Tag Archives: December 22

Senator Ben Nelson Nebraska, STOP the Health Care Bill before Christmas rally, December 22, 2009, Senator Ben Nelson’s Office, Stubborn_Facts, Harry Reid unconstitutional bribes

Just in from Stubborn_Facts at Grassroots in Nebraska, December 22, 2009.

Grassroots in Nebraska
 
Stubborn_Fact-
sStubborn_Facts has invited you to the event ‘STOP the Health Care Bill Before Christmas! Rally’ on Grassroots in Nebraska!
 REMINDER!! RALLY TONIGHT AT 6PM + DON’T FORGET TO BOMBARD BEN ALL WEEK!
An interactive parking garage map of downtown has been added to the site!

 Time: December 22, 2009 from 6pm to 7:30pm
Location: Senator Ben Nelson’s Office
Organized By: Stubborn_Facts
Event Description:
NOTE ADDED 12/20 @7:00AM RALLY IS STILL ON!

For much more detail, visit THIS POST on the Grassroots in Nebraska website.

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid is pushing for a vote on health care before Christmas.

**So YES, it is rather NUTS to try to do a rally on 12/22 in <32 degree weather…in the evening.**

BUT…if there is ANY chance we can impact this bill, it really comes down to US in Nebraska –

Senator Ben Nelson, by all accounts is the KEY vote on this bill and has voiced his unwillingness to vote for it in its present form, including federal funding for abortion.

Sen. David Vitter (LA) an executive member of the Senate Republican Steering Committee, advised on a 12/17 conference call with grassroots organizers from several states that some large, visible rally in Nebraska with media attention may well have some impact on Senator Nelson. He is already under a lot of pressure.

He also said if we could get national media attention that would be very helpful.

The other organizers on the call offered their support by way of encouraging whoever could possibly come from their states, spreading the word, gathering national media contact information they have, and by donating money for us to run an ad campaign about the rally (see below).

Chris Comeaux from Tea Party of Louisiana has made plans to travel to Lincoln to help on Monday and Tuesday. I have heard from a couple of other organizers that they are trying to work things out so they can come also.

PLEASE – DRESS WARMLY!!

We already have….
Lights
Sound system
Gary!

So we need YOU and for you to drag as many people along as you can – and could use HELP, especially in getting the word out, and participating in flyer distribution we are arranging.

IF you want to help, leave a comment below.

If you need sign ideas, see this POST.

Facebook event
NOTICE
For this limited purpose we ARE trying to raise money to run ads on TV, radio, and print on Monday and Tuesday. There is a donate button on the Grassroots in Nebraska website for this purpose.
Once this event is over, the button will come down.

See more details and RSVP on Grassroots in Nebraska:
http://netcot.ning.com/events/event/show?id=2776060%3AEvent%3A9986&xgi=4jZ0mQbLf1CHZU&xg_source=msg_invite_event

Advertisement

Ben Nelson, Grassroots in Nebraska, December 22, 2009, Keep the pressure on Senator Nelson, Vote no, Health Care Bill, Harry Reid bribes

From Grassroots in Nebraska, December 22, 2009.

A message to all members of Grassroots in Nebraska
Bombard Ben Nelson

Let’s keep the pressure on Senator Nelson through Wednesday!

Besides the rally scheduled for Tuesday (see below), we need people to call, fax, email and make personal visits to his offices. Apparently, there has been a very orchestrated effort by groups who are in favor of the bill to bombard him.

YES you will have difficulty getting through but please keep trying.
If there is anytime when we are going to exert effort in the way it is NOW.

