like Sara Howard and Margarida wrote the HCAN memo on fighting back against the right.
• Just like Jorge and Howard, Elston McCowan and Perry Molens worked at SEIU in St. Louis.  They have been charged with the bloody assault of Kenneth Gladney.

Now, let’s add THIS one to the mix:

• Robert McCulloch worked on behalf of the Obama for America campaign (Wicks and Howard) by aggressively promoting a pre-emptive strike against negative campaigning against Barack Obama.  McCulloch is the person charged with the duty to bring charges against McCowan and Molens for assaulting Gladney outside the town hall meeting of Carnahan arranged by Howard following the volatile template written by Jorge!  (Follow all that?)

So, how did McCulloch do in executing his duties in the Gladney case?  McCulloch handed the case over to county counselor Patricia Redington and washed his hands from that point on.  It is interesting that McCulloch moved so quickly in using intimidation tactics by wielding the power of his office and the threat of legal ramifications for any negative advertising that may have suggested that candidate Obama might not actually lower taxes on everyone making $250,000 per year (have you gotten your tax cut yet?) but he passed the buck when it came to this case.

Meanwhile, Redington let this case languish for months before finally bringing modest charges against the suspects on the afternoon before Thanksgiving (an obvious attempt to let the story disappear).  One week before the charges were brought, Big Government reported:

• Redington hasn’t spoken to Kenneth Gladney
• Redington hasn’t called any of the witnesses on the police report.
• Redington hasn’t contacted any of the Tea Party members that are seen on video
• Redington hasn’t contacted any of the people who shot video that night and whose YouTube urls are listed on the evidence page

Also, despite the fact that Redington never investigated the injuries Gladney suffered and never interviewed the medical personnel who administered assistance to Gladney, she still felt it best to reduce the charges down to an ordinance violation.  In the words of Judge Anthony Napolitano:  “The moral equivalent of jay walking.”

But, make no mistake; this is happening on McCulloch’s watch.  He has the authority to handle this case and to ensure that proper charges are filed, but he has chosen not to.  It begs the question:  If he jumped through the “Truth Squad” hoops when Buffy Wicks asked him to during the campaign, is it possible he has turned his back on this case for similar reasons?

Tomorrow:  We reveal a document linking the activities of HCAN and SEIU in August at the town hall meetings with the highest levels of the Government.

The meetings hosted by HCAN (like the one on August 6^th in St. Louis) were set up using these rules.  Americans showed up at these meetings thinking that it would be an opportunity to address their elected representatives and talk to them about the single most important piece of legislation our congress has proposed in decades.  Instead, they were pushed to the back of the room and shouted down by the well-trained SEIU members.  Eventually, an American citizen who was distributing “Don’t Tread on Me” flags and buttons was assaulted by a handful of the SEIU members.  His name is Kenneth Gladney.

Let’s look at that memo and how it matches the events of August 6^th:

• One advantage to organizing your own Town Hall or public event with Members of Congress is that you will have much more control over the event and limit the other side’s opportunities for disruption.
• Make sure you turn out a substantial number of people from your base and that everyone signs a sign-in sheet upon entering the event. Give everyone name tags so they are easily identifiable. If you want to ensure greater control over turnout, you can ask attendees to RSVP or even issue tickets to the event and require presentation of the ticket at the entrance.
• Choose a venue that is difficult for the opposition to access without being noticed. Get to your location early and make sure you set up the venue in a way that ensures that the attendees you want are at the front and that any protesters who come are sequestered as far as possible from the stage.
• Make sure that you assign marshals to take care of moving the crowd, keeping people organized and orderly, and acting as security should any need arise to ask noisy or disruptive protesters to leave.
• Another way to limit protesters’ ability to hijack your event is to confiscate signs or leaflets that they may bring into the venue from outside. The best way to do this is to make a blanket rule that no one can bring signs or leaflets and to advertise this fact as you do turn out in the weeks preceding the event. You can distribute your own signs in the event and offer them one as they enter if you choose to allow them to enter.
• It’s important that you take away right-wingers opportunities to talk with reporters by making sure that your staff or leaders are in constant contact with the media who attend.

