# Obama's earmark for UCH: did he declare his interest? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [March 14, 2008, 10:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-earmark-for-uch-did-he-declare-his-interest/441346 "2008-03-14T10:20:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2008, 10:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-earmark-for-uch-did-he-declare-his-interest/441346/1 "2008-03-14T10:20:52Z")
Obama apparently requested [$1M for his wife’s hospital](http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2008/03/sweet_scoop_obama_after_initia.html). Did Obama declare his interest? Is this the smoking gun for which Clinton’s been waiting? Or was he fulfilling a promise his predecessor made? And is it a coincidence that his wife’s salary rose by almost $200K after he took office? ---
**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2008, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-earmark-for-uch-did-he-declare-his-interest/441346/2 "2008-03-14T11:36:14Z")
[QUOTE=Quartz] Obama apparently requested [$1M for his wife’s hospital](http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2008/03/sweet_scoop_obama_after_initia.html). Did Obama declare his interest? Is this the smoking gun for which Clinton’s been waiting? Or was he fulfilling a promise his predecessor made? And is it a coincidence that his wife’s salary rose by almost $200K after he took office? [/QUOTE] :o This was all covered earlier - smoking gun? For what **Quartz?** This was all done on the up and up. If you want smoking guns take a whiff of Clinton’s tax returns and Clinton Libraries. If you are looking for Dirt on Obama, this ain’t it. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2008, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-earmark-for-uch-did-he-declare-his-interest/441346/3 "2008-03-14T12:30:59Z")
[QUOTE=Phlosphr] :o This was all covered earlier - smoking gun? [/QUOTE] Ah, I must have missed it - can you point me at the thread? ---
**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2008, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-earmark-for-uch-did-he-declare-his-interest/441346/4 "2008-03-14T12:53:49Z")
Searching SDMB for earmark brings threads about Obama’s past earmarking but nothing on the particular link you provided. As one who keeps an eye on Obama’s dealings I may have confused this article with another I was reading. Sufficed to say, what you linked to and his campaigns release of his past earmarks is hardly a smoking gun, it’s more a cry to Clinton’s camp to get them to release her earmarks - which I doubt they will do any time soon. We’ll see. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2008, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-earmark-for-uch-did-he-declare-his-interest/441346/5 "2008-03-14T14:11:08Z")
[QUOTE=Quartz] Obama apparently requested [$1M for his wife’s hospital](http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2008/03/sweet_scoop_obama_after_initia.html). Did Obama declare his interest? Is this the smoking gun for which Clinton’s been waiting? Or was he fulfilling a promise his predecessor made? And is it a coincidence that his wife’s salary rose by almost $200K after he took office? [/QUOTE] Gee, that would be kinda like how Hillary made partner at the Rose law firm [only 2 years after they hired her, and just after Bill got elected governor or Arkansas](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillary_Rodham_Clinton#Early_Arkansas_years). 😃 But getting back to Obama, is there any evidence of a _quid pro quo_? There’s nothing wrong with earmarks, in and of themselves, so long as they aren’t a form of political payoff to contributors, and their overall effect on the budget is down in the white noise. I’m only going to get aggravated by one, aside from possible ethics issues, if the money’s unusually significant, and the use is unusually stupid, e.g. the Alaskan “bridge to nowhere” which woud have had a tab of roughly a half-billion dollars, IIRC. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2008, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-earmark-for-uch-did-he-declare-his-interest/441346/6 "2008-03-14T14:20:05Z")
By itself it might seem more suspicious, but requesting funds for hospitals doesn’t seem that rare for Obama: > [@](#): > > Obama Requested $2 Million For The Thorek Memorial Hospital Cancer Treatment Center. > > Obama Requested $1 Million For Alton Memorial Hospital To Support Its Riverbend Stroke Center. > > Obama Requested $4 million For The Children’s Memorial Medical Center’s Electronic Medical Record Project. > > Obama Requested $800,000 For A Training And Resource Center Of The Swedish Covenant Hospital > > Obama Requested $2.5 Million For The Children’s Hospital Of Illinois’ Replacement Project. > > Obama Requested $5 Million For Northwestern Memorial Hospital’s Prentice Woman’s Hospital. > > Obama Requested $10 Million Over Four Years, Beginning With $2.5 Million In FY 2006, For The Children’s Hospital of Illinois > > Obama Requested $1 Million For A Community Center At The Palliative CareCenter & Hospice Of The North Shore That’s over $26 million in requested earmarks for other hospital projects. For better or for worse, requesting funds for local (state) projects is what most senators do and, really, what people are expecting them to do when they ask “What has s/he done for the people of this state since s/he became senator?” With hard evidence of a _quid pro quo_, it might mean something and, certainly, those already supporting Clinton/McCain will paint it as something more than it is. Without that, it’s nothing that bothers me. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2008, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-earmark-for-uch-did-he-declare-his-interest/441346/7 "2008-03-14T14:24:59Z")