IF ANYONE IS INTERESTED IN COORDINATING AN ONGOING PRESENCE DURING BUSINESS HOURS (INCLUDING A PICKET LINE WITH SIGNS) AT THE LINCOLN OFFICE, PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT AND WE WILL GET IN TOUCH WITH YOU

Contact information:

Senator Ben Nelson

Website http://bennelson.senate.gov/ (includes Email contact form)

Omaha
7602 Pacific St.
Ste 205
Omaha, NE 68114
Tel: (402) 391-3411
Fax: (402) 391-4725

Lincoln
440 North 8th Street
Suite 120
Lincoln, NE 68508
Tel: (402) 441-4600
Fax: (402) 476-8753

Washington, D.C.
720 Hart Senate Office Building
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510
Tel: (202) 224-6551
Fax: (202) 228-0012

Scottsbluff
Tel: (308) 631-7614

Kearney
Tel: (308) 293-5818

South Sioux City
Tel: (402) 209-3595

This event is posted on Facebook

Tuesday’s Rally Event on…
PLEASE NOTICE FLYERS ATTACHED IF YOU HAVE TIME TODAY – PLEASE PASS SOME OUT
PLEASE Dress warmly for this evening!
Bring signs. Check out the Signs and Slogans tab on the website if you need more ideas.

Be sure to check out the YOUTUBE Video for the rally. Rally Video


This ad MAY run sometime today on radio or TV – with the situation on a short tether and so fluid, nailing pre-rally ads down has been a challenge.
If this ad doesn’t run, we will place ads for Wednesday that are generally aimed at Nelson’s decision.
Visit Grassroots in Nebraska at: http://netcot.ning.com/?xg_source=msg_mes_network

Obama indictment, Obama must be arrested, Patrick Fitzgerald, Blagojevich arrest, Raghuveer P. Nayak seeks immunity, December 22, 2008, Obama Rezko Levine Weinstein Blagojevich,Nayak, Pay to play, Chicago corruption, US Dept of Justice, IL corruption, Will Nayak talk?

Why Barack Obama should be indicted

Part 12

One or more of the following events should happen:

  • Obama steps down.
  • Obama is forced to prove eligibility.
  • Obama is indicted and/or arrested.

If one of the above does not occur within a few months,
perhaps we should look to the Declaration of Independence
or Thomas Jefferson, for our next strategy.

Raghuveer P. Nayak, the unnamed “Individual D” referred
to in the Rod Blagojevich criminal complaint, is seeking
immunity. This is making news because of the Blagojecvich
arrest and potential ties the Obama appointees. However,
like so many names mentioned in the context of Chicago and
IL corrupton, Nayak has ties to Barack Obama and Rod
Blagojevich that go back for years.

Nayak’s recent involvement

“A mysterious “Individual D” in the ongoing Illinois political
scandal to auction off President-elect Barack Obama’s vacant
U.S. Senate seat has now been identified as Raghuveer Nayak,
a millionaire Chicago area Indian businessman whose voice
turned up on FBI wiretaps and bugs of Democratic Gov. Rod
Blagojevich.

Nayak is “Individual D” in the criminal complaint outlining
the case against the governor, according to an exclusive
story in Monday’s Chicago Tribune. Nayak is heard on the
tapes being squeezed by Blagojevich to raise campaign money
in return for naming Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. to Obama’s vacant
seat.

Nayak, one of a savvy band of local moneymen who help fund
the state’s Democratic political machine year-in-and-out,
is now reportedly negotiating with federal prosecutors for
immunity in return for his testimony.”

Read more here

March 18, 2008 article on Nayak, Blagojevich, Rezko, Weisner

“Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Move Over Rezko; Weisner-Blagojevich Crony Raghuveer Nayak
Continues to Spend Thousands on Elected Officials…in Iowa?

Aurora Mayor Tom Weisner, boytoy Gerry Galloway and
crony Raghuveer Nayak are viewing a property in downtown
Aurora in the path of a major development back in 2005.
Nayak is spreading his money around. All the way to Iowa.”

“Raghuveer Nayak, the campaign crony who has dumped tens of
thousands of dollars into the campaign pockets of Aurora
Mayor Tom Weisner and Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, seems
to in a race to compete with another star campaign donor
from Illinois, Tony Rezko, to see how many people he can
contribute to and apparently “influence.”