According to Harris Himes an eyewitness at the scene of the town hall meeting the evening of the 6^th:

They let in about two hundred of us but had about 120 seats set aside, marked “RSVP,” and these were for Carnahan supporters. These people were let in by a side door for the “handicapped.” Many had purple t-shirts with “Organizing for America” in white letters on the back and large “SEIU,” smaller “Service Employees International Union” on the front. They shut the doors on about 1000 people around 6:30 pm for the 7:00 pm event. After being introduced, Carnahan spoke but was booed frequently while the supporters stood and applauded…. Finally, Carnahan stood for questions. It turned out that the questions had to be written and turned in. The dissenters booed, shouting that they didn’t know this and hadn’t been given a chance to write any. It didn’t make any difference, because he answered a couple of seminar questions and then announced that he had to leave about 8:30 for an “interview”—after most of the time had been taken up by the panel.

Also on the evening of the 6^th, a town hall meeting organized by HCAN and OFA was set up in Tampa Bay, FL with Rep. Kathy Castor.  An eyewitness describes what is seen on this YouTube video:

This is part one of the Tampa Town Hall meeting on August 6. Left Wing organizers are seen passing out Obama Flyers and signs.  Once they see that right wingers have their own sings, they quickly pick them up and hide them. Hundreds of people are outside trying to get in, many of them who had been waiting for hours while others were able to sneak in the back door. Even with all this, there was still many in the audience that booed once Kathy Castor started detailing the Health Care Plan.

And here is a second description on a YouTube video that shows the “marshals” and security forces in action:

Kathy Castor’s union thugs beat up a guy (in the green shirt – evidence 3:21) and shut the doors to prevent the opposing opinions from being heard. She then proceeded leave, not taking any questions, because “she couldn’t hear.

The Tampa Bay meeting and the St. Louis meetings followed the same templates and they were both arranged by HCAN and OFA.  Both ended with pushing and shoving (in both cases the pushing being done by card-carrying members of SEIU) and both ended with the elected official leaving after only answering a few scripted questions put forth by plants in the crowd.

It is hard to not reach the conclusion that the events of August 6^th were a result that could have been expected given the rhetoric from elected officials in the Democratic Party (Speaker Pelosi saying the protesters carries swastikas) and the President’s Advisers (Jim Messina telling Senators “if they hit you, we will punch them back twice as hard”) coupled with the instructions handed down to obedient union members by their union leaders.  If you agree that HCAN and OFA were instrumental in creating the climate for violent confrontation that led to Kenneth Gladney’s assault, then it is important to learn about the leadership of HCAN and the SEIU members who are suspects in the assault and learn who they are and what might have motivated their actions.

Meet Margarida Jorge.  She works for HCAN and is the person who released the memo that served as a template for the meetings in Tampa Bay and St. Louis.  Ms. Jorge worked for SEIU in Missouri prior to her position at HCAN.  She is often featured at the People’s World web page (a direct descendant of the Daily Worker the newspaper of the American Socialist and Marxist Movement).  In fact, Ms. Jorge was honored with an award from People’s World for her work with an organization called Progressive Vote, or Pro-Vote.  Pro-Vote is a coalition of many organizations including SEIU, HCAN and ACORN.  Their mission:  To fight for progressive issues and progressive candidates.

That is Margarida Jorge.  She wrote the HCAN memo.  In the past she worked with Sara Howard.

Meet Sara Howard.  She used to work with SEIU.  She also worked for a group called America Coming Together (ACT).  In the 2004 campaign, ACT was very active in registering voters on behalf of the Kerry Campaign.  ACT was later fined $775,000 for taking illegal donations (including those from SEIU), the largest FEC fine in history.  She also worked as a Senior Strategist for Obama for America.  On August 5^th, the day before the St. Louis town hall meeting featuring Rep. Russ Carnahan, Sara Howard was named the Communications Director for the Missouri Democrat.

