Written By : Sister Toldjah

A federal investigation into a company that did business with the state of New Mexico has spurred Obama’s pick for Commerce Sec. Bill Richardson to withdraw his nomination.

And from the IHT, word on a possible quid pro quo scandal involving Obama’s nominee for Sec. of State Hillary Clinton:

WASHINGTON: A developer in New York state donated $100,000 to former President Bill Clinton’s foundation in November 2004, around the same time that Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton helped secure millions of dollars in federal assistance for the businessman’s mall project.

Hillary Clinton helped enact legislation allowing the developer, Robert Congel, to use tax-exempt bonds to help finance the construction of the Destiny USA entertainment and shopping complex, an expansion of the Carousel Center in Syracuse.

She also helped secure a provision in a highway bill that set aside $5 million for Destiny USA roadway construction.

The bill with the tax-free bonds provision became law in October 2004, weeks before the donation, and the highway bill with the set-aside became law in August 2005, about nine months after the donation.

Congel and Philippe Reines, a spokesman for Hillary Clinton, both said there was no connection between his donation and her legislative work on his project’s behalf. Reines said the senator had supported the expansion of Carousel mall “purely as part of her unwavering commitment to improving upstate New York’s struggling economy, and nothing more.”

Bits Blog has more on the developing Clinton story.

Add this to the controversy surrounding Obama COS Rahm Emanuel’s multiple contacts with the recently indicted Gov. of Illinois, and you’ve got a recipe for a rough start for the administration that promised to stop “business as usual” in Washington, DC. Now if only word could get out about how Carol Browner, Obama’s choice for “energy czarina,” is a member of Socialist International’s Commission for a Sustainable World Society (h/t: Pete) …

Cross-posted from the Sister Toldjah blog.

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