Mayhap, but did he declare his interest in this case? Should he have done so? ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2008, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-earmark-for-uch-did-he-declare-his-interest/441346/8 "2008-03-14T14:40:27Z")
[QUOTE=Quartz] Mayhap, but did he declare his interest in this case? [/quote] Beats me. > [@](#): > > Should he have done so? Probably, if only to avoid the potential claims of conflict of interest. But unless someone can prove some _quid pro quo_, it wouldn’t be a deal-breaker for me. Not even close. ---
**Author:** ![Jas09](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@Jas09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jas09)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2008, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-earmark-for-uch-did-he-declare-his-interest/441346/9 "2008-03-14T15:38:54Z")
Declare his interest to whom? The press? His Senate colleagues? The voters? Any of those people should have no difficulty finding out that Michelle Obama worked for this particular hospital. This isn’t like declaring you own stock in a company, something that is generally a private matter. He earmarked money for a local hospital, something that he did for many hospitals in the state he was representing. Hopefully this disclosure will be the first step towards making this sort of thing de rigour for presidential campaigns, but I’m not optimistic - releasing tax returns was once considered obligatory but that hasn’t stopped some from refusing to do so. ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2008, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-earmark-for-uch-did-he-declare-his-interest/441346/10 "2008-03-14T15:57:06Z")
Actually I believe it is now the law that requires disclosures on earmarks. ---
**Author:** ![sugar\_and\_spice](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e8c25b/32.png) [@sugar\_and\_spice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sugar_and_spice)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2008, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-earmark-for-uch-did-he-declare-his-interest/441346/11 "2008-03-14T18:00:54Z")
Univ. Chicago Hospitals are not only in Illinois (duh!) but also in the district that he represented as a State Senator. To repeat **Jophiel** , taking care of your own home base is not necessarily an unfavorable trait in a politician, and even if it were $1M is not really a lot of change. That fact that his wife works there is a consequence of the fact that (A) he has a smart wife and (B) his wife likes working 1 mile from her house and her childrens’ school (also see A). He is a Chicago politician so my 0.02 is that something may very well come up later on. But this is not it. ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2008, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-earmark-for-uch-did-he-declare-his-interest/441346/12 "2008-03-14T18:11:07Z")
Well going through Hillary’s earmarks…waitaminute, she hasn’t released her earmarks and is reluctant to do so. Hmmm. ---
**Author:** ![Paper\_Pusher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9adbd/32.png) [@Paper\_Pusher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paper_Pusher)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2008, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-earmark-for-uch-did-he-declare-his-interest/441346/13 "2008-03-18T03:05:06Z")
[QUOTE=Gangster Octopus] Actually I believe it is now the law that requires disclosures on earmarks. [/QUOTE] Gee, when did that happen and who sponsored the law? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc348/32.png) [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Flying_Dutchman)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2008, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-earmark-for-uch-did-he-declare-his-interest/441346/14 "2008-03-18T05:06:16Z")
[QUOTE=Jophiel] By itself it might seem more suspicious, but requesting funds for hospitals doesn’t seem that rare for Obama:That’s over $26 million in requested earmarks for other hospital projects. For better or for worse, requesting funds for local (state) projects is what most senators do and, really, what people are expecting them to do when they ask “What has s/he done for the people of this state since s/he became senator?” With hard evidence of a _quid pro quo_, it might mean something and, certainly, those already supporting Clinton/McCain will paint it as something more than it is. Without that, it’s nothing that bothers me. [/QUOTE] I thought McCain had the high ground on the ear marks issue, but if Obama got money for his state’s hospitals and McCain gets zilch for Arizona, I’m gonna have to say Obama’s done a better job as a junior senator than the veteran Senator McCain.