While Rezko’s list includes some power names in Illinois,
including our local political rockstar, U.S. Senator and
Presidential candidate Barack Obama, Nayak seems to be
broadening his geographical reach (and Nayak is a Hillary
 Clinton buddy).”

Read more here

Obama money woes in 2000

“After an unsuccessful campaign for Congress in 2000, Illinois
state Sen. Barack Obama faced serious financial pressure:
numerous debts, limited cash and a law practice he had
neglected for a year. Help arrived in early 2001 from a
significant new legal client — a longtime political
supporter.

Chicago entrepreneur Robert Blackwell Jr. paid Obama an
$8,000-a-month retainer to give legal advice to his growing
technology firm, Electronic Knowledge Interchange. It
allowed Obama to supplement his $58,000 part-time state
Senate salary for over a year with regular payments from
Blackwell’s firm that eventually totaled $112,000.”

Chuck Neubauer and Tom Hamburger, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers
April 27, 2008

Obama and Shomon help Blackwell get state grants

The Case Against Barack Obama reveals Shomon connection

Shomon connections to Weisner and Aurora, IL

“Dan Shomon, who’s background is in media, has a lobbying
contract for the City of Aurora (scroll down or click for
our post on how Dan Shomon is fleecing the taxpayers of
Aurora). He got that contract after helping to secure a
political endorsement of Sen. Barack Obama for then-candidate
for Mayor of Aurora, Tom Weisner. That’s after
Obama said he wan’t going to be a “kingmaker” in Aurora.

We think it’s HIGHLY unethical of Dan Shomon or Tom Weisner
to exploit the taxpayers of Aurora for political purpose.
Barack Obama’s credibility is also risked in the process of
Shomon and Weisner’s games at the expense of taxpayers.”

“Like the ill-advised connection to Obama in Aurora, thanks
to Dan Shomon, Obama is mentioned in the same discusion with
all these problems with Giannoulias. Not good for a
political rockstar who otherwise could be on his way to
becoming President of the United States.”

Read more here

“Aurora Mayor Thomas J. Weisner gave Shomon the lobbying
gig in exchange for political work, including getting the
endorsement of Barack Obama back in 2005 when Obama first
said he would remain “neutral” in the heated mayoral race.

Shomon’s main activities are political campaigns and helping
Obama and his friends like Alexi Giannoulias who is now the
Treasurer for the State of Illinois.”

“Plus, when all hell breaks loose on Weisner’s various problems
with cronyism and allegations of corruption (and it WILL),
it’s probably in Obama’s interest that Dan Shomon has nothing
to do with Weisner any longer.”

Read more here

Shoman, Obama’s main political adviser in 2002

“He consulted with Shoman, still his main political adviser
at the time, and Shomon told him…if Saltzman was urging him
to speak, he could not refuse. Moreover, Obama was trying to
draw Axelrod onto his Senate campaign team. It would not be
wise to disappoint Saltzman if he wanted her to continue
lobbying Axelrod on his behalf. So Obama agreed to speak…Obama
made the decision to protest the impending war in part as a
political calculation that he hoped would benefit him among
Democrats…”

2007 book, “OBAMA: From Promise to Power”
Chicago Tribune reporter David Mendell

Obama, Shomon, Blackwell, Blagojevich

“Robert Blackwell Jr., CEO and founder of Electronic Knowledge
Interchange Inc., has been named to the transition team of
Governor-elect Rod Blagojevich.”

Electronic Knowledge Interchange Inc. news release

“In one case, a firm that has given $20,000 to the governor
and is owned by a member of one of his transition-team committees
did no state work until after Blagojevich took office, records
show. During the last two years, Electronic Knowledge Interchange
has won $6 million in technology consulting and software
development contracts.
Dan Shomon, a spokesman for EKI, said the company never was
pressured to give to the governor.”

Blagojevich, Blackwell pay for play

We will learn more about Raghuveer P. Nayak in the coming days
and we can expect that he will be added to the list of informants
that will provide more information about the ties of Rod Blagojevich
and Barack Obama to corruption in Chicago and IL. It is already
apparent that Nayak was involved in the web of corruption that
ensnared Obama.

