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Work for Obama, Get a Federal Contract, and Watch Left-Wing Pseudo-Journalists Roll Over and Purr

By: Erick Erickson (Diary)  |  December 15th, 2011 at 10:35 AM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

Solyndra, Lightsquared, and now Solayzme are all companies that are closely connected to the Obama campaign and all got government money. While the Obama Administration has been attacking Republicans as “crony capitalists” and using an army of left-wing pseudo-journalists to make the attacks, the Obama Administration has been rewarding campaign friends with government contracts.

In Barack Obama’s America, he, not the marketplace, picks the winners and losers. But just how far into the government and into the Obama campaign does this crony capitalism go?

In an email sent out by Jo Ellen Kaiser to a group of online left-wing sites, she notes that

In response to member inquires about solid advertising opportunities, The Media Consortium would like to present the opportunity to partner with IB5k Network. IB5k Network is actively seeking progressive publishing partners who accept online advertising for politically progressive candidates. We hope and expect this to be a lucrative and relevant ad stream through 2012.

IB5k’s first opportunity for Media Consortium members is a great one with Obama for America. Available immediately, these static (no video or audio) digital ads ask viewers to sign up via email for Obama campaign updates. This is a short ad campaign starting immediately through the 5th of January.

The advertisement is available in in 300×250, 728 x 90 and 160 x 600 sizes. A preview of the creative is available here: http://a.ib5knetwork.com/lt/obama_test.html.

We know this is a busy time of year for everyone, but we believe this is a great opportunity with which to begin a relationship with IB5k. The Obama team set the gold standard for online political campaigns in 2008, and is certain to be placing many more ads through 2012. By beginning to work with IB5k now, you will be pre-approved to run those ads!

Jo Ellen Kaiser is the Executive Director of the Media Consortium and the email she sent came from her Media Consortium email address to a google group.

The Media Consortium “is proud to partner with the We the People Campaign for Campaign Cash, a collaborative editorial effort to expose the influence of corporate money on the political process.”

IB5K, LLC, the company Jo Ellen Kaiser is pushing on her email list as the Obama advertiser, is a government contractor. So the group dedicated to exposing “the influence of corporate money on the political process” is helping out a company that’s a government contractor and not just any government contract, but one that got its start on Obama 2008, then got a government contract, and is now handling online advertising for Obama 2012.

But hey! If you work with IB5K now, “you will be pre-approved to run” ads for Obama 2012.

Back in November of 2010, the Wall Street Journal ran an article by Joe Walker on entrepreneurial former Obama workers. There was this interesting nugget about one of Obama’s campaign workers, Joe Beckman.

Mr. Beckmann, 30, says he learned how to collaborate with a network of volunteers and supporters while working on Mr. Obama’s video team. His company similarly relies on 300 freelancers— filmmakers, graphic designers and programmers—sprinkled across the country.

“It’s hard when you have this many people in different time zones, to keep them all feeling connected,” says Mr. Beckmann, who uses emails, personal visits and company retreats to keep his team focused on common goals. “The model for this really came from the Obama campaign.”

So far, it appears to be working for Mr. Beckmann. He says he’s won a government contract to provide email-related services to Hill staffers, and he’s helping Mystery Guitar Man—the YouTube sensation known for quirky YouTube videos—build a monetizable website. He expects IB5k to be profitable off of $1.2 million in revenue this year.

Campaign for Obama, get a federal contract. Is it really that easy?

According to Beckmann’s company website, which highlights work for Barack Obama and whose clients include the DNC, the DGA, and a host of liberal groups,

At the end of the day, our method saves you money. While members of our trust have been responsible for everything from creating initiatives at Obama for America, building 21st century cable networks from scratch, successfully bridging the gap between television and online video audiences, to developing custom-built software for Congress

I guess it really could be as easy as going to the Federal Procurement Data System, plugging in the names of all the Obama campaigners or their related businesses, and finding out who got a government contract after working for Barack Obama.

Except, for some reason, Joe Beckmann’s company IB5K, which the Wall Street Journal reports has a government contract and whose website reports it is developing software for Congress, does not appear in the Federal Procurement Data System.

That brings us back to the Media Consortium, a group of left-wing pseudo-reporting sites that are going to be subsidized by the Obama campaign’s campaign cash via a vendor who, were we talking about wingers, would be excoriating the crony capitalists getting government contracts after working for the winger campaign and not appearing in the federal procurement database.

