The Los Angeles Times, in an article dated April 27, 2008 reveals
that Obama received a $8,000 a month retainer from Robert Blackwell
for his technology firm, Electronic Knowledge Interchange,
for a total of $112,000. The following exerpts are from the LA times
article:
“A few months after receiving his final payment from EKI, Obama sent a request on state Senate letterhead urging Illinois officials to provide a $50,000 tourism promotion grant to another Blackwell company, Killerspin.”
“With support from Obama, other state officials and an Obama aide who went to work part time for Killerspin, the company eventually obtained $320,000 in state grants between 2002 and 2004 to subsidize its tournaments.”
“But Obama portrays himself as a lawmaker dedicated to transparency and sensitive to even the appearance of a conflict of interest.”
“Killerspin’s owner, Blackwell, was a political supporter and friend as well. Both men lived on Chicago’s South Side. Blackwell, a savvy and successful entrepreneur, was one of the first donors to Obama’s early campaigns, including the state senator’s failed bid for a congressional seat in 2000. In the presidential race he is credited on Obama’s website with committing to raise $100,000 to $200,000 for Obama’s campaign.”
Obama and his supporters have downplayed the legal retainer and grant
request. The MSM is barely touching this story. Even the LA Times,
that broke this story, downplays the significance of Dan Shomon and
refers to him as an Obama aide. Dan Shomon was much more than just
an Obama aide. Consider the following facts about Shomon and his
relation with Obama and other politicians and businessmen.
Here are the facts about Dan Shomon, Robert Blackwell, Alexi Giannoulias and Obama’s ties to Shomon, Blackwell, Alexi Giannoulias and Chicago and Illinois corruption:
Dan Shomon was a long time employee of Robert Blackwell and Barack Obama as well as main political advisor to Obama.
Obama initiated the request for Robert Blackwell company Killerspin to receive a grant from Illinois and made the request on official Illinois Senate stationery.
Shoman, while an employee of both Blackwell and Obama secured grants for Blackwell company Killerspin:
$200,000 grant for its 2003 tournament
$100,000 grant for its 2004 tournament
Robert Blackwell had strong ties to Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich who has been mentioned many times during the Tony Rezko corruption trial.
The following is from a news release by EKI Consulting:
“BLACKWELL JR. NAMED TO ILLINOIS GOVERNOR’S TRANSITION TEAM”
The top of the press release reads:
For Immediate Release
Contact: Dan Shomon, (312) 578-0450
(* reference 1)
Obama supported the re-election of Gov. Rod Blagojevich, whose administration is embroiled in corruption probes.
EKI, a Blackwell company, gave $20,000 to Blagojevich.
Electronic Knowledge Interchange won $6 million in technology consulting and software development contracts. EKI did no state
work until after Blagojevich took office.
(* reference 2)
Robert Blackwell Companies gave the following to Obama’s campaign in 2007:
BLACKWELL CONSULTING SERVICES $9,200.00
EKI $6,925.00
KILLERSPIN $16,500.00
(* reference 3)
Dan Shoman was referred to as an Obama aide in the LA Times article but he was much more than that:
October 2002
“He (Obama) consulted with Shoman, still his main political adviser”
(* reference 4)
April 13, 2006
“Like the ill-advised connection to Obama in Aurora, thanks to Dan Shomon, Obama is mentioned in the same discusion with all these problems with Giannoulias.”
“Shomon’s main activities are political campaigns and helping Obama and his friends like Alexi Giannoulias who is now the Treasurer for the State of Illinois.”
“We think it’s HIGHLY unethical of Dan Shomon or Tom Weisner to exploit the taxpayers of Aurora for political purpose. Barack Obama’s credibility is also risked in the process of Shomon and Weisner’s games at the expense of taxpayers.
“Aurora Mayor Thomas J. Weisner gave Shomon the lobbying gig in exchange for political work, including getting the endorsement of Barack Obama back in 2005 when Obama first said he would remain “neutral” in the heated mayoral race.”
“In the 2006 Democratic primary, for example, Obama endorsed first-time candidate Alexi Giannoulias for state treasurer despite reports about loans Giannoulias’ family-owned Broadway Bank made to crime figures. Records show Giannoulias and his family had given more than $10,000 to Obama’s campaign, which banked at Broadway.”