We urge to to read as much as possible about Obama’s ties to many
corruption figures in Chicago and IL, share this information with
as many people as possible and let the US Dept. of Justice know
how concerned you are.

Citizen Wells articles on Obama indictment

Secret Tapes Helped Build Graft Cases In Illinois, Washington Post, December 22, 2008, Pamela Meyer Davis, IL Health Planning Facilities Board, Stuart Levine, Blagojevich, Rezko, Barack Obama IL senate, Board rigged, 9 members, Obama corruption

The Washington Post has an article today, Monday, December 22,
2008, that reveals how tapes provided by Pamela Meyer Davis,
helped Patrick Fitzgerald and federal prosecutors begin their
shakedown of corruption in Chicago and IL that has led to the
arrest of Rod Blagojevich.

“Secret Tapes Helped Build Graft Cases In Illinois
Hospital CEO Reported Shakedown, Wore Wire”

Washington Post Staff Writers
Monday, December 22, 2008″

“CHICAGO — The wide-ranging public corruption probe that led to the arrest of Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich got its first big break when a grandmother of six walked into a breakfast meeting with shakedown artists wearing an FBI wire.
Pamela Meyer Davis had been trying to win approval from a state health planning board for an expansion of Edward Hospital, the facility she runs in a Chicago suburb, but she realized that the only way to prevail was to retain a politically connected construction company and a specific investment house. Instead of succumbing to those demands, she went to the FBI and U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald in late 2003 and agreed to secretly record conversations about the project.

Her tapes led investigators down a twisted path of corruption that over five years has ensnared a collection of behind-the-scenes figures in Illinois government, including Joseph Cari Jr., a former Democratic National Committee member, and disgraced businessman Antoin “Tony” Rezko.

On Dec. 9, that path wound up at the governor’s doorstep. Another set of wiretaps suggested that Blagojevich was seeking to capitalize on the chance to fill the Senate seat just vacated by President-elect Barack Obama.

Many of the developments in Operation Board Games never attracted national headlines. They involved expert tactics in which prosecutors used threats of prosecution or prison time to flip bit players in a tangle of elaborate schemes that Fitzgerald has called pay-to-play “on steroids.”

But now, Fitzgerald’s patient strategy has led to uncomfortable questions not only for Blagojevich but also for the powerful players who privately negotiated with him, unaware that their conversations were being monitored. Democratic  Rep. Jesse L. Jackson Jr. faces queries about his interest in the Senate seat, and key players in the Obama presidential transition team — White House Chief of Staff-designate  Rahm Emanuel and adviser Valerie Jarrett — are being asked about their contacts with the governor on the important appointment.”

“Meyer Davis’s hospital wasn’t the only one with problems winning approvals from the state board that reviewed new projects for health-care facilities. The Chicago Medical School wanted a student housing project and found itself steered to the same construction and investment firms. Mercy Hospital faced similar obstacles. The board held up requests for open-heart surgical units and community clinics, and it seemed that a high price tag was attached to moving the board toward action.

At the center of the scheme was board member Stuart Levine, a prominent GOP fundraiser and businessman. Levine also courted Blagojevich, flying him to fundraisers in Texas and New York at which the governor collected more than $120,000 in campaign contributions. Levine held seats on the health facilities board and the teachers pension board, which controlled more than $41 billion in assets.”

“Levine also had many connections. A telephone wiretap captured his discussions with Rezko, a fundraiser for Blagojevich and Obama, and several others who would become federal targets, according to lawyers who closely followed the trial testimony.”

“”Before they had Levine in the fold, they had his phone,” said former public corruption prosecutor Patrick Collins. “They happened to get up on Levine’s phone at a time when he was very active in his corrupt schemes.”