And yet here they are pitching an Obama advertising company that, after one of its principle partners worked on the Obama campaign got a government contract and now is again also handling Obama campaign advertising.

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COMMENTS

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  • Ann_W

    consicely and understandably. The sheer volume of this stuff will surprise people, I think, because all these stories are still mostly being ignored. A series featuring Corzine, Solyndra, etc. etc. etc. will really do some damage.

  • daniel22

    look like Honest Abe. Chicago style politiking and Tamany Hall payoffs. Talk about corruption.

  • williamjameson

    can get. I doubt the circulation stats produce enough to pay the bills so selling out to the rich liberal slobbering love affair for Obama is the prime source of revenue.

    The worst part is the msm and lib media discuss such information attempting to elevate as legitimate sources of new information yet its just team Obama. When he loses 2012, they lose $$$

  • gunslingr45

    Big Obama donor cashed in on ‘stimulus’

    http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=377853

    The list of who stole from the taxpayers trough never ends, of course it is Oblumber’s money list.

    “For those who have fought for it freedom has a sweet taste the protected will never know”

  • Corey S

    His office received $4 billion. The Texas state government received $17 billion. Texas altogether received $27 billion.

    For that matter, Florida received $20 billion; North Carolina and Georgia $12 billion each; Tennessee and Arizona $9 billion each.

    The division of the DoE that made the loans to Solyndra (which got a whopping 0.2% of the contracts, grants and loans portion of the stimulus money, and 0.08% of the entire stimulus package) was sponsored and enthusiastically supported by Joe Barton.

    I know it’s fun to pick and choose, but a little more fair and balanced would be nice to see.

  • uselogic

    Apples v Oranges.

  • http://www.ajharaldson.com lakeworthcane

    I checked out the Media Consortium web site. Beyond using the word “progressive” a lot, it doesn’t identify itself as leftist, but its “projects” are all–and I mean ALL–articles about the corporate funding behind the Tea Party and other non-leftist groups. It makes “corporate” and “corporation” sound like dirty words.

    That’s why it calls itself the Media Consortium. It’s a corporation, but it can’t call itself that; kind of like a whore who–decrying sex-for-money deals as immoral–calls her- or himself a “physiological need fulfillment specialist.”

    And I read a little bit about its CEOs (who would never refer to themselves as CEOs, but that’s what they are). One of them worked for City Year Chicago, which gets donations from corporations, and which is an Americorps group, which gets donations from corporations.

    The Media Consortium/corporation’s pro-leftist/pro-Obama politics have garnered it contracts from the Obama administration’s re-election campaign, and its partners, like IBK5, are also run by former Obama supporters, and they’re getting funding from Obama that probably came from corporations or corporate-style groups, like unions.

    So, everybody’s getting money from about the same places: wealthy donors, businesses and “grass-roots” organizations, and also from political “slush” funds that aren’t supposed to exist. Those on either side of the political spectrum are both pointing their fingers at the other and spewing (often poorly written by shoddy journalists who skipped class on the day they taught writing) accusations.

    Obama hasn’t “changed” a thing, and his supporters are playing the same game politicians’ supporters have played for thousands of years: support in exchange for political favors, often in the form of ill-gotten money (lucrative public-sector contracts, guaranteed loans, sweet-heart investment information, et cetera, et cetera): nothing genuinely “new.” In fact, its pretty about about the same.

    I’d really like to hear a republican presidential candidate bring that up. Obama made all kinds of promises on which he has not delivered. But the one thing he promised most of all was change, and the one thing he’s delivered more than anything else is the same old behavior in which politicians have been engaging since the first cave dwellers acknowledged their first leaders in exchange for a larger portion of mastadon meat. The evidence of this is all over the place. It would not be a hard point to make and drive home. Obama has not changed, and likely never intended to change, anything. His fundamental political platform–with its slogan now written on the side of Air Force One–is a sham.

    The republican candidate who drives home that message–that Obama’s “change” is nothing more than a cheap, sweet-sounding falsehood–will totally bury Barry in 2012.

