Daley Sued Over Obama, Jarrett's Olympic Involvement

A conservative watchdog group is suing Mayor Daley and the city for failing to turn over information about the Obama administration's involvement in Chicago's failed Olympic bid.

The Washington, D.C.-based Judicial Watch filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit in Cook County Circuit Court Thursday accusing the Daley administration of failing to respond to a FOIA request sent in September.

The group thinks there's something fishy about the White House granting Obama senior adviser Valerie Jarrett an ethics waiver to help spearhead Chicago's bid and is seeking a vast array of documents to help prove its case.

Among the information the group seeks is, "[a]ll correspondence between the Office of the Mayor and President Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, Chief of Staff Rahm Emmanuel [sic], Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett, the White House, and/or the Office of Olympic, Paralympic, and Youth Sport regarding the City of Chicago's bid to host the 2016 Summer Olympics."

"The Obama White House's failed Olympics bid is a scandal," Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton said in a press release. "Why else would Obama's 'Olympics Czar' Valerie Jarrett need an 'ethics waiver' to lead the campaign to bring the Olympics to Chicago? Mayor Daley's illegal refusal to release documents about the Olympics bid is a rather transparent effort to protect President Obama and other key White House officials."

Jarrett, who was a vice chair of the Chicago 2016 bid committee before joining the White House, needed the waiver, according to a Tribune report at the time, "because the White House ethics pledge prohibits appointees from dealing with matters 'substantially related' to previous employers or clients."

Jarrett's waiver, and the White House's full rationale for it, can be seen here.

Judicial Watch said it filed its FOIA request on Sept. 5, that the mayor's office acknowledged receipt on Oct. 1, granted itself an additional seven days for processing, but then failed to send anything. Following an administrative appeal by Judicial Watch, a response was due by Nov. 3.

The city did respond to the group's first FOIA request telling them it did not have the records for Chicago 2016, which was a separate legal entity, and telling the group that their request was too broad -- it could not possibly search for any and all mention of Obama or members of his staff.

"We're willing to work with them and we haven't asserted that anything they're asking for is exempt," the city's law department spokeswoman Jennifer Hoyle told the Huffington Post. "At the very least, though, they're going to have to narrow their request."

Hoyle added that the city has not yet seen the lawsuit but would provide "responsive non-exempt" records.

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Comments

[Beka13]

The funny thing about Regressives...They are the first ones to scream about frivilous lawsuits but also happen to be the first to file them....

[shocktreatment]

Perhaps if Judicial Watch devoted a little less time to its " Obama Scandal" updates, you know, at least until there actually is a scandal, they could look at the Mayoral TIF slush fund. Unless, of course, their !diotic efforts at removing Secretary of State Clinton are that labor intensive.

[ChiGuy]

Sounds to me like some of the birthers have departed that ill-conceived movement in order to find another far-fetched approach to damaging Obama.
Alan Keyes will be holding a press conference any day now.

*yawn*

[MadinUptown]

Is it interesting that the Chicago press/tv/radio DIDN"T cover this?

[Lovepolitics2008]

The waiver to Mrs. Jarret is perfectly reasonable. The whole thing is completely ridiculous. It's politically motivated. Throw everything you can, throw the kitchen sink until something sticks.

I'm beyond disgusted by the petty politics and cheap shots of those guys.

General comment: I find it sad that the administration who has been THE MOST PROACTIVE in terms of ethics is the one WHO GETS CRITICIZED THE MOST because people aren't able to accept that things can't be perfect. Reading some comments, today and in the past months, you could believe that this administration is the worst in terms of ethics. GIVE ME A FRIGGIN' BREAK ! They're better than every other past administration !!

[CommunistUtopia]

I hate that the right tries to pick on VJ. I know she is not the brightest bulb in the room and has corruption issues but that is no reason to be angry with her.

[Chicagofan1]

And she is a top Obama's adviser. Ha.

[billobasher]

I thought right wingers opposed frivolous lawsuits?

[babyboomerorig]

Stoopid

[DASChicago]

Real silly, and as the above commenter said, "the only scandal" was Chicago was eliminated in the First round.

Silly!

[clearwaterclearmind]

ah, ethics waivers.

got a glaring conflict of interest or the appearance of impropriety? use our new miracle product, ETHICS WAIVER!

ethics waiver is available in four designer scents and hides easily in a drawer or the console of your car. use ethics waiver to remove soap stains, clean grout, and accept bribes from entities that you should not technically have any contact with due to the possibility of corruption.

*WARNING: ethics waiver may cause public interests to be sold out for money or influence and may cause anal leakage. call your doctor immediately if you develop the following symptoms: mysterious loss of money from school districts, increased heart rate, health care bills that benefit insurance companies instead of citizens, or burst capillaries in the eye. do not use ethics waiver if you are honest and open administration without a list of chicago favors to repay.

[47th]

Even six weeks later, I smile thinking about Daley's Olympic beatdown.

[publanski]

Why do you hate America?

[47th]

I live in Chicago and pay taxes here. Daley's Olympic plan was to dump cost overruns on to property tax payers. If you live in Chicago, you know all about Daley administration cost overruns, and paying for those cost overruns. I could care less about this lawsuit, but, likes many, many Chicagoans, I was thrilled when Chicago didn't get stuck with the Olympic sized money pit! If you think that opinion makes me hate America, so be it.

[CommunistUtopia]

This is good. This group needs to go after Daley and tried to break the machine. Obama is another pawn from the machine so he may end up going down to.

[BVictor1]

Been drinking to much vodka there comrade...

[CommunistUtopia]

If you are fan of the machine, you are probably employed by it. For the rest of everyone else, it is a drag on the economy. We all know the corruption associated with it but if you like it, then go for it.

[eyepatch]

The only scandal here is
how the OCC eliminated
Chicago's bid for the Olympics
in the first round!

[tones]

This conservative think tank is Based in DC. hahahaha GOOD LUCK getting anything out of Daley even major Chicago newspapers have a hard time getting around the King and his rule. If the group was based in Chicago they would of realized by now that this is not going to happen.

Daleys administration always acknowledges the FOIA than asks for 7 more days were the letter gets "lost", GL conservative think tank you will need it

And his not protecting Obama its just how our city works :)

[mamala4]

utter stupidity...find someone else to harass.

[dans5843]

This is silly.