That is Sara Howard.  She is Russ Carnahan’s Communication’s Director.  When she was working on the Obama Campaign, she was under the direction of Buffy Wicks.

Meet Buffy Wicks.  Buffy Wicks is the Deputy Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement directly under Valerie Jarrett.  She was the White House representative on the infamous conference calls involving Yosi Sergant and the NEA which were exposed by Big Hollywood resulting in Mr. Sergant’s forced resignation.  Before her job at the White House Buffy Wicks ran the Obama Campaign operation in Missouri where she was instrumental in get out the vote programs involving SEIU, ACORN and Pro-Vote, where she worked with Sara Howard and Margarida Jorge.

That is Buffy Wicks, Sara Howard and Margarida Jorge.  In their capacities with SEIU and Pro-Vote and HCAN and the Obama Campaigns, they were involved with SEIU Public Service Director and former organizer Elston McCowan and SEIU Business Agent and Organizer Perry Molens.  McCowan and Molens are the men charged with the assault on Kenneth Gladney.

Let me just lay this out once more:

• Margarida Jorge worked at SEIU in St. Louis.  She wrote the HCAN memo on fighting back against the right.
• Sara Howard worked at SEIU in St Louis.  She also worked for Obama For America.  The day before the St. Louis town hall, she was hired by Rep. Russ Carnahan.
• Elston McCowan and Perry Molens worked at SEIU in St. Louis.  They have been charged with the bloody assault of Kenneth Gladney.
• Jorge, Howard, McCowan and Molens were all involved with Buffy Wicks at Obama For America in Missouri.
• Buffy Wicks now works for Valerie Jarret in the White House Office of Public Engagement and was involved in the NEA Conference Calls.

Does your head hurt yet?  If it doesn’t, it will tomorrow.

Tomorrow we will show how this small network of insiders in the leftist political power structure of St. Louis are inter-connected with the very people charged with investigating and prosecuting the individuals responsible for beating Kenneth Gladney.  And, how those same people were also instrumental in the Obama Campaign in Missouri in 2008.  We will show how the three month delay in bringing charges against the assailants appear to be motivated by political and personal relationships in the close-knit family that is the St. Louis Democratic Party.

When Congress went into its summer recess at the end of July, an organic movement erupted to protest Congressional proposals to inject government deeper into our health care system. The ferocity of citizen’s reactions caught most congressmen off-guard. The citizen’s spontaneous protests against Congress dominated the news coverage. It was only a matter of time until the left struck back,.

On the morning of August 6th, Sam Stein reported at the Huffington Post that labor unions had released a comprehensive memo, detailing tactics to counter what were called “town hall protestors”. That same day, a White House official said to reporters, “If you get hit, we will punch back twice as hard.”

Those both happened the morning of the assault on Kenneth Gladney. Is it any surprise that on the specific day that Big Labor and the White House signaled a commitment to ‘punch back’ at the town hall protests, an innocent bystander, Kenneth Gladney, was brutally beaten?

Consider also that the individuals charged with the assault on Kenneth Gladney worked for SEIU. In the first six months of the Obama Administration, Andy Stern, head of SEIU visited the White House 22 times–more than any other private individual. The date stamps for his visits stop at the end of July, so we don’t fully know how much interaction he had with the White House during the ’summer of discontent.’ We do know that HHS Secretary Katherine Sibelius hosted a conference call with SEIU leadership the day after the Gladney beating.

SEIU attended the August 6th event in force. There are indications the union bused in members from Chicago and St. Louis. But, their presence wasn’t felt solely through their rank-and-file members. The day before the event, Rep. Russ Carnahan hired a new communications director, Sara Howard. Previously, Ms. Howard was a senior official with SEIU.

The Gladney beating happened. As Pastor Himes wrote, it was a vicious attack on a defenseless man. We also know that the police filed charges against the SEIU thugs who perpetrated the attack. The story of how those charges have been covered up for political ends will be told soon. It is a story that reaches deep into St. Louis politics and, ultimately, the Obama administration.