  • gsatt

    I decided to get the ol’ calculator out and see how much .08% the stimulus bill is. For the sake of me being on the clock and my manager on the prowl, i didn’t research exactly how much the stimulus is… but i seem to remember $800 billion for some reason.

    please correct me if I’m wrong but .08% is 0.0008(800,000,000,000)

    which brings us to the meager amount of $640,000,000.00

    I estimate my student loans to be around 130,000.00 (it costs a lot to fuel a plane)

    I wouldn’t mind putting up campaign adds for a whopping 0.00001625% of that stimulus being thrown around so i can cover my loan.

    I’m kinda bummed out now. I’m not worth S**T on paper

  • gsatt

    ….. under Corey S’s comment

  • http://www.periodictablet.com superamerican

    Republicans are clueless, and Obama will win another term sending this wonderful country further into the toilet.

    The “progressives” started with its groups – the “poor”, labor, African Americans, then tort lawyers, followed up by environmentalists. Toss in gays (GLTGBC, whatever) any myriad others. Then their coup — the middle class — that is their faction now and only the unaptly labelled “1%” represents the Republican Party. The Left has won.

    \Goodbye America.

  • lineholder

    No, he hasn’t won. If you’re one of his supporters, that’s just wishful thinking on your part, sorry. People all across this nation now have a very clear picture of what the reality of their lives will become if our country moves any further than it has in implementation of socialistic principles and policies. And they don’t want it. They’re rejecting it, out and out, with 77% of the people of this nation clearly identifying themselves as “something other than liberal”.

    That leaves Repubs a huge door of opportunity, and I believe wholeheartedly that they will succeed.

  • http://908StraightSt.wordpress.com/ mbecker908

    I would suggest to you move to either Peru or Kenya.

  • acat
  • http://908StraightSt.wordpress.com/ mbecker908

    Jonestown, but your solution is every bit as good. Especially if the silos can be locked from the outside.

  • Corey S

    The point I was making was that it’s a minuscule part of the stimulus money. Perhaps we should add up all of the crony capitalism under GWB ? Halliburton, anyone? ? to compare.

    Or am I wrong that you guys don’t believe in fair and balanced?

  • Corey S

    Do you have something against the middle class? Or who the very aptly named “1%” are? In 2009, 2.8% of all households earned $200,000 or more. 0.5% earned $500,000 or more. The 1% did very well in a year where most people didn’t didn’t do well at all. (46.4% earned under $30K in 2009; 1/3 of households earned under $20K.)

    I guess you’ve never been poor, or you wouldn’t put it into quotes. Lucky you.

    Most of us can only dream about joining the 1%. I earned a computer science degree, have worked hard as a software engineer, creating real value, and would love to be part of the 1%. I guess I should have gotten an MBA and gone to Wall Street, where I would have created nothing but would have earned a whole lot more.

  • Corey S

    Did you know that people who aren’t in management positions ? i.e., ordinary hard-working Americans ? are earning a bit less, adjusted for inflation, than they were in 1979? In 1992, they were down to 86% of their 1979 earnings. Starting in 1996 wages headed up, but they still ended up with only 96% of their 1979 wages.

    If the wages of ordinary Americans had grown along with the economy, there were be far fewer poor people.

  • Corey S

    If you’re going to claim that the beneficiaries of the stimulus were Obama cronies, then it matters a lot who were the major recipients, doesn’t it? A tiny percent went to people who could be construed to be connected to Obama.

    Is telling the truth considered trolling here?

  • http://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress.com nathanalbright

    You show class envy, use OWS language, and refer to the people on RedState as “you guys.” If you keep this up you might not survive very long. The mods on this site have an itchy trigger finger for hunting down liberals posing as conservatives. Consider yourself warned.

  • gekster

    .

  • carolynr

    NT

  • http://908StraightSt.wordpress.com/ mbecker908

    What you’re doing is taking isolated facts completely out of context and drawing a conclusion that fits your apparently warped worldview.

    We have a term for people who try to do that here: “PUNK”.

    You’re getting a pass on being shredded this morning because I’ve got a busy day and simply don’t want to spend the time on a fool like you when I’m busy. Keep it up and you’re gonna feel like a soccer ball at the World Cup.

  • http://908StraightSt.wordpress.com/ mbecker908

    happened to be the only company around who could supply the services for which they were contracted at the beginning of Iraq.

    You’re a Troll, and an extremely bad one at that.

