White House Pressure for a Donor -- This Time at DoD?

We found this paragraph from the article very interesting especially from the website that is reporting this story.  If this is true about Light Squared being compared to Solyndra, then we might have a larger problem then we can imagine with Obama.  This smacks of Chicago style politics.  How many contracts have been given to Obama donors after the White House team put pressure on the various agencies including by Obama himself?  

Melanie Sloan, who runs the nonpartisan ethics groups Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said the emerging allegations about possible White House involvement in LightSquared’s matter seemed to mirror earlier allegations in the Solyndra case.

This is not going away anytime soon with more and more allegations of White House involvement in Solyndra, Fast and Furious (gun running), and now Light Squared to name a few.

When General Shelton announced in the closed committee hearing that the White House had tried to convince him to change his testimony, bet you could hear a pin drop.

Pressed by members, Gen. William Shelton said the White House tried to pressure him to change his testimony to make it more favorable to a company tied to a large Democratic donor.

Then you discover after that bombshell that the General's prepared testimony was leaked to the contractor and that is when he had pressure applied.

According to officials familiar with the situation, Shelton’s prepared testimony was leaked in advance to the company. And the White House asked the general to alter the testimony to add two points: that the general supported the White House policy ...

Now the Obama Administration is trying to get a 4-star Air Force General to change his testimony to Congress that would support a donor to Obama?  This is getting deeper and deeper.  Must say we are not shocked about this after what we went through with Automatic Test Systems being brought in house at Warner Robins AFB.  We don't know who is protecting them except it is pretty high up when you get an answer from the aide to the Secretary of the Air Force that frankly is an insult to one's intelligence.    Demanding a weapon systems buy only VDATS when all the weapon system wanted was an upgrade -- $110M versus $10M probably falls in this same category especially after Soros initially invested in the company selling the parts to build the system.

The list of investigations of Obama donors for contracts is growing.  This is one more in what we suspect is a long list that is going to keep coming out in the weeks and months ahead:

White House Pressure for a Donor?Sep 15, 2011 12:24 AM EDT 

The Pentagon has worried for months that a project backed by a prominent Democratic donor might interfere with military GPS. Now Congress wants to know if the White House pressured a general to change his testimony. 

The four-star Air Force general who oversees U.S. Space Command walked into a highly secured room on Capitol Hill a week ago to give a classified briefing to lawmakers and staff, and dropped a surprise. Pressed by members, Gen. William Shelton said the White House tried to pressure him to change his testimony to make it more favorable to a company tied to a large Democratic donor. 

The episode—confirmed by The Daily Beast in interviews with administration officials and the chairman of a congressional oversight committee—is the latest in a string of incidents that have given Republicans sudden fodder for questions about whether the Obama administration is politically interfering in routine government matters that affect donors or fundraisers. Already, the FBI and a House committee are investigating a federal loan guarantee to a now failed solar firm called Solyndra that is tied to a large Obama fundraiser. 

Now the Pentagon has been raising concerns about a new wireless project by a satellite broadband company in Virginia called LightSquared, whose majority owner is an investment fund run by Democratic donor Philip Falcone. Gen. Shelton was originally scheduled to testify Aug. 3 to a House committee that the project would interfere with the military’s sensitive Global Positioning Satellite capabilities, which control automated driving directions and missile targeting, among other things. 

According to officials familiar with the situation, Shelton’s prepared testimony was leaked in advance to the company. And the White House asked the general to alter the testimony to add two points: that the general supported the White House policy to add more broadband for commercial use; and that the Pentagon would try to resolve the questions around LightSquared with testing in just 90 days. Shelton chafed at the intervention, which seemed to soften the Pentagon’s position and might be viewed as helping the company as it tries to get the project launched, the officials said. 

“There was an attempt to influence the text of the testimony and to engage LightSquared in the process in order to bias his testimony,” Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH) said in an interview. “The only people who were involved in the process in preparation for the hearing included the Department of Defense, the White House, and the Office Management and Budget.”

Turner is chairman of the House Armed Services subcommittee that oversees Shelton’s space command and GPS issues; the panel is expected to explore the issues between LightSquared and the Pentagon at a hearing Thursday. Shelton is planning to give his belated testimony then. 

The White House confirmed Wednesday that its Office of Management and Budget suggested changes to the general’s testimony but insisted such reviews are routine and not influenced by politics. And it said Shelton will be permitted to give the testimony he wants, without any pressure. 

OMB “reviews and clears all agency communications with Congress, including testimony, to ensure consistency in the administration’s policy positions,” said White House spokesman Eric Schultz. “When an agency is asked by a congressional committee to testify, OMB circulates the agency’s proposed [draft] testimony to other affected agencies and appropriate [executive office of the president] staff. If a reviewer has a comment to the proposed testimony, that suggestion is typically conveyed to the agency for their consideration. When divergent views emerge, they are often reconciled through discussions at the appropriate policy levels of OMB and the agencies.” 

The general’s office declined to comment, and LightSquared did not return calls seeking comment. Harbinger Capital Partners, Falcone’s investment firm, said it would provide a comment Thursday. 

LightSquared has previously acknowledged it met with administration officials as it tried to shepherd the project, which is consistent with President Obama’s goal of trying to expand broadband wireless access nationwide. 

“Because we are the only company on the horizon that can quickly help the federal government meet its stated objective of near universal wireless coverage for all Americans, it was natural that LightSquared have meetings with the administration,” company spokesman Terry Neal said recently. “LightSquared’s network promises to expand access to wireless broadband, increase competition in the marketplace, give consumers new choices, and, ultimately, lower prices. We acknowledge we wanted to discuss that with administration officials.” 

Excerpt:  Read More at the Daily Caller

There is NOTHING that would shock us out of this White House except HONESTY and TRANSPARENCY!  Then we would have to double check what we were reading.  Thought Carter was bad, but Obama is a lot worse because Carter was pretty inept but Obama does things on purpose.  Carter was too idealistic in some ways with his feet not firmly planted on the ground but at least he seemed like he was nice person.  Obama does not seem like a nice person as he gets mad very easily if challenged and comes across as extremely arrogant.  He wants to be a dictator which he freely admits would be easier.

January 2013 cannot come soon enough.  Guess the biggest question after that will be where Obama is going to live after he leaves the White House.  Will he go to his native Africa to live and run for President in Kenya?  Wouldn't be a shock at all.

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