| Robert Bauer, the chief of the political law group at Perkins Coie, the Seattle law firm hired by the White House to defend Obama in court cases challenging his "natural born" citizenship status in the United States and thus, his eligibility under the U.S. Constitution to be president. Bauer has done his best to prevent the American public from seeing a wide range of Obama's records that could prove, or disprove, his eligibility to occupy the Oval Office under the Constitution's requirement that the president be a "natural born" citizen. Documents concerning Obama that the White House has refused to release to the public include his long-form birth certificate and his passport records, as well as other records that may possibly be relevant, such as records regarding Obama's possible adoption by his Indonesian stepfather or college application and tuition financial aid records which would reveal whether Obama was ever registered as a foreign student. Federal Election Commission records show $1,352,378.95 in payments were made by Obama for America to Perkins Coie while the law firm was representing Obama in various court cases which have sought to obtain Obama's long-form birth certificate to determine if he is a "natural born" citizen under Article Two, Section 1 of the Constitution. Bauer, a Democratic Party partisan, has a long history of defending Democratic Party presidential hopefuls. A biography for Bauer posted on the Perkins Coie website indicates he was general counsel to the Democratic National Committee during the presidential campaign of Sen. John Kerry and that he served as counsel to Sen. Tom Daschle, the Democratic leader in the impeachment trial proceedings of President Bill Clinton. During the 2008 presidential campaign, Bauer functioned as an "attack lawyer," threatening with FEC complaints groups wanting to run anti-Obama television ads. Also during the 2008 presidential campaign, Bauer as counsel for the Obama campaign wrote letters to television station managers and to Department of Justice Assistant Attorney General John Keeney arguing that airing an anti-Obama ad pointing to the known association between Obama and Weather Underground radical Bill Ayers would violate federal election rules. Also during the 2008 campaign, Bauer intervened on behalf of Obama to block the California-based American Leadership Project from running a television ad campaign over support from unions, including the Service Employees International Union. Again, Bauer filed a complaint with the FEC alleging that the union-funded television campaign the American Leadership Project planned to run in Indiana against Obama was illegal under federal election laws. In addition to representing Obama on eligibility cases, Bauer also is hired as legal counsel to represent the president in the criminal probe going on into the activities of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Last year Bauer was at the center of the controversy over Obama's decision to reverse course on his promise to accept pubic financing for his presidential campaign after a meeting with Sen. John McCain's attorney, Trevor Potter, when Bauer claimed McCain did not want to reach a compromise on the issue. The McCain campaign sharply criticized Bauer's characterization of the meeting. It was in June 2007 when Bauer authored a piece in Huffington Post regarding Vice President Dick Cheney's aide, Scooter Libby, arguing that liberals should not oppose a White House pardon because a pardon would draw President George W. Bush directly into the case, with the potential the "presidential fingerprints" could become politically explosive. |
| After the flippant dismissal by U.S. Circuit Court Judge James Robertson of the lawsuit to attempt to determine whether Barack Obama is constitutionally eligible to occupy the Oval Office, D.C. attorney John Hemenway received a letter from a lawyer representing Barack Obama and Joe Biden. (Hemenway had enjoined the suit launched by Hillary Clinton's ally, Philip Berg, the former Deputy Attorney General of Pennsylvania and attorney Lawrence Joyce of Arizona, in an attempt to force Obama to disclose his birth records, currently being protected against public scrutiny by the Obama legal team at a reported cost of as much as one million dollars.) The letter, written by Obama attorney Robert F. Bauer, states the following: "I represent President Barack Obama and Vice President Joseph Biden. I write to request that, in light of the District Court's March 24, 2009 Rule 11 order in Hollister v. Soetoro, No. 08-2254, you withdraw the appeal filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, No. 09-5080. For the reasons stated in Judge Robertson's order, the suit is frivolous and should not be pursued." "Should you decline to withdraw this frivolous appeal, please be informed that we intend to pursue sanctions, including costs, expenses, and attorney's fees, pursuant to federal Rule Appellate Procedure 38 and D.C. Circuit Rule 38." Mr. Hemenway's response to the letter was a promise to "write and protest and attack those against the demand that Obama show proof of his birth, and I will continue to do anything I can think of doing that might perhaps deter or injure those who are opposed to "transparency" and "openness" and honesty in governmental operations — all those good and vague promises that Obama threw out in speeches read from his teleprompter." There's more here . . . |
