Thread: Obama earmarks 1 million for wife's hospital

Originally Posted by miguelina

Originally Posted by WhatMattersMost

Originally Posted by miguelina

"She's terrific," added Michael Riordan, who was president of the hospital in March 2005, when Michelle Obama was promoted to vice president for external affairs and had her annual salary increased from $121,910 to $316,962.

Incredible! Hospitals are screaming poverty and they can afford to almost triple her old salary?!?!?!

Oh please, when was the last time YOUR salary was nearly tripled?

Alot of hospitals are now corporate owned, so how come they're still having problems?

I've worked for the U of C and it is a well renowned Private Institution, well known for its research, medical and educational studies that receives multimillion dollar grants, financial awards, private funding/gifts and charitable donations and endowments, like all privately funded institutions, they have a budget, for salaries. Unlike a lot of medical facilities, the U of C is not government dependent nor is it on the verge of financial disaster.

I've been in the corporate arena for more than 25 years and the fact of the matter is in the corporate arena salaries double and sometimes triple depending on the qualifications of the applicant/employee and what they bring to the table. It happens everyday. As I stated above, the woman is a graduate of Princeton with a law degree from Harvard those facts alone equals big bucks. Add experience to the pot and the reality of the situation is that if she were to leave the hospital (which actually is getting her at bargain prices) and practiced law full time, she'd be making double what she is making at the hospital as first year associate Harvard graduates with a juris doctorate can command six figures straight out of law school. How do I know? I've worked in the field for more than 2 decades.

She's not some blue collar factory worker, she's a degreed professional

No one is questioning Mrs. Obama's education or qualifications.

What we wonder about is Earmarks for her place of employment, in legislation written by her husband.

Since she is so successful, why did they need a sweet financial deal to buy their home?

Originally Posted by evangelinot

No one is questioning Mrs. Obama's education or qualifications.

What we wonder about is Earmarks for her place of employment, in legislation written by her husband.

Since she is so successful, why did they need a sweet financial deal to buy their home?

They are both successful but what does that have to do with the land that Resko's wife purchased and resold to them at market value? If you had a family member or friend who could acquire land for a cheaper price because they knew the seller, would you make that deal? Of course you would. There are real estate deals done in this manner every single day by individuals and corporations. It's already been investigated and they have been cleared even by the media that there was no wrong doing on the part of either Michelle or Barack. Resko has been jailed for other reasons, that have nothing to do with the Obama's.

Not everybody is money hungry and monetary wealth does not equal success in the eyes of everyone. As I stated before she could continued working at a law firm such as Sidley and Austin and command in the upper six figures easily. Barack and Michelle are both attorneys formerly employed at the law firm of Sidley and Austin, one of the top law firms in the world, yet he left to do work as a community organizer and she went to work in a hospital. Both took huge paycuts. IMHO it says far more about their characters as there are very few who would be willing to take a huge paycut in exchange for starting over at smaller salaries.

That being said, I'm sure you can look up the bill that sponsored the earmark, as I would have no idea what it entails.

[quote="NoBueno"][quote]“I can tell you with 100 percent certainty that Michelle Obama was not part of our lobbying over the request, not in any way,â€

Who Are the Top 10 Earmarkers?

Senate

* Thad Cochran, R-MS
* Hillary Clinton, D-NY
* Carl Levin, D-MI
* Charles Schumer, D-NY
* Arlen Specter, R-PA
* Richard Shelby, R-AL
* Patty Murray, D-WA
* Debbie Stabenow, D-MI
* Frank Lautenberg, D-NJ
* Robert Menendez, D-NJ

House

* Steny Hoyer, D-MD
* Don Young, R-AK
* John Murtha, D-PA
* Jerry Lewis, R-CA
* Chet Edwards, D-TX
* Jack Kingston, R-GA
* Norman Dicks, D-WA
* Peter Visclosky, D-IN
* David Price, D-NC
* David Obey, D-WI

Looks like in both the House and Senate Democrats win this one by 70%. So what change is obama going to bring to the table, more of the same? We can see Hilary isn't going to change anything.

http://www.congress.org/congressorg/headlines.tt#news2