Obama Town Hall Proven a Fraud - The Political Lounge

Message from discussion Obama Town Hall Proven a Fraud
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Subject: Obama Town Hall Proven a Fraud
From: Bill <sean_sann...@yahoo.com>
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You see he's afraid that someone might ask him on National TV exactly
where was he born and please clear the air.

So he instead fills the room with campaign contributors.

This administration is even more secret than the previous.  The whole
transparency claim was bullshit and you know it.

Bill

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2009/03/27/obama_town_hall_questioners_we.html?hpid=topnews

Obama Town Hall Questioners Were Campaign Backers

Updated 7:02 p.m.
By Garance Franke-Ruta

President Obama has promised to change the way the government does
business, but in at least one respect he is taking a page from the
Bush playbook, stocking his town hall Thursday with supporters whose
soft -- though far from planted -- questions provided openings to
discuss his preferred message of the day.

Obama has said, "I think it's important to engage your critics ...
because not only will you occasionally change their mind but, more
importantly, sometimes they will change your mind," White House Press
Secretary Robert Gibbs recounted to The Post's Lois Romano in an
interview Wednesday.

But while the online question portion of the White House town hall was
open to any member of the public with an Internet connection, the five
fully identified questioners called on randomly by the president in
the East Room were anything but a diverse lot. They included: a member
of the pro-Obama Service Employees International Union, a member of
the Democratic National Committee who campaigned for Obama among
Hispanics during the primary; a former Democratic candidate for
Virginia state delegate who endorsed Obama last fall in an op-ed in
the Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star; and a Virginia businessman who was
a donor to Obama's campaign in 2008.

Here are their stories:

1. Sergio Salmeron: Self-description at the White House: "My name is
Sergio Salmeron. I want to find out about health care."

Salmeron became engaged with the Obama campaign early in 2008, writing
on his blog at my.barackobama.com, "We need to mobilize towards
changing the trend of '2 to 1 Latinos favoring Hillary over Barack.'
Let's make a resolute commitment... Let's put the facts on the table,
ask the questions, until we understand how this all applies to us.
Then strategize [sic] to get the word out to Latinos in America, who
want change as much as everyone else."

He was a volunteer canvasser for the campaign, he told The Post, and
did voter registration work and translated materials for the campaign,
as well. A partner at Global Paradigm Strategies, Salmeron is
volunteer "member of the Democratic National Committee" and continues
to be active with the Obama campaign's successor, Organizing for
America, which is how he got the White House invite, he said.

"I got a call from this woman who has been working with me for the
pledge drive," he said, referring to the Organizing for America drive
on behalf of the president's budget proposal. "You know, we're trying
to get support out for the president's agenda."

2. Tom Sawner: Self-description: "Sir, I'm Tom Sawner. I'm a service-
disabled veteran, small-business owner in Arlington, Virginia. My
company, Educational Options, works with public schools."

According to Federal Election Commission records, Sawner made a $250
donation to Obama's campaign on Oct. 27, 2008. He also, as he noted
Thursday, served as an adviser on Obama's educational platform
committee. He said he was invited to the White House town hall through
the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Small Business Executive Council.

Sawner's no stranger to the White House, either; he attended President
Bush's Feb. 2008 signing ceremony for that year's economic stimulus
package -- another Chamber of Commerce invite. And in April 2008, he
even became an anecdote in one of Bush's speeches.

"And I met a guy named Tom Sawner," the 43rd president said at a small
business summit. "Now, he's an old fighter pilot, which means there's
no wall he can [sic] run through. He's a doer, an achiever, and he's
got him a small business called Educational Options."

But the event with Obama, Sawner said, "was a whole different look and
feel" than the one with Bush. "This is a president who is into
openness." And he didn't know he was going to be able to ask a
question until he got to the forum, he said.

3. Carlos Del Toro: Self-description: "My name is Carlos Del Toro. I
served in the Navy for 26 years, retired four years ago, and started a
small business."

In 2007, Del Toro stood as a Democratic candidate for the Virginia
House of Delegates, but did not win. A supporter of Hillary Rodham
Clinton in the Democratic presidential primaries, he backed Obama
against McCain in the general, endorsing him in an Oct. 24, 2008 op-ed
in the Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star.

"As a Virginia small-business owner, veteran, and Latino, I'm voting
for Sen. Barack Obama for the same reasons as millions of other
Americans: because I believe this country desperately needs change.
Obama will change our economic policies to help middle-class families,
promote the growth of small businesses, and increase funding for
veterans' affairs, so no member of our armed services goes without the
medical treatment he or she needs and deserves," he wrote.

In 2008, he donated $2,750 to Virginia Democratic candidates for
office, according to the Center for Responsive Politics; in 2006, he
gave $1000 to the campaign of now Sen. Jim Webb (Va.), FEC records
show.

He also has ties to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Small Business
Council.

4. Linda Bock: "My name is Linda Bock and I'm a registered nurse just
in Prince George's County, Maryland -- been there 34 years at a free
senior health center. And I'm here with my fellow nurses from SEIU."

Bock, along with her chapter of the SEIU and her son and daughter,
helped campaign and canvass for Obama, she said. After Obama was
elected, she wrote in the Landover, Md., 1199 SEIU nurses' newsletter:
"Now we have our work cut out for us -to hold our elected officials
accountable. And I hope they hold us accountable too. We all have work
to do to make the changes needed to restore our reputation, to heal
the wounds of war, to repair our earth and regulate its resources;
and, to secure our economic future. It will take sacrifice and
service. It will take prayer and the grace of God. Now we have hope.
We have President-elect Barack Obama. God bless America."

Her invite to the White House came through the Nurse Alliance
Leadership Council, she said. And like Sawner, she didn't know until
she got to the forum that it was open to the in real life
participants. "I did not think we would be able to ask any questions,"
she said. "I wasn't personally anticipating being chosen to ask
anything. We knew that the Web portion was people already lined up."

5. Bonnee L. Breese: "Hi, Mr. President. Thank you so very much for
having me, a public school teacher from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,
here to be with you.
THE PRESIDENT: What's your name?
Q Bonnee Breese.
THE PRESIDENT: Good to see you, Bonnee.
Q Thank you. I'm from Overbrook High School. I have to say that,
because I know all the children are watching. (Laughter.)"

Breese has not donated a reportable amount to Obama, according to the
FEC. She is a member of the 11,626-person Pennsylvania for Obama page
on Facebook.

A supporter of the president's -- "Of course!" she said -- Breese was
invited to the meeting through the American Federation of Teachers
union. She sits on the executive board of the Philadelphia Federation
of Teachers, Local 3, she said, and is known in her area for being
politically engaged.

The sixth in-person presidential questioner, "Ellie" from Maryland,
did not give her surname. The White House did not respond to a request
for it, but noted there were roughly 100 people in the audience.

"The audience was composed of approximately 100 people, including
teachers, nurses, small business owners, and community leaders -- and
the virtual audience of thousands across the country who have
submitted questions online," said White House spokesman Nicholas S.
Shapiro. "The White House reached out to a number of community groups
and the chamber of commerce and those groups invited their folks to