Obama’s Mortgage Mess Deeper Than First Reported

Obama’s Mortgage Mess Deeper Than First Reported

The Washington Post broke a story this morning on the possibility that Senator Obama received preferential treatment in regards to his June 2005 mortgage from Northern Trust. Although the Obama campaign and Northern Trust have both stated that the loans were given in accordance to company practices, perhaps the media should launch their own independent investigation.

As reported by WaPo the Obama campaign claimed that the discounted rate on his $1.3 million mortgage was due to a competitive offer made by another lending institution. A campaign spokesman went further by claiming that Obama had no prior ties to the Chicago based Northern Trust. Apparently the Obama campaign has once again forgotten those “pesky” disclosure rules of the Federal Election Commission.

According to FEC records Senator Obama received extensive campaign support from executives and board members of Northern Trust during both his 2004 Senatorial Campaign and this year’s presidential campaign. In 2003, during his bid for the Senate, William Osborn the Chairman of Northern Trust (and director of the Federal Reserve) contributed $1,000 to Obama’s Senatorial campaign followed up by a maximum contribution to the Senators primary campaign.

During Obama’s Senatorial Campaign he also received numerous contributions from Darrell Jackson, The President and CEO of Northern Trusts Illinois West Region (includes Obama’s residence). In addition Barbara Lumpkin (Senior Vice President of NT), Kelly Welsh (Executive VP and General Counsel of NT), and John Bross (a former Vice President of NT) were healthy contributors to Obama’s Senate Pursuits. The most interesting of the contributions that flowed from these executives into Obama’s campaign coffers occurred on May 5th and 6th of 2005 when Bross and Welsh contributed money on consecutive days. The interesting fact of these contributions are that they occurred 6 months after the Senator took office and just 1 month prior to his closing on his Northern Trust Loan. The donations that May of 2005 stand out because there were relatively few contributions to the Obama coffers in 2005, as a result of his election 6 months earlier.

At the time that Obama received his “super jumbo” mortgage, Chairman Osborn shared his position on Northern Trusts’ Board of Directors with Arthur Kelly and Susan Crown, both contributors of the Senator’s 2004 campaign. Obama can credibly deny his knowledge of these contributions; that is with the exception of Susan Crown.

Susan Crown is a member of the Henry Crown Family, (owners of the Henry Crown Company based in Chicago), a family who has proven to be influential and successful fundraisers for Barack Obama. Susan and her direct family members have directly contributed more than $56,000 to Obama’s Senatorial and Presidential Campaigns. In addition, Susan’s siblings, James and Paula, have proven to be important campaign bundlers for the Senator. Last November the Obama campaign disclosed limited information on their campaign bundlers, in which they credited the Crown sibling with raising over $200,000 for the Obama campaign. It is unclear as to any additional “bundling” since the Obama campaign has since refused to release this information.

The Crown family’s ties to Northern Trust represent one association and “coincidence” that Obama must explain if he expects the public to believe that fair competition led to his preferential loan up 50 basis points lower than market rates and no origination fees.

Obama’s rise to power has been a direct result of his ties to a corrupt Chicago Political machine driven by a never-ending pursuit for power. From the onset of his political career Obama has exploited his political connections. In his first Illinois campaign his opponent, a popular female Democrat who lost her congressional election, was forced out of the race after Obama’s campaign successfully challenged her election petition. In 2004 during a heated Senatorial campaign, Obama’s associates obtained and released divorce records of his opponent that led to a public embarrassment and withdrawal from the race.

Obama’s Chicago political connections are responsible for millions of dollars in campaign contributions stemming from the financial sector. During his 2004 Senatorial bid Obama received hundreds of thousands of dollars from Chicago based financial executives. This election cycle, Obama has continued his procurement of financial industry funds from executives such as Stanley O’Neal, the ousted chairman of Merrill Lynch. For more information on Obama’s Subprime buddies read: Obama Accepts Millions from “Subprime” Tied Contributors.

J Brown
July 3rd, 2008
Please be sure to vote on this article starting Thursday July 3rd at Real Clear Politics

Remember Just $10! Visit John McCain
Democrats join the PUMA and JUST SAY NO DEAL Community

Must Read: The Final Report-Democratic Disenfranchisement
Obama's Accepts Millions From “Subprime” Tied Contributors

Feel free to excerpt and/or link. Copyright 2008 - full reproduction prohibited with author permission.

.