| Is The Fix In? In a stunning blow to the impartiality of the American Judicial system, Federal Judge David O. Carter, who is hearing the case Barnett vs. Obama, in the Central District, Southern Division Court at Santa Ana, California, has just hired a lawyer who works for a law firm where Robert F. Bauer, one of Obama's top lawyers is a partner. And that, just days before the Oct. 5, 2009 hearing on the Motion to Dismiss, in which Judge Carter's demeanor radically changed. Siddharth Velamoor is the lawyer chosen by Carter to serve as one of his two official clerks, from Oct. 1, 2009, till Sept. 30, 2010. Velamoor is listed as an associate with Perkins Coie, LLP's office in Seattle, Washington. It is not clear if he has broken his relations with the firm. Robert F. Bauer, is a partner of Perkins Coie, LLP's office in Washington, D.C.. His bio at the company identifies him as holding the Chair of the Political Law group at the firm; general counsel to Obama's Campaign for America and general counsel to the Democratic National Committee. Continue reading here . . . Bauer is Obama's chief "birther" lawyer. His job is to keep Obama's personal artifacts hidden from the American People. He has demonstrated that he will use all available means to do this. Mr. Bauer's wife is none other than Anita Dunn, Obama's Communication's Director, whose affection for Chairman Mao is documented in the next item. | Siddharth Velamoor was Bauer's subordinate at Perkins Coie. As Carter's clerk, he will synthesize trial minutia for the judge. He will be in a position to influence Judge Carter's understanding of the facts — put something favorable in — leave something unfavorable out — little things. Perkins Coie, you might recall, employs in its Anchorage office attorney Thomas Daniel, who was retained by the Alaska Personnel Board to investigate an ethics complain filed against former Governor Sarah Palin by Kim Chatman. Daniels, a Democrat who donated to the campaign of John Kerry and is a member of the ACLU, said in his report to the Board that Alaska Fund Trust, the legal defense fund which was very carefully created to pay Palin's legal bills from a string of bogus ethics complaints, was itself a violation of the state's ethics law. You connect the dots. Was Judge Carter forced to hire Velamoor? Was that why Judge Carter's demeanor changed at the Oct. 5th hearing? Update: A Wikipedia page has been cited by dozens of bloggers after it listed Siddarth Velamoor as one of the newest law clerks for federal Judge David Carter. A Wikipedia editor by the name of "Paul Pieniezny" indicated that he believed "dangerous people" may "go nuts" with the information. He wrote, "I have decided to delete the entire chapter. There are dangerous people up there, with guns. We do not want any people threatened or killed. Please discuss if you think otherwise." Another editor, "Leuchars," responded, "I don't think deleting easily available information from Wikipedia is a good response to fears that some birther might go nuts. Some people are already pointing to this deletion as evidence of a conspiracy to cover things up. No reason to add fuel to the fire." But "Pieniezny" countered, "They do not need much incitement to go nuts. And I suppose that since Orly's demand to start discovery got the Bastogne answer from the DOJ, they probably do not like the word 'nuts.' I do not really understand why clerks' names should be put on the page of a judge who is dealing with a very controversial case (I mean the Maffia [sic] one, not the Orly Taitz case, which is not controversial at all) and of course with the Orly Taitz circus. Of course, any edit to this page is controversial among birthers, that is the very essence of a conspiracy theory." | | Birther Lawyer Is New White House Counsel | | Robert Bauer, Obama's "Birther" lawyer, will replace White House counsel Gregory Craig, who took flak for his work on the Guantanamo prison closure. Politico says that the incoming White House counsel Bob Bauer is widely respected as a skilled and pugnacious lawyer and has the unquestioned trust of Obama's inner circle and a deep knowledge of the ways of Washington. But the announcement Friday that he will take the place of Greg Craig, which had been rumored for weeks, nonetheless prompted questions about whether his experience as a campaign law expert and partisan warrior is appropriate for a job dealing with some of the most sensitive constitutional and national security issues in government. Republicans moved quickly to cast Bauer, a veteran Democratic campaign attorney with limited government experience, as "hyperpartisan," with a former White House counsel to President Ronald Reagan calling the pick "troubling." Government watchdogs, who for years battled Bauer over their efforts to reduce the role of money in politics, winced at the appointment, fearing it would steer Obama further away from as-yet-unfulfilled promises to bolster a campaign finance regime under attack from the right. Even some Democrats privately questioned whether Bauer's relatively specialized background and confrontational style are well-suited to a post that requires both a familiarity with a wide range of sensitive legal issues — from national security to habeas corpus to military law — and finesse in dealing with stakeholders outside the White House. Bauer's expertise is almost entirely in political law — including lobbying, campaign finance and ethics — and he is perhaps the leading attorney in that competitive and well-paying field. A 1976 graduate of the University of Virginia Law School, he built the political law practice at Perkins Coie, a Seattle-based law firm, into a powerhouse, hiring and grooming some of the top lawyers in town. Today, the firm has a near-stranglehold on some of the biggest Democratic political accounts in town; it represents the party's two congressional committees — the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee — as well as the individual campaigns and political action committees of many Senate Democrats. And Bauer landed the mother of all accounts — Obama's presidential campaign — even before the campaign officially began, which led to his being appointed this year to the coveted position of lead counsel for the Democratic National Committee, a position that also made him the lawyer for Obama's political network, Organizing for America. Plus, he represents Obama and his family in personal matters, such as the federal investigation of disgraced former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, but Bauer's number one priority is to keep Obama's bona fides hidden from the American People. Bauer is married to recently resigned White House Communications Director, Anita Dunn. Continue reading here . . . Tells you something about where eligibility issues rank with Obama. | | Obama Campaign Disbursements To Perkins-Coie | | The following is information was compiled from the official Federal Elections Commission website for disbursements from the Obama campaign to Robert Bauer's law firm of Perkins Coie, which represents Obama in various eligibility suits. The FEC links follow the entries. 2nd Quarter, 2010, FEC report for Obama for America
