Family ties aid Obama applicants

[easymoney]

Need a job? Under President Barack Obama, as with presidents before him, it doesn’t hurt to have the right last name.

Obama’s promise of changing Washington hasn’t extended to banishing the age-old practice of giving plum posts to relatives of your top supporters — as he’s done with the relatives of a half-dozen well-connected Democrats.

They’re well-known names in Democratic politics — Kerry, Clyburn, Hamilton, Gregoire, Mikva and Emanuel — but have received little attention because they’re not taking jobs in the senior-most ranks of the government. They are:

• Cameron Kerry, the brother of an early Obama backer, Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, who has been tapped as chief counsel at the Commerce Department
• Mignon Clyburn, daughter of House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn of South Carolina, who received a coveted appointment to the Federal Communications Commission

• David Hamilton, nephew of former congressman and Democratic elder statesman Lee Hamilton, who was appointed to an appellate judgeship

• Courtney Gregoire, daughter of Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire, who last week was tapped as director of legislative affairs at Commerce

• Laurie Mikva, daughter of legendary former Chicago judge and Congressman Abner Mikva, who was appointed to the board of the Legal Services Corporation, which provides legal aid to low-income people

• And Ezekiel Emanuel, brother of White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, who is a special adviser on health care to OMB Director Peter Orszag

There are federal nepotism laws barring public officials from hiring relatives in their agency or area of jurisdiction, but Obama has not instituted any specific ethics rules regarding the relatives of other prominent officials.

Family ties aid Obama applicants - Jonathan Martin - POLITICO.com

Crony Watch

By Michelle Malkin • May 12, 2009 10:40 AM

Three items from the Era of Hope and Change:
1) Team Obama pays back the Daley Machine. White House lobbies for the Olympics in Chicago.
2) Nepotism here, nepotism there, nepotism everywhere.
3) Shocker! Murtha’s nephew used the Murtha name, after all!

Michelle Malkin Crony Watch

Guess anything goes in the chicago whitehouse?