Big Media and partisan hacks like Media Matters have tried to obscure the facts. They have used classic confusion and misdirection to turn the incident into a “he said, SEIU said” dust-up. But, they have relied more on spin than facts. You will soon see the full facts of the incident. You will wonder why the charges have been covered up. SEIU is picking up the legal bills of their members charged with assault. It has even arranged for high-powered, politically connected legal counsel. Yet, the union has denied its members’ workman’s comp claims for injuries they sustained in beating Kenneth Gladney. That’s more than a bit weird. Like they were kind of working for the union when they delivered the beating.

Make no mistake, Gladney was brutally beaten. And, he was beaten in a calculated attempt to intimidate the town hall protesters. Through political connections, the crime has been covered up. But, the truth will out. And, the truth will out here. Stay tuned…

By seeking to enlist the private sector in lobbying for the President’s agenda, the alleged conduct may have violated the Anti-Lobbying Act (18 U.S.C. §1913), which as Ben Shapiro pointed out in a previous piece, explicitly provides:

No part of the money appropriated by any enactment of Congress shall, in the absence of express authorization by Congress, be used directly or indirectly to pay for any personal service, advertisement, telegram, telephone, letter, printed or written matter, or other device, intended or designed to influence in any manner a Member of Congress, a jurisdiction, or an official of any government, to favor, adopt, or oppose by vote or otherwise, any legislation, law, ratification, policy, or appropriation, whether before or after the introduction of any bill, measure or resolution proposing such legislation, law, ratification, policy or appropriation.

The Anti-Lobbying Act, according to government handbooks, prevents government employees from engaging in “substantial ‘grass roots’ lobbying campaigns … expressly urging individuals to contact government officials in support of or opposition to legislation …. Provid[ing] administrative support for lobbing activities of private organizations”

It is important to note that 18 U.S.C. §1913 only applies to federal officers or employees and not to the private recipients of federal grants, contracts or other federal disbursements.  Thus, while the artists who responded to the NEA’s request for political help may not have violated this particular provision of federal law, Yosi Sergant, who was apparently the main person behind the NEA phone call, and other members of the White House staff who were involved in the May 12 meeting at the White House, may very well have violated §1913.  Those staffers included “people very close to the President” according to Mike Strautmanis, Chief of Staff for the Office of Public Engagement.  Punishment for such a violation can be severe – a civil penalty of not less than $10,000 and not more than $100,000 for each violation.

The behavior of these administration officials may have also violated 18 U.S.C. § 607, which prohibits anyone from promising “any employment, position, contract, or other benefit derived in whole or in part from an Act of Congress, as consideration, favor, or reward for past or future political activity.”   Ben Shapiro’s article relates that Mario Garcia Durham, the Director of Presenting for the NEA, told the gathered artists at the White House meeting that the “government and its policies should be shaped by participants’ voices in connection with the NEA,” a pretty direct statement that the NEA considers its mission to be ensuring the president’s policies are being supported by its constituency – which are the artists who get its grants.

Whether or not the conduct of NEA and White House officials violates the Hatch Act (5 U.S.C. §7324) hinges on how broadly the Office of Special Counsel (OSC), which has jurisdiction over Hatch Act violations, construes “political activity” and who specifically was involved in these calls and meetings.   In general terms, the Hatch Act prohibits all federal employees (except for the President and the Vice President) from engaging in “political activity” in the workplace.  While certain federal officials, such as some assistants to the President and some in Senate confirmable positions, are bound by the Hatch Act, they are exempt from the prohibition on engaging in political activity.  So who was involved in the alleged conduct is the first question.  

The second question goes to the underlying conduct.  “Political activity” is defined as activities that are “directed toward the success or failure of a political party, candidate for partisan political office, or partisan political group.”   That phrase has historically meant activities that were oriented towards campaigns or elections as opposed to simply political in the legislative sense, and the underlying intent is important.  As an example, the Bush Administration came under OSC scrutiny regarding briefings that were held in federal buildings that analyzed the political landscape in the run up to the 2004 and 2006 election cycles.  In this case, the alleged conduct appears to be even more forward looking – not rooted in an upcoming election cycle per se, but leveraging past campaign resources to promote a legislative agenda that may have an electoral benefit down the road.  It would be a much easier analysis if comments were made about the 2010 cycle or about the need to help out in vulnerable member districts.