Perkins Coie: $248483.94 http://query.nictusa.com/pdf/501/10930598501/10930598501.pdf#navpanes=0 1st Quarter, 2010 Perkins Coie: $261,206.69 http://query.nictusa.com/pres/2010/Q1/C00431445/B_PAYEE_C00431445.html October 2009 quarterly:
Perkins Coie: $314,018.06
http://query.nictusa.com/pres/2009/Q3/C00431445/B_PAYEE_C00431445.html July 2009 quarterly:
Perkins Coie: $270,754.18
http://query.nictusa.com/pres/2009/Q2/C00431445/B_PAYEE_C00431445.html April quarterly
Perkins Coie: $688,316.42
http://query.nictusa.com/pres/2009/Q1/C00431445/B_PAYEE_C00431445.htm l Year-End 2008
Perkins Coie: $173,052.52
http://query.nictusa.com/pres/2008/YE/C00431445/B_PAYEE_C00431445.html Amended post-general election:
Perkins Coie: $205,323.00
http://query.nictusa.com/pres/2008/30G/C00431445/B_PAYEE_C00431445.html That adds up to: $2,161,155.11 Click this link to run your own query against the FEC database . . . Perkins Coie does not appear in the pre-general election filing or a few others checked randomly. You are free to pursue any further information that is of interest. But one would assume that the official FEC website to which the Obama and other campaigns must report their financial activity would be taken by even the most skeptical among us as valid documentation of the reported $1.8 or $2.2, or anything in between, figure expended to defend the eligibility suits. This information is about the legal fees only of that one law firm, not the DOJ attorneys, court time, or other related costs. | | Obama Waives Ethics Rules For Counsel | | Kenneth P. Vogel says that when Bob Bauer replaced Greg Craig last year as White House counsel, it seemed inevitable that he'd be working on some of the same issues he had in his previous job as Obama's personal and campaign lawyer. So late Friday afternoon, in recognition of that reality, the White House issued Bauer a waiver to ethics rules established by Obama that prohibit officials in his administration from working on issues affecting their former clients for two years. Those rules would have prevented Bauer "from performing roles that someone in the Counsel's position ordinarily performs" and, therefore, neither "make sense" nor are they "in the public interest," wrote White House ethics lawyer Norm Eisen in a post on the White House blog. Eisen, who works under Bauer and wrote the waiver, stressed that it is limited, applying only to Bauer's work at the powerhouse Democratic firm Perkins Coie as a private lawyer for the Obama family, and for the Democratic National Committee. Bauer also served as the top lawyer for Obama's presidential campaign and his confluence of positions made him a powerful member of Obama's inner circle as well as the most influential Democratic election lawyer in town until he replaced Craig in November. Perkins Coie — which paid Bauer $959,000 in 2009 and still owes him $216,000 — continues to represent Obama's presidential campaign, as well as the Obama family and the DNC. In the latter two capacities, the firm is involved in helping Obama fill out his personal financial disclosure statement, which is due next week, and in fighting a lawsuit filed by the Republican National Committee seeking to overturn laws prohibiting huge "soft money" donations to political parties. Bauer is expected to advise the White House on those matters, and a White House official pointed out that in both cases Bauer's private work is consistent with Obama's stances in favor of disclosure and reducing the influence of special interest money in politics. The waiver notes that Bauer is "a leading national authority on campaign finance and related matters and the government will benefit greatly from his expertise," but the White House official said Bauer hadn't advised Obama on campaign finance litigation prior to the waiver. Obama touted his ethics rules as the toughest ever, but his administration has been criticized by Republicans and independent government watchdog groups for issuing waivers to it. But there wasn't any immediate criticism Friday evening over the Bauer waiver. "This is precisely the type of situation in which an ethics waiver is appropriate," said Craig Holman, an ethics and campaign finance lobbyist for the non-profit watchdog group Public Citizen. "The conflict of interest requirements are intended to prevent business interests from capturing the regulatory agencies that oversee them," said Holman, adding that "is not an issue here, and so a waiver for Bauer is appropriate." Added Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington and an occasional White House critic: "I don't see a problem. Basically, I think the president is entitled to have the counsel he wants." There is no mention in this article of Bauer's primary role — Robert Bauer is Obama's eligibility lawyer — and, as of May 8, 2010, the Obama Campaign has disbursed$2,161,155.11 to Perkins Coie. His job is to prevent the American People from seeing this stuff. –ESAD– | |
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