Posted by
reasonmclucus on Saturday, March 15, 2008 1:47:56 AM
I'm not an expert on Senate rules regulating campaign activities. I
would like to know if it is legal for a Senator to use his Senate
website to further his presidential campaign. Barack Obama has decided
to use his Senate website to help his presidential campaign by
posting information about the
earmarks he has requested as a Senator.
If tax money is used to fund Senate website activities than Obama's
action is unethical because it forces taxpayers to subsidize his
presidential campaign. The appropriate place to post the list would
have been Obama's presidential website.
His disclosure indicates further unethical activity by requesting money for the
Chicago Medical Center which
increased his wife's salary by nearly $200,000 after he was elected
to the Senate . Is this earmark request a payback for a bribe?
His s
upporters have also potentially benefited from his earmark requests.
The Senate, or a federal grand jury, needs to investigate this
possibility. This question needs to be resolved before Democrats
decide whether to nominate Obama as their presidential candidate. If
they cannot resolve the legal issues first they may once again have a
candidate running for office with a special prosecutor breathing down
his neck.