 In the era of the permanent campaign – and the references to past support by the artists that apparently occurred on both the phone call and at the White House meeting – it remains to be seen if such conduct could be attributed to future and potential campaigns. On the other hand, the Hatch Act also prohibits soliciting or discouraging political activity by anyone with business before a federal agency – and there is no question that the artists the NEA was talking to had business (grants) before the NEA.  The issue again is whether the NEA was soliciting political activity.

Another interesting side point is that historically – and in some cases problematically – so called “political activity” by the White House has been within the purview of the White House Office of Political Affairs.  That office has not been without controversy.  Senator John McCain pledged to eliminate it during the 2008 campaign and Congressman Henry Waxman has also called for its abolishment.  But shortly after the election, President-Elect Obama announced that he would keep that  office although it has been relatively quiet over the last eight months.  The political conduct with the arts community seemed to come out of the White House Office of Public Engagement.  So it would seem that the desire to push a political agenda has drifted into other White House offices. 

But the ultimate question is whether the White House Counsel, the Office of Special Counsel or the Justice Department determines there is  enough evidence from the NEA telephone call and the meeting at the White House to form the basis of an investigation into the actions of White House and NEA staff.  That will serve as the ultimate indication as to whether this administration represents the promised new era of accountability or simply more politics as usual.

Coincidence? Buffy Wicks ran Obama’s Missouri campaign and two of St. Louis high-profile prosecuting attorneys, both Democrats, threatened to target anyone who dared to spread misinformation about the then-candidate, known as “Obama’s Truth Squad.”

If the NEA conference call is any indication, the answer is no.

Wicks, who works in the Obama White House as the Deputy Director of the Office of Public Engagement, helped orchestrate, and took part in, the infamous NEA call which asked the artistic community to sell their souls for a partisan political agenda.

You know, in the name of art.

One year ago on September 23rd, KMOV Channel 4 in St. Louis reported that St. Louis County Prosecutor Bob McCullough and St. Louis Circuit attorney Jennifer Joyce joined a high-profile group of law enforcement officials (including Jefferson County Sheriff Glenn Boyer) threatening to invoke “Missouri ethics laws” against anyone the prosecutors determined had spread misleading information about Obama.

Said McCullough:

“If they’re not going to tell the truth, somebody’s got to step up and say, ‘That’s not the truth. This is the truth.’”

The KMOV report stated:

“They will be reminding voters that Barack Obama is a Christian who wants to cut taxes for anyone who makes less than $250,000 a year. They also say they plan to respond immediately to any ads and statements that violate Missouri’s ethics laws.”

Is it too much to assume that perhaps Wicks convened with McCullough and Joyce to ask for their assistance in stamping out dissent?

KMOV reported:

“The Barack Obama campaign is asking Missouri law enforcement to target anyone who lies or runs a misleading TV ad during the presidential campaign.”

The campaign is asking. The only assumption with which we’re left is that Wicks, as the head of the Missouri campaign, was directly involved with the attempt to misuse St. Louis prosecutors against the people they serve – especially considering the precedence established by the NEA call. Wicks’s modus operandi is enlisting others to do Obama’s dirty work, disrespecting the skills and responsibilities of professionals and artists by co-opting their talents in the name of partisan politics.

These tricks bring to mind one of my favorite monologues from Julia Sugarbaker (Dixie Carter):

“Growing up in the rural part of Georgia, I’ve been around compost all my life. I’ve seen it tilled and hoed and spread across fields far and wide, but until today, I’ve never seen it tied up and gift-wrapped in such a neat and tidy and pretty a package. Congratulations! You’re a very clever girl–but it’s still compost.”

More: Reporter John Mills’ response