Obama pays 17-year-old parking tickets

[JCMach1]

BOSTON (Reuters) - As he prepared to announce his campaign for the White House, Democratic Sen. Barack Obama (news, bio, voting record) took care of some unfinished business at Harvard University -- paying about $400 in parking fines dating back to his days as a law student.
ADVERTISEMENT

Two weeks before the Illinois senator officially entered the presidential race on February 10, he paid parking fines he received while attending Harvard Law School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, a Cambridge city official said on Thursday... http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070308/us_nm/usa_obama_fines_dc



RIGHT WING SPIN WILL ARRIVE IN 3...2...1...

[Tiggeroshii]

1. Holy shit

Dude, they really are digging up as much shit as they can find.

And this is just the press... wait until the right wing starts to reall get into gear...

[rebel with a cause]

23. The press is the right wing, due to corporation ownership!

Or haven't you heard, the liberal media is going, going, gone. :shrug: JMHO

[PassingFair]

37. Marlboro's and past due parking tickets.

Is this guy ME?

I like him more and more each day!

:)

[niyad]

2. and this is important WHY? seriously, I know what you are getting at, and it's a great distraction

from iraq, afghanistan, walter reed, the deficit, iran, libby, etc., especially since anna nicole is buried.

[JCMach1]

5. RW Media knows any negative is a postive....

Remember what they did to Dean???

[A Simple Game]

28. Oh my God! I don't believe it.

Something happened to Anna Nicole?

[Ishoutandscream2]

3. "What will we tell the children?!!"

[ShortnFiery]

4. Devastating News, aye?

:eyes:

[Fridays Child]

6. Scandal!

:rofl:

[JCMach1]

9. You laugh, but think how this will play into negative stereotypes used by the RW

They are seriously out to get this guy now.

[Fridays Child]

16. For Harvard parking tickets?

It would be their undoing, I think.

[JCMach1]

42. watch if this doesn't get mentioned in MSM

[Fridays Child]

43. It already has been.

The CNN newsies made light of it.

[goclark]

59. And Rudy has been married 3 x's and kid doesn't respect him

I'll take the parking tickets.

[Bjornsdotter]

7. Omg!

...next it will over due library books!

What will we tell the children?

Cheers

[Judi Lynn]

13. This could wreck him. He should have thought about this earlier.

Scofflaw!

Keep the children well occupied until this national nightmare has passed. No reason to worry, confuse them.

[Maine-i-acs]

8. You can tell he's a Dem

A Repub would have had a family member or well-connected friend make the tickets go away.

[MAGICBULLET]

45. VERY true!

They'll do anything to get their little racist message across. You should see what freepers say about Obama's wife...

[never cry wolf]

69. Welcome to DU

:hi:

[CJCRANE]

10. I heard there's a bigger story

about to break about the unpaid fees on his overdue library books.

[JCMach1]

11. God forbid he was late on his ACLU Dues....

[Coyote_Bandit]

12. I've known folks here

who were slightly delinquent paying municipal parking or traffic tickets.

One was carted off to jail after a routine traffic stop because an arrest warrant had been issued for unpaid parking tickets.

The other was working her minimum wage job as a retail clerk when the cops came and handcuffed her and carried her off to jail because an arrest warrant had been issued for unpaid parking tickets. Need I mention that after that fiasco she was fired from her crappy job?

In both cases municipal court appearances were made mandatory. Both were required to post bail to secure their release from jail. In both cases the court costs, fees and penalties assessed were many times greater than the initial fines for the infraction. What sould have been a fairly minor matter became a costly problem for both of these folks.

Just sayin'....

[rodeodance]

15. In WI---they send memo to car Licensing Dept and you will not get a re-

newal sticker---happened to me once and then a cop stopped me. 160.00 for nonrenewal!!!!!!!!!!!

[rebel with a cause]

26. College/university parking/traffic tickets are different.

They do not go into public records or to the court. They come easy, university police are usually made up of students and some can be really gung-ho in giving tickets for "illegal parking". I had several of those and I got a traffic ticket on my last day on campus in 2002 for going 2 mph over the speed limit. Yes, 2mph! I was broke and out of work. The guy that gave me the ticket, seeing I was upset, told me that I could take as long as I wanted to pay it off, there were no repercussions for even not paying. It was basically a slap on the hand. It took me quite a few months, about 10, before I paid it with my income tax return. But then I am an old woman, if I had been young I would have walked away and said to heck with it. Hey, I might even do that if it happened today.

[Coyote_Bandit]

39. When I was in college

Non-payment of university traffic fines including parking tickets did carry punitive measures. Among them was the withholding of transcripts. Had I gone without paying a parking ticket I would not have been able to provide a certified copy of my transcripts to the Board of Bar Examiners and I would not have been permitted to sit for the bar exam. Apparently Harvard law does not hold its students to the same standards. Pity. Had they done so the fashionable handsome young Obama would have long ago paid those parking tickets. And we would not be having this discussion.

I have ten years of college and three graduate degrees. My bachelors was earned in the early 80's at a private university. My most recent degree was earned in 2001 at a state university. Every college I have attended had punitive measures for nonpayment of traffic fines.

For what it's worth, campus cops are not the only overzealous enforcement officials. I was once stopped and ticketed by a real cop in a small town for going one mile an hour over the speed limit. It was just after Thanksgiving and at the end of the month. Jerk actually had the nerve to tell me as he was writing the ticket that he had a quota to meet. I had a passenger who witnessed the exchange. A phone call to the prosecutor indicating that I intended to challenge the citation and questioning the accuracy of the radar and documentation of its calibration and maintenance history resulted in the dismissal of that ticket.

