Barack Obama knows what earmarks are really for.
He directly received over $500,000 dollars in donations from people who sit on the board of organizations he earmarked money to. Beyond that, he received a total of about $2,000,000 dollars in fundraising help from bundlers who received earmarks.
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Since 2006, Sen. Obama has earmarked $11.2 million to the University of Illinois. This earmark is suspect for two reasons. First, 79% of the board members donated to the Illinois Senator’s presidential campaign. The fact that Obama donors outnumber non-donors by more than three to one by itself makes their $11.2 million earmark very questionable.
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In his relatively short political career, Barack Obama has already received $2.5 million in fundraising help from people who sit on the boards of organizations he has earmarked to, with that sum only including the research our group has done. Within those earmarks lie some interesting situations that seem to suggest that Sen. Obama is willing to give out federal funds to people with whom he has strong financial ties.