Fitzgerald’s office indicted Levine in 2005 on multiple fraud and extortion charges for his role in the state board schemes, securing along the way cooperation from the favored construction executive who had paid him kickbacks. But Levine’s path to cooperation took 18 more months. Faced with wiretap recordings, Levine realized his legal situation was nearly hopeless, struck a plea bargain and became the star witness against Rezko.

“Levine was the guy who’s given them everybody else,” said Jay Stewart, executive director of the Chicago-based Better Government Association.”
“Another head rolled at the Illinois Finance Authority. Director Ali Ata, a former fundraiser for Blagojevich, signed a sworn statement in April describing how Rezko had shaken him down four times for a total of $125,000 in bribes and large campaign contributions.”

“Fitzgerald’s team has scrambled to interview Jackson, as well as members of the Obama transition team who talked with Blagojevich about the appointment. A spokesman for Jackson said the lawmaker had told authorities about his tangle with Blagojevich, in which the congressman says the governor rejected Jackson’s wife for a lottery post after Jackson failed to raise $25,000 for the Blagojevich campaign.”

Read more here:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/21/AR2008122102334.html?wpisrc=newsletter

For anyone following the Rezko trial and paying attention,
nothing in this article is a surprise. What is also obvious
is that the common denominator in all of these connections
is Barack Obama.

Nayak seeks immunity, Blagojevich arrest, Patrick Fitzgerald investigation, December 22, 2008, Raghuveer P. Nayak, Oak Brook businessman, Medical businesses, Political fundraiser, Individual D,Wiretaps, U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson, Obama’s senate seat, Obama ties, Chicago Tribune

The Chicago Tribune has an article today, Monday,
December 22, 2008, that reveals that Raghuveer P. Nayak,
the unnamed “Individual D” referred to in the Rod
Blagojevich criminal complaint, is seeking immunity.

“Fundraiser seeks immunity in Blagojevich probe
Blagojevich allegedly pressured ‘Individual D’ for cash to pick Jackson
By David Kidwell and John Chase | Tribune reporters
December 22, 2008”

 
“A key figure in Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s alleged scheme to sell a U.S. Senate seat has sought immunity from federal authorities in return for his cooperation in their ongoing probe, the Tribune has learned.
Raghuveer P. Nayak, an Oak Brook businessman and political fundraiser, is the unnamed “Individual D” who prosecutors say was being squeezed by the governor for campaign cash in return for appointing U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. to the Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama, sources said.
Investigators appeared at Nayak’s Oak Brook home the morning the FBI arrested Blagojevich, the sources said. Nayak was among a number of people connected to the case who were contacted by federal agents that day.
Nayak has not been accused of wrongdoing and declined to comment. It is unclear what information he can provide to authorities, who said they had more work to do after moving quickly to interrupt the governor’s alleged scheme.”
“Nayak’s businesses have faced multiple audits by state and federal authorities since he first opened his Chicago drug stores in the early 1980s, according to interviews and records. In addition, his name came up repeatedly in one of the largest health-care fraud investigations in Illinois history.
Nayak was never charged in that case, or any other.
The multi-year federal probe resulted in the shuttering of two South Side hospitals—Doctors Hospital and Edgewater Medical Center—and the convictions of seven doctors and administrators. Nayak, who then owned a lab testing company called NR Laboratories as well as an outpatient surgery center, was among numerous individuals who came under scrutiny.”

 

“In 1987, Nayak was suspended for 60 days from the state’s public aid program after auditors concluded nearly 22 percent of billings at one of his pharmacies were fraudulent. In 1989, state auditors reported concerns that Nayak was giving free airline tickets to doctors who sent business to NR labs, which he has since sold. And in 2001, Nayak returned $20,000 in a federal Medicaid fraud lawsuit in Indiana.”

Read more here:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-blagojevich-nayakdec22,0,7892226.story
Nayak has longtime ties to Obama and Obama associates.
The Citizen Wells blog will provide “the rest of the “story’
soon in a continuing series on Obama’s ties to crime and
corruption in Chicago and IL.

Another tie to Obama to talk?