"Clinton Donations From Troubled Firm"

[Big Blue Marble]

Exactly how much concern does Hillary really have for women?

Sen. Hillary Clinton has declined to return $170,000 in campaign contributions from individuals at a company accused of widespread sexual harassment, and whose CEO is a disbarred lawyer with a criminal record, federal campaign records show.

The federal government has accused the Illinois management consulting firm, International Profit Associates, or IPA, of a brazen pattern of sexual harassment including "sexual assaults," "degrading anti-female language" and "obscene suggestions."

In a 2001 lawsuit full of lurid details, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission claims that 103 women employees at IPA were victimized for years. The civil case is ongoing, and IPA vigorously denies the allegations.

"This is by far, hands down, the worst case I've ever experienced," said Diane Smason, one of the EEOC lawyers handling the lawsuit. "Every woman there experienced sex harassment, they were part of a hostile work environment of sex harassment. And this occurred from the top down."

Link

[FrenchieCat]

1. As much concern as her supporters are showing to you post.....

[babylonsister]

2. I just posted that story in GD. What's the problem? It's from a

credible source; are we not supposed to post the truth? I didn't put the 'spin' on it, but
Wolfson did say they're keeping the money. If Obama had kept the dough, don't you think that would be made an issue?

[OhioChick]

Shhhh....

Pay no Attention to the Man Behind the Curtain (Supplying the Facts)

[Big Blue Marble]

4. I think Frenchie was being sarcastic.

I can only imagine is this story was about Obama's donations.
A certain S word would be all over it here.

"Sen. Clinton's spokesman, Howard Wolfson, told NBC News in a statement that the senator decided to keep the funds because the lawsuit is "ongoing" and because none of the sexual harassment allegations has been proven in court."

How sleazy can Wolfson and the Clinton campaign be?


http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/02/29/718538.aspx

[babylonsister]

7. You're right, I didn't read that correctly. Thanks. nt

[Tellurian]

5. We have NO Worries... OTOH... Obama, very much SO!

"Back in April 2007 "Big Pink" wrote that The national media are missing the big picture in their coverage of the hundred-million dollar plus scandal involving Barack Obama and his friend of 17 years, major donor, former Finance Committee Co-Chair and now indicted slumlord.

Big Media is missing the picture yet again (or should we say trying as much as possible to hide the picture).

This past Tuesday, we referenced an article in the London Times. The importance of that article is that it brings the Obama/Rezko house transaction right into the middle of the Rezko trial which starts this coming Monday.

"Here is why Obama and his mansion are now placed squarely into the Rezko trial:

Mrs Rezko’s purchase and sale of the land to Mr Obama raises many unanswered questions.

It is unclear how Mrs Rezko could have afforded the downpayment of $125,000 and a $500,000 mortgage for the original $625,000 purchase of the garden plot at 5050 South Greenwood Ave.

In a sworn statement a year later, Mrs Rezko said she got by on a salary of $37,000 and had $35,000 assets. Mr Rezko told a court he had “no income, negative cash flow, no liquid assets, no unencumbered assets is significantly in arrears on many of his obligations.”

The London Times strongly implies that Rezko got the money for Obama’s house from Nadhmi Auchi. The money transfer raises the question of whether funds from Nadhmi Auchi, one of Britain’s wealthiest men, helped Mr Obama buy his mock Georgian mansion in Chicago. and Asked if she used money from her husband to buy the land next to Mr Obama’s house, she said: “I can’t answer these questions, I’m sorry.”

Superdelegates have to consider how Obama and all the ugly entanglements of longtime slumlord friend, the indicted Antoin “Tony” Rezko will play out over the course of the next 10 months.

Foolish Obama endorsing ostrich-delegates need to consider today’s Chicago Sun-Times article which echos loudly the London Times report:

Read the Full Story Here:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/us_elections/article3433485.ece



"scary stuff". "The Rapture"? "Change"?... Change to What???

[MoJoWorkin]

3. I was getting ready to post this, and saw it here.

It is Lisa Meyers of NBC and on firstread.msnbc.

What is not reliable?

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/02/29/718538.aspx

[Divernan]

6. Hillary's swiss cheese vetting

This company is neck deep in a broad spectrum of crime. Here is a letter sent to Clinton last fall from over 20 small companies defrauded by Clinton's benefactor. It details the myriad reasons she should have disassociated herself from the company and returned their contributions, as have other politicians, including Obama and the Illinois governor.