  • http://908StraightSt.wordpress.com/ mbecker908

    You say you’ve got the ability to “creat[e] real value”, then go start your own company. Get out there on the risk curve and see if you’re as good as you think you are. Put together a business plan, raise the capital and have a go at it.

    I’m pretty sure, to quote Clint, “you’re a legend in your own mind”.

    Oh, and working for your employer, the people who actually took the risk, you’ve “created” exactly nothing. All you’ve done is provide a service, for which you’ve been paid.

  • tailfins1959

    I have seen people get treated nasty for citing some obscure website, for being Ron Paul supporters, for being for Palin, etc., etc, etc. One has to walk on eggshells around here. I am someone who has been on campaigns for people like Ashcroft, Mel Hancock, Tea Party rallies, etc. Except for Tea Partiers, much of the conservative movement is as mean spirited as the left makes them out to be. I have no interest in modern-day Kent State rioters either (aka Lefties). That only leaves the moderates. Olympia Snowe, Scott Brown, Ben Nelson, Chris Shays, John McCain are sounding pretty good right now. Who am I supporting for President? Mr. Congeniality: The one that says “glad to have ya’” when you call up his campaign. Michele Bachmann is out: she treats her staff/volunteers like crap. Most of our nation’s problems are a result of a coarsening of our society. Maybe there are some nice people over at the Sean Hannity forum.

  • Ann_W

    spent on the decades old war on poverty are not only wasted, they are counter productive– if the war is only making people more poor.

    However your data is SO old it makes it suspect to me. You couldn’t find anything more recent than ’96?

    I have data that indicates that the bottom 20% of income earners saw their inflation adjusted incomes rise by 18% from ’79 to ’07 (CBO). So although that isn’t nearly as high an increase as the top 20% of income earners increased their income at, it’s better than the socialist countries that the OWS would love us to become more like. So our country does quite well by it’s poor.

    Also, something to be considered is that people in this country move up and down the income levels. For example, in 1979 both my husband and I were in families that were in the bottom 20% of income earners, however, now after many years down at that level, our family is firmly in the top 5% of earners. Moving up in class is a common story in this land of opportunity! Did they teach you that in your university econ class?

    I love America!! Have a great day in this great country we have!

  • Ann_W

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Quag9dp1Nn4

  • http://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress.com nathanalbright

    …you probably don’t need to be here. The last time I checked this site was for conservative activists. If you’re into squishies, drink your lattes and vote for Northeastern Rockafeller Republicans somewhere else. When I think of a lot of the moderates you mention, I think of craven spineless cowards who are unwilling to fight for the survival of America’s greatness and prosperity because they want to get along with the socialists that are ruining this country. It’s an ugly mood these days, and you don’t have to like it, but it is good to understand why things are so fierce.

  • Corey S

    Just because I’m stating facts doesn’t mean that I’m assigning responsibility to anyone. Given that I’m talking about 31 years, there are inevitably many factors that has gone into this.

    The country doesn’t just have rich and poor people. Most people are hard-working middle-class folks trying to make a living, raise a family, and have a decent life.

    So I’m confused. Why is my concern for working-class and middle-class people an issue?

  • Repair_Man_Jack

    Why yes. William Jefferson Clinton, who was C-in-C when the original service contracts under which they operted in Iraq and Afghanistan were definitized and signed, seemed to hold their professional integrity in very high regard. Thank you for asking and have a wonderful day here at RS.com.

  • gekster

    And it seams that you fault management for the plight of the working poor.

    Your statement:
    “Did you know that people who aren?t in management positions ? i.e., ordinary hard-working Americans ? are earning a bit less, adjusted for inflation, than they were in 1979?”
    leads me to believe that you don’t like management much.

  • http://908StraightSt.wordpress.com/ mbecker908

    You don’t give a tinkers dam about the middle class. You’re whiney punk with no appreciation for or understanding of how the free market works. You’ve made that obvious in your previous pathetic attempts at trolling here.

    Tell ya what. Write a diary about what you think the economic landscape should look like.

  • http://www.hakubi.us/ Neil Stevens

    Update your talking points. Please.

  • Bill S

    We have an advertised bias for conservative Republicans. We could care less about leftist crapola like you spouted. Now toddle back to DKos and whine about how the big bad Redstaters banned you.