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former chief of staff for the Illinois state public health department pleaded guilty Thursday to stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxpayer money through a kickback scheme that began when Dr. Eric E. Whitaker, a close friend of President Barack Obama, headed the agency. Whitaker brought in Quinshaunta R. Golden, a niece of U.S. Rep. Danny Davis, D-Ill., as his top aide in 2003 after then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich hired him as public health chief. Their spouses — Dr. Cheryl S. Rucker-Whitaker and Victor Golden, who is now a $111,432-a-year administrator with the Illinois Lottery — went into business together...

SPRINGFIELD—A onetime top aide to former state public health chief Dr. Eric Whitaker plans to plead guilty to bribery, theft and obstruction of justice in federal court this week in a $400,000 state grant kickback scam she is accused of trying to cover up, according to court documents the Tribune obtained. Quinshaunta Golden, 45, of Homewood, is scheduled to change her plea to guilty Thursday and has agreed to cooperate with authorities. Federal prosecutors have agreed to request a sentence of no more than 10 years and a month in prison, a copy of Golden's plea agreement shows. Whitaker, a...

Leave it to the sleazy down-home Democrats of the Midwest to steal more than $16 Million from various charities, including one for those suffering from AIDS. Also not so surprising, several of the scammers have ties to President Barack Obama, including one who happens to be related to President Obama’s friend and former pastor Jeremiah “God Damn America” Wright. The U.S. attorney’s office in Springfield has been busy the past few years investigating a variety of fraud schemes involving state grants. Thirteen people have been charged so far, six who have pleaded guilty. Two of them have ties to President...

For first lady Michelle Obama, a joyous Christmas Eve tradition briefly ran up against the harsh realities of a world where all is not calm and bright. -snip- Obama hit the links at the Kaneohe Klipper golf course at Marine Corps Base Hawaii. It's the third golf outing since he arrived on Friday. The president's golfing partners included childhood friends Bobby Titcomb and Mike Ramos, aide Marvin Nicholson; former aide Reggie Love; White House Chef Sam Kass; and Chicago friend Eric Whitaker.

MAY 30, 2012 The Chicago Way Obama’s coterie of insiders is worth a closer look this time around. By John Fund Every president comes to Washington with a coterie of outside advisers, friends, and fixers they’ve picked up during the course of a career. Eventually one or more of them becomes controversial. Richard Nixon had Bebe Rebozo. Jimmy Carter had his brother Billy and Bert Lance. Ronald Reagan had Mike Deaver. Bill Clinton had many trailing after him — they became the menagerie implicated in Whitewater and Monicagate. But Barack Obama’s inner circle has almost completely escaped close scrutiny since...

Every president comes to Washington with a coterie of outside advisers, friends, and fixers they’ve picked up during the course of a career. Eventually one or more of them becomes controversial. Richard Nixon had Bebe Rebozo. Jimmy Carter had his brother Billy and Bert Lance. Ronald Reagan had Mike Deaver. Bill Clinton had many trailing after him — they became the menagerie implicated in Whitewater and Monicagate. But Barack Obama’s inner circle has almost completely escaped close scrutiny since he became president. That may be about to change, and the rich cast of characters making up Team Obama merits...

An ally of then-Senator Barack Obama offered Rev. Jeremiah Wright $150,000 to keep his mouth shut until after the 2008 election, according to excerpts released today from the upcoming book “The Amateur” by Edward Klein. Wright, Obama’s former Chicago pastor, had become a significant political liability in the 2008 presidential campaign because of his anti-American rhetoric. Just months before the election, networks were poring over months of Wright’s sermons, which suggested that the United States deserved the Sept. 11 terror attacks. Wright has also encouraged blacks to sing “God Damn America” instead of “God Bless America.” “After the media went...

The stench of Chicago cronyism over the White House just got fouler. Inhale this: A shadowy $10 billion Obamacare agency with zero oversight just awarded first lady Michelle Obama's pet patient-dumping scheme at the University of Chicago Medical Center a $5.9 million taxpayer-funded grant. It will enable Mrs. Obama's cronies to build a government-sponsored electronic medical record-sharing system. The Chicago program, known as the Urban Health Initiative, is run by one of President Obama's closest golfing buddies, scandal magnet Eric Whitaker, who has been entangled with Illinois corruption celebrities Rod Blagojevich and Tony Rezko over the past decade. Fun fact:...

Documents obtained by The Daily Caller show that President Barack Obama’s close friend Eric Whitaker, who runs the University of Chicago Medical Center’s Urban Health Initiative, spoke at Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s Chicago-area church in 2006. Whitaker was a speaker at Wright’s Trinity United Church of Christ during a Sept. 17, 2006 “Health Care Justice Forum,” according to a church bulletin TheDC obtained. The bulletin is no longer on the church’s website. Whitaker made headline news Monday when New York Times bestselling author Edward Klein alleged during a radio interview with Sean Hannity that Whitaker offered Wright $150,000 to stay silent...

May 16, 2012 Obamacare's Patient-Dumping, Privacy-Meddling Scheme Michelle Malkin The stench of Chicago cronyism over the White House just got fouler. Inhale this: A shadowy $10 billion Obamacare agency with zero oversight just awarded first lady Michelle Obama's pet patient-dumping scheme at the University of Chicago Medical Center a $5.9 million taxpayer-funded grant. It will enable Mrs. Obama's cronies to build a government-sponsored electronic medical record-sharing system. The Chicago program, known as the Urban Health Initiative, is run by one of President Obama's closest golfing buddies, scandal magnet Eric Whitaker, who has been entangled with Illinois corruption celebrities Rod Blagojevich...