This guy has held multiple fund raisers for Clinton, and has been convicted of patronizing a 16 year old prostitute, possession of drugs, perjury, larceny, etc., and the company's attorney has been identified as "Individual H" in the Illinois criminal indictment of Tony Rezko. The sexual harassment allegations/suit is described as probably the most eggregious ever filed by the Chicago office of EEOC. (Well ladies, don't turn to Clinton for help with sexual harassment charges.)

www.reversespin.com/?m=200709

Hillary Clinton for President
4420 North Fairfax Drive
Arlington, VA. 22203

Dear Senator Clinton:
We, the undersigned small business owners from across the country are deeply offended that you continue to accept campaign contributions from top officials of a business consulting company, International Profit Associates (IPA), Buffalo Grove, IL., that defrauded us. As we struggle in federal court via a civil racketeering lawsuit to recover the thousands of dollars this company took from us illegally, you continue to use political donations that might have come directly from our pockets.

We also are appalled because you accepted the money amid dark clouds of fraud allegations, a criminal past by the company’s founder, and one of the largest sexual harassment lawsuits ever filed by the federal government.

We are trying to fight back against this company and you, Senator Clinton, are enabling it. We ask that you immediately donate to charity the more than $150,000 the New York Times says you’ve accepted from IPA’s top officials, a figure that includes a ride on IPA’s corporate jet and a donation from a high school age son of an IPA official.

Surely, now, in the wake of the Norman Hsu scandal, your political staff will turn up the background we’ve known about for some time, including:

 IPA is being sued by the federal government’s Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for widespread sexual harassment. In a New York Times article May 7, 2006 titled, “Rubbing Shoulders with Trouble, and Presidents,” EEOC lawyer Diane Smason called the allegations “probably the most egregious” ever filed by the agency’s Chicago office. She said the investigation found that “sex harassment is the standard operating procedure for this company.” That case is pending in U.S. District Court.

 The Illinois Attorney General’s office has acknowledged publicly that it is investigating IPA for alleged fraud.

 The Better Business Bureau says IPA has an “unsatisfactory record” based on reoccurring complaints that total 427 in the last three years. The BBB has issued “alerts” in various states to warn businesses that IPA was soliciting work there.

 The company founder, John Burgess, is a convicted criminal, according to numerous published reports. He was convicted of attempted grand larceny and of soliciting a 16-year-old prostitute, those reports state. He was disbarred as a lawyer in New York state in July 1987 for “failing to answer charges which involved perjury, larceny, a conviction for patronizing a 16-year-old prostitute, possession of drugs and engaging in a pattern over a six-year period of lies and deceit,” according to The Lawyers Fund for Client Protection of New York state. Burgess also is named as a key defendant in the sexual harassment lawsuit.

 The company’s attorney, Myron “Mike” Cherry, also a contributor of yours, has been identified in published reports as “Individual H” in the Illinois criminal indictment of businessman Antoin “Tony” Rezko. Cherry has acknowledged in published reports that he was the conduit for some of the IPA campaign contributions.

 Already, politicians across the country have returned donations from IPA because of the company’s checkered past. Illinois Senator Barack Obama, Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle and former Wisconsin Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager are among those who have returned contributions from IPA.

We have made our fraud allegations in a federal racketeering lawsuit pending in U.S. District Court in Chicago.

Mrs. Clinton, we see from published reports that you have identified yourself as a champion for women’s rights and an advocate for small business owners. We cannot fathom, in light of those self-labels, how you could possibly accept campaign contributions from a company accused by the federal government of sexually harassing scores of women and one that has left behind a long trail of fraud complaints from small business owners. Do you believe the 114 women who were allegedly sexually harassed at IPA are not telling the truth about that harassment? Do you believe the Better Business Bureau is wrong? Do you think the state Attorney General is unjustified in her investigation of IPA?

We believe this is our concern because the campaign contributions you continue to accept came from the money that we believe was taken from us illegally. We do not believe you should continue to further your political career with such tainted cash.

We are not singling you out in this request. We plan to make the same request to other public officials who continue to accept and hold IPA-related campaign contributions. We wrote you first because you are running for President and certainly should be setting an example for other politicians.