(* reference 5)
“Andy Martin says ‘retainer’ by Robert Blackwell, Jr. was classic Illinois ‘pay to play’ and may have been criminal behavior.”
(* reference 6)
From Obama’s website. Reveals connection to Shomon:
“”She is as strong and stubborn as he is,” said Dan Shomon, an aide to Obama during his unsuccessful challenge to U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.) eight years ago.”
http://www.barackobama.com/2007/04/22/michelle_obama_baracks_rock.php
“After just a few years, Obama was talking about running for Congress, and thought he saw an opportunity. In 1999, black congressman Bobby Rush had challenged Richard M. Daley for mayor, and lost. Obama conducted a poll, says then-campaign manager Dan Shomon, and it suggested that some voters, particularly white ones, were looking for an alternative to Rush.”
http://www.barackobama.com/2007/08/12/a_series_of_fortunate_events.php
References
1. The full press release can be read here:
http://www.eki-consulting.com/APPS/EKIHP1.nsf/Content/BE14CC6D3CE4025586256D030075A471?OpenDocument
2.Here is the link:
http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/blagojevich/695931,gov013005.stng
3.Here is the link:
http://query.nictusa.com/pres/2007/Q2/C00431445/A_EMPLOYER_C00431445
4.October 2002
So when Saltzman was assembling speakers for the anti-war rally in late October 2002, Obama came to her mind…She called him and asked him to participate in the rally…Obama…did not immediately agree, but he told Saltzman that he would think it over…
“He consulted with Shoman, still his main political adviser at the time, and Shomon told him…if Saltzman was urging him to speak, he could not refuse. Moreover, Obama was trying to draw Axelrod onto his Senate campaign team. It would not be wise to disappoint Saltzman if he wanted her to continue lobbying Axelrod on his behalf. So Obama agreed to speak…Obama made the decision to protest the impending war in part as a political calculation that he hoped would benefit him among Democrats…
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/02/29/7364/
5.Here is the link:
http://openline.blogspot.com/2006/04/more-not-so-good-news-for-city-of.html
6.Here is the link:
http://www.pr-inside.com/smoking-gun-prompts-andy-martin-to-r559376.htm
Citizen WElls 
This is Beautifull
I am forwarding to all my friends and to writehillaryin.com
Thanks for sharing !
Thank you Vickie C.
From the moment the LA Times broke this story a few weeks ago, it was either not reported or under reported.
Why would the LA Times break the story and just refer to Dan Shomon as just an aide?
Newspapers are desperate for readership. Perhaps management gave it the go ahead and some Obama supporter grudgingly word smithed the article.
Thank you! Glad that people like you are connecting all the dots.
And thanks to his Obama connection and behind-the-scenes deal-making, Dan Shomon gets $84,000 per year for parttime work as the “city lobbyist” for Aurora, IL.
Shomon’s been doing PR and lobbying for twenty or so years now… hardly simple “aide” material. Then again, it’s possible that the term “aide” is being used to cover all sorts of relationships, where the Obama camp is concerned.
You have made a large mistake in this article. Blackwell Consulting Services is not owned by Robert Blackwell Jr. He is not an employee and the rumor is that the two companies have an adversarial relationship. Please refrain from dropping dirt on people that are not involved in whatever stories you are selling.
Excuse me.
“For Immediate Release
Contact: Dan Shomon, (312) 578-0450”
“BLACKWELL JR. NAMED TO ILLINOIS GOVERNOR’S TRANSITION TEAM”
“November 11, 2002
CHICAGO – Robert Blackwell Jr., CEO and founder of Electronic Knowledge Interchange Inc., has been named to the transition team of Governor-elect Rod Blagojevich.”
“In 1992, he co-founded Blackwell Consulting Services with Robert Blackwell Sr. who had been a senior executive at IBM. While at Blackwell Consulting Services, Robert Jr. established and managed key business practice areas and client relationships such as Sanwa Bank, First Chicago, Mellon Bank, Abbott Labs and Sears.”
Excuse me? Please note that your article said ” while at” as opposed to “is at”. I am from Chicago. The father and son do not work with one another and have not done so for over a decade. This is a commonly known fact in the Chicago business community. The father founded the company with the Son and the Son was bought out prior to 1995. You cannot equate the donations of the father with that of the Son. I have even heard that they are related to Ken Blackwell and I doubt very seriously that he is a closet Obama supporter. Perhaps the son is responsible for the voting issues in Ohio during 2004. Sorry to put a damper on your theory.
Hymes.
You are obviously an Obama sabateur.
This was your last comment being accepted.
Dan Shomon was a Robert Blackwell Jr employee. His name is at the top of the press announcement. The LA Times article also states he was an employee. I never stated that Robert Blackwell still owned part or all of Blackwell Consulting. Blackwell Consulting was mentioned in the context of Obama contributions.
Take your lies and discrediting attempts elsewhere.
*Note: Obama gave the Times all info they needed. Maybe he gave them too much? Please read http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-killerspin27apr27,0,6789688.story
*Note, Illinois has part-time senators so they’ll need to get another source of employment. This is news to me but it illuminates the whole scenario. The media ain’t reporting on this because it’s their job to get negative info on Obama and don’t want to show how he gave full disclosure and all the info The Times wanted. Everyone wants to see a carwreck, not someone buckling up & driving safely.
LeoB.
Did you actually read and absorb the part about Dan shomon?
Did you read the article.
Obama is up to his ____ in corruption.
Do you know if Shoman is still working for the current Bo campaign? I wonder if he is part of the inner circle still going? Obama is surrounded by so many corrupt people, that I’m barely able to keep them straight. How in the world can the MSM live with themselves by not reporting all this? I know money talks, but there has to be a few honest reporters.
amelia.
You hit the nail right on the head!
The long time ties of Obama to crime, corruption and the Middle east are astounding.
Initially, many believed the MSM was giving Obama a free ride to avoid the racism tag. Obviously, money and political agendas are also at play. The MSM has been losing viewership. When more people become aware of what the MSM has refused to cover and in some cases hidden, they will lose more viewers. I am going to demand congressional hearings into the manipulation of information by those entities pretending to be news sources.
Keep revealing the truth.
This is off the top of my head.
I believe Obama approached Axelrod before his 2004 US Senate campaign and then Axelrod took over. Shomon may have been involved minimally in recent years. Examine the contributions to the Obama campaign in 2007 vs 2007. Blackwell companies donated over $ 30,000 to Obama’s campaign in 2007 and very little in 2008. Obviously that was part of distancing himself from Blackwell and associates.
Who are you going to demand hearings from? Why would they listen to you?
Like so many of us; responsible, concerned American voters who have decided to take the role of investigator on ourselves. I have been looking around at Barack’s past campaigns. The truth is told in the information available OUTSIDE of the media.
So I was on the Illinois State Board of Electors painstakingly reviewing itemizations for donor contributions and expenses on all of Barack’s campaigns. Then I google interesting names, organizations, etc that I find which seem to stand out.
In the D-2 itemization of expenses for “Friends of Barack Obama” for the time period listed as 1/2001-6/2001 I noted two line items where the campaign gave $700 & $160 to D. Shoman in a 2 month span. The interesting thing I noted was the reason for the reimbursement…postage.
Interesting because there are multiple line items where expenses for postage were paid to Pitney Bowes.
Interesting, didn’t know Mr. Shoman had lessened his position to mail handler.
Also interesting to note the frequency of transfers/expenses given to ACORN from these financial reports.
Seek and ye shall find…
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Dan Shomon is a backdoor man for Obama and Alexi. I know all the parties VERY well and the truth is that Dan does his magic on the front end with a relentless vigor then the candidates dump him to protect themselves from the public rage. He is a party to almost all the corrupt dealings in Springfield and almost boasts about it. Even in DC he pretty much publicized the White house “for sale” since he was so close to Obama. With swift and decisive reaction by the Obama team and Axlerod to distance themselves. So dejected, Dan shomon works in the dark shadows of Chicago and Springfield with little to no admiration. Although you must give him credit. A wounded dog is some times the most dangerous.
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