Eric Whitaker has been friends with Obama ever since...". Whitaker — who now runs the Urban Health Initiative (UHI) out of the University of Chicago Medical Center — often vacations with the first family, is a regular golf partner of Obama and has organized Chicago-area parties when the president visits the Windy City. Publicly released visitor logs show “Eric Whitaker” officially visited the White House 7 times during the Obama admin..." Whitaker had purportedly offered Rev. Jeremiah Wright — an infamous and challenging weight on Obama’s 2008 campaign — $150,000 to stay silent..."

On an appearance on Sean Hannity’s radio show on Monday, “The Amateur” author Edward Klein revealed the name of a close ally of President Barack Obama that his book alleges offered a $150,000 bribe to Rev. Jeremiah Wright to be quiet until after the 2008 election. “Well, what happened is that after ABC’s Brian Ross broadcast the video tapes of the Rev. Wright ‘God damning America’ and slamming whites and slamming Jews and America, he was contacted by one of Obama’s closest personal friends — a guy who travels on Obama’s plane, who plays basketball with him, who goes on...

many of Obama’s most liberal and costly political mistakes stemmed from Jarrett’s advice. Jarrett reportedly hatched the idea of Obama flying to Copenhagen to “make a dramatic presentation to the International Olympic Committee” for Chicago’s Olympic bid — and also encouraged Obama’s visit to “the Bay area solar company Solyndra” — despite the protestations of Lawrence Summers (who in 2009 warned against the loan guarantee) and others. Klein implies Jarrett’s pro-Solyndra position was a result of her “Chicago connections” and -- especially her close ties to the George Kaiser Family Foundation, which controlled 35.7 percent of Solyndra. The foundation had...

The Department of Health and Human Services last week announced it had awarded a $5.9 million grant to a University of Chicago Medical Center program tied to Michelle Obama and run by Eric Whitaker, one of President Obama’s closest friends. The Urban Health Initiative, which received the award, was originally based on a smaller program launched during the last decade by Michelle Obama, who was an executive at the University of Chicago Medical Center before she departed to become first lady. The UHI is headed up by Obama basketball and golf buddy Whitaker, who has known the president since Obama’s...

Barack Obama and his family enjoyed their festive getaway in Hawaii at a popular snorkelling spot with the President's best friend and long-time supporter. The President, First Lady Michelle Obama and their girls Malia, 13, and Sasha, 10, were joined on their annual trip by Marty Nesbitt - President Obama’s best friend and his 2008 campaign treasurer. The two families spent a warm and sunny afternoon at one of the most popular snorkeling spots on the island of Oahu during the festive break. It was a familiar scene for the Obamas and their children - Barack Obama and Marty Nesbitt...

Barack Obama’s three closest friends — Valerie Jarrett, Martin Nesbitt and Dr. Eric Whitaker — sat down in the study of Mr. Nesbitt’s house in Chicago for one of their increasingly frequent heart-to-hearts. ... In the presidential campaign, the Obamas had a “no new friends” rule, surrounding themselves with a coterie of familiar faces. Even if the Obamas lift that rule in Washington, newcomers are unlikely to replicate the intensity of this group’s ties, formed over more than a decade ... They vacationed together: in December, with the Obamas in Hawaii; in August, with Ms. Jarrett on Martha’s Vineyard. Mr....

With its custom red paint job, on-board TV, public-address system, game consoles and sparkling chrome tire rims, the 2003 Hummer was no ordinary vehicle. The $45,196 SUV was designed to deliver an eye-catching, AIDS-awareness message to people in poor African-American neighborhoods on behalf of the Illinois Department of Public Health, then headed by Dr. Eric E. Whitaker, one of President Barack Obama’s closest friends.Soon, though, other AIDS activists began to question how the Chicago not-for-profit organization that used the decked-out Hummer to spread its message could afford to spend money on such a vehicle. After first insisting otherwise, Whitaker aides...

E-mails and other records of Dr. Eric Whitaker -- one of President Obama's best friends -- have been subpoenaed by a federal grand jury... The investigation involves "faith-based initiatives" and health-awareness campaigns funded by the Illinois Department of Public Health when Whitaker ran the agency for former Gov. Rod Blagojevich... Obama has said he recommended Whitaker for that job, which Whitaker landed in April 2003. The president's friend resigned in October 2007 to join Obama's wife, Michelle, as an executive at the University of Chicago Medical Center. On Friday, Whitaker defended his work as the state's former top health official,...

The Sound(?) Advice of "Chief Advisor" Valerie Jarrett Advice on “green energy” czar Van Jones--- HIRE HIM!Advice on Healthcare--- DUMP and DECEIVE the POOR PUBLIC (in action, not word)Advice on Public Housing for the Poor and Underprivileged--- SCREW EM! (in action, not word) Advice on “green energy” czar Van Jones: Hire him! “Van Jones, we were so delighted to be able to recruit him into the White House, we've been watching him, really, for - he's not that old— but for as long as he's been active out of Oakland and all of the ways that he has -...

E-mails and other records of Dr. Eric Whitaker -- one of President Obama's best friends -- have been subpoenaed by a federal grand jury, the Chicago Sun-Times has learned. The investigation involves "faith-based initiatives" and health-awareness campaigns funded by the Illinois Department of Public Health when Whitaker ran the agency for former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, according to copies of subpoenas obtained under the state's Freedom of Information Act. Obama has said he recommended Whitaker for that job, which Whitaker landed in April 2003. The president's friend resigned in October 2007 to join Obama's wife, Michelle, as an executive at the...