Sincerely,
Amari Company, Inc., Amherst, NH.
Amazing Productions, Inc., Tamarac, FL.
Precision Painting and Decorating, Inc., Elmhurst, IL.
All About Construction, Inc., Fort Myers, FL.
Capital Removal, Gold River, CA.
BBQ Island, LLC., Gilbert, AZ.
Compsolution VA, Inc., Richmond, VA.
JRP Construction, LLC., Yuma, AZ.
Evco Commercial Construction, Corp., Lake Elsinore, CA.
Gunnison Metal Shop, Inc., Gunnison, CA.
Captains Select Seafood, Minneapolis, MN.
MSI Redimix Inc., Mesquite, CA.
Joseph E. Clouse, Inc., Lehigh Acres, FL.
Kyles Discount Stuff, McPherson, KS.
Dames Air, LLC., Warrenton, MO.
Home Theater Design Group, Carrollton, TX.
Gigs Inc., Tewksbury, MA.
Cool Access LLC., Mesquite, TX.
Philipsburg Electric & Supply, Inc., Philipsburg, PA.
Gilbert-American Companies, Rockwall, TX.
Hinsdale Sales and Rental, Inc., Hinsdale, NH.
Hitech Fire Detection, Inc., Houston, TX.

[Divernan]

8. And she's flown in their corporate jet, too. This company 1 of her largest donors.

www.reversespin.com/?p=537
Hillary flies ‘friendly’ skies of IPA
Posted on 05.18.07 by dancurry @ 4:14 am

When I was a teenager, my mother told me to be careful who I got in a car with. She wouldn’t have approved if I took a ride from a convicted criminal, or a company being sued by the federal government in a massive sexual harassment lawsuit. The admonitions worked: I never did either. Maybe my mother should have talked to Hillary Clinton.

Hillary apparently had no qualms climbing into the undoubtedly plush confines of a corporate jet owned or leased by International Profit Associates, Buffalo Grove, Il., a business consulting firm/defendant in the largest sexual harassment lawsuit ever filed by the Chicago office of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

The Washington Post had the airplane nugget buried in a larger story earlier this year. I just dug out the FEC report and found the IPA travel disbursement on page 621 of a filing in 2004. The relevant part of the document is shown above.

Hillary, as we reported earlier, has been endorsed by the National Organization for Women (NOW) so you’d think she might be a little sensitive about a matter like this. Apparently not, because there’s no evidence she’s returned the $150,000 or so that IPA or its executives have given her over the past several years, making the company one of her largest donors.

[Divernan]

9. Obama returned a $2,000 donation to the company

Here’s what EEOC lawyer Diane Smason said about the case in a May 2006 story in the New York Times.

www.reversespin.com/?p=537

“This is probably the most egregious case of sex harassment that the Chicago district office has seen. The owner of the company (John Burgess) engaged in harassment, and that set the tone for the company, on down.” And later last year, in a EEOC filing, the agency added:

IPA’s management, led by John Burgess, created a culture at IPA where sexual harassment flourished. IPA’s senior managers harassed women with impunity, sending a signal to lower-level managers and employees that they could do the same. Given the tone set by IPA’s senior management, it is not surprising that sexual harassment at IPA was rampant in all departments and at all levels of the company. Women at IPA routinely had to endure a gauntlet of abuse, ranging from sexual solicitations and physical harassment, to sexual comments and offensive sexual materials. Based on the extensive record of harassment presented in this case, IPA is not entitled to a finding that as a matter of law, the sexual harassment that occurred at the company was insufficiently severe or pervasive to survive summary judgment.

This case was filed in 2001, so Hillary doesn’t have the excuse she didn’t know about the allegations. She could have watched the two-part series here and here on the alleged sexual harassment on Chicago’s NBC 5 the same month she was taking the corporate jet ride from IPA.

As we reported earlier, company founder John Burgess is a convicted criminal, the Better Business Bureau says IPA has an “unsatisfactory record,” the Illinois Attorney General’s office is investigating the company for fraud and more than 125 individual lawsuits have been filed against IPA, including a federal racketeering suit pending in UpS. District Court in Chicago."

(The article also mentions that oliticians across the country have given money back to IPA after learning about its problems, including Barack Obama, who took and returned $2,000.)

[babylonsister]

10. You are just hunting away there-good job! nt

[Divernan]

12. Hillary is the quintessential ya-gotta-pay-to-play candidate.

If you've got the money, honey, she's got the time.

[GoreVidalIsGod]

11. But but Rezko.

REZKO!REZKO!REZKO!

:sarcasm: