Obama and the Annenberg Files: The Mystery Deepens

Excerpt:

Last month when National Review reporter Stanley Kurtz tried to review the files, the university blocked that request –ostensibly to review the terms of the record gift. That explanation may not be fully correct, however. A third year law student (Jason Wilcox) who was working with Steve Diamond, publisher of the blog site Global Labor and Politics, which has played a lead role in exposing the work of the CAC , made a Freedom of Information request to which he received a response. That reply reveals that Kenneth Rolling, the CAC’s former executive director and an associate of Barack Obama, contacted the university and induced them initially to refuse Kurtz’ request.

There is a question about whether someone at the University itself actually tipped Rolling off to the request by Mr. Kurtz to open the records for public viewing. Rolling claims that he saw references to the records on the internet on August 11 and contacted the University in order to prevent confidential information like credit card numbers and social security information from being disseminated.

But did he?

Steve Diamond has been able to confirm that Mr. Kurtz made his request to the UniversiUICty on August 11 — the same day Rolling claims to have seen references to the documents on the internet. Coincidence? Or a hint that Mr. Rolling was contacted by someone from the University or the library and informed that the records were about to go public?

The University, having reviewed the board minutes of the CAC in which the members had agreed to turn over the records to UIC, determined it had the right to open the records and it held nothing back.

Rolling, however, continues to assert that the gift to the university was never executed, that the University had no right to release the records, and he is threatening to block Stanley Kurtz from publishing what he’s found in the records.

I asked Steve Diamond to explain what the present situation is and he responded:

“Rolling also told the Tribune he is thinking of suing to block the documents that Kurtz is using for a story.

The Tribune was also told that someone else accessed the records this past summer.

Rolling said he saw reports about CAC records on the web and unilaterally called UIC. But the only reports all summer about the CAC records were mine based on what I clearly identified as CAC records provided by Brown University not UIC.

However, soon after I posted my analysis on June 18 based on those records Brown stopped answering my email inquiries, while until then they had been very responsive.

I have now asked them if they were also contacted by anyone associated with the CAC.”

Tom Maguire smells a rat:

Kurtz went public with the library’s evasions on August 18. By his account Mr. Kurtz had been in discussions with the library and had made an appointment to view the documents prior to the 18th.

So why did Mr. Rolling contact the library on the 11th? Was his spider sense tingling? Or did someone at the library mention to him that the Annenberg Challenge files were in play? One might think that the library spokesperson could address the question of whether someone from the library contacted Mr. Rolling, thereby precipitating his call.

The only thing that’s transparent about Obama is that he and his friends are anything but. Undoubtedly there’s a good reason for that.

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