[rebel with a cause]

44. Yeah, there was the holding of the transcripts!

Sorry about that. :blush: That is why I paid it. But that was the only thing they did about it.

Small town, speed traps, I know them well. We have quite a few of them here. Glad you got it taken care of.

The worst case of police stupidity I have ever seen was one night when my then husband, a Latino, went out to move our car from being parked in the street in front of our house into our drive way. A policeman that was parked a little way from there, we lived in a nice neighborhood and next to a school, came racing up and pulled him out of the car. I saw the flashing lights outside and was shocked to see my then husband leaning over the car while the cop frisked him. When the police saw me, a white woman, he got back in his car and left. Our neighbor was on the police commission/board and that next week the policeman was forced to come to our house and give my then husband an apology. My ex husband still lives in that town. Not me.

[Coyote_Bandit]

46. I have a theory

about cops, and various sorts of security personnel. I think their job gives them a sense of power and authority over other folks. Without that I think many of thm oare very insecure. And because they hold positions where they can exercise power over other folks too many seem to abuse their authority. Psych testing should be mandated for cops on an ongoing basis. Partly because of the authority issue and partly because of their repeated exposure to traumatic events.

I know somebody here who was ticketed for failure to obey a traffic device earlier this year. Seems the cop observed them slide through a residential stop sign on an untreated street during the ice storm earlier this year. Had he been looking at the tires he would have seen they were not turning. No reprieve or appologies for that one.

Glad your ex got an appology. Glad you left that town. Presumably for better less bigoted digs.

[rebel with a cause]

49. I agree with your theory and the psych testing.

Yes, even though the town we live in now is not as racially ideal as I would like, it is still better than the one we left. We much prefer the bigger university town of Carbondale, but it is cheaper to live here in a small neighboring town. Sometimes I wish I was rich, or at least had enough money not to worry about things. ;-)

[Coyote_Bandit]

54. Yes indeed

we share many of the same hopes.

I'm in Oklahoma right now. I'm trying to re-invent myself and acquire some new job skills. I'm doing so with the intent of relocating elsewhere and starting my own small business.

[rebel with a cause]

55. Good luck!

[pokercat999]

58. When I was just out of the Army in 1975 I worked as a

campus cop for very short time at Rider University in NJ. Our main focus was to hand out parking tickets......all day long. Diplomas were withheld until parking tickets were paid. It was a good source of revenue for the university.....I left in part because of this ridiculous policy.

A much more serious problem was that Frat Brothers and Sisters were treated completely different than regular students by law enforcement officials. The chief was retired FBI and actually stated to me I could not enter a Frat House or obtain a search warrant (I had proof of a crime) because the perp was a Frat Brother. The chief's actual statement was something to the effect of "Do you know how much money those fraternities bring to this campus?" I left the next day, I was only 24 and just a couple of months out of the Army. Today I would arrest the chief....with pleasure.

[rebel with a cause]

64. thanks, you proved what I suspected all along.

I know that tickets were plentiful on our campus for us commuters, who had no choice but park somewhere on campus to go to class.

[rocktivity]

51. Recently, I paid a ticket online for a broken brake light

I make two copies of the receipt and keep one in my car!

:headbang:
rocknation

[Wickerman]

14. I wonder what the statute of limitations is on parking offenses

in MA?

I'm not saying he shouldn't have paid them, just saying ya got yer mountains and ya got molehills and ya got someone with too much time on their hands when shit like this is dredged up.

[Javaman]

17. Tonight on Faux news. Obama the scofflaw candidate? nt

[rec_report]

18. Parking tickets. Ok. Can we talk about the Downing St. Memo now?

And the Cheney Energy Task Force?
And a thousand other crimes of the Bush regime that Reuters 'forgets' to cover?

Well, at least Faux News has its lead story. :eyes:

[AnneD]

19. So let me get this straight....

unpaid parking tickets are enough to kick you out of a presidential race but:
vehicular manslaughter,
driving while intoxicated,
cheating on your wife, mistress,
serving divorce papers to your hospitalized wife,
getting special treatment while in the military and STILL dodging duty,
are permissable.
Next you're going to tell me a MBA from Harvard makes you know more about the Constitution than a Law degree from Harvard.

[A Simple Game]

27. Any one of the item on your list will get you disqualified from

running for President, if you are a Democrat.

They are all youthful indiscretions if you are a Republican. They are even assets to your character if you are a born again Christian Republican.

[Marie26]

20. OK, NOW he's got my vote! nt

[Hekate]

21. Oh the horror. Now about the square footage of his house... nt

[baldguy]

22. Well, this obviously disqualifies Obama from the Presidency.

(But Bush's DWIs & drugs arrests should still be kept secret.)

[frylock]

24. accountability, anyone?

Or are those standards only applied to the other party. Just sayin.

[santaclawsz]

25. Was $400 face value?

He should pay back interest on the tickets.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

33. Enjoy...

Your stay.

[Centered]

75. Oh No he/she only has 18 posts they must be a SPY

it's actually a good question was it 400.00 face value (lots of tickets) or 1 10.00 ticket with 390.00 worth of penalties? That makes a huge difference and lay off the new guy/girl.

Welcome to DU

[Raine]

29. Uh oh the crime of the century

or anyway it will be by the time the rethugs do their dirty work. x( What a crock of shit. :mad:

[EClark5483]

30. Next week on Faux news..

Were gonna see images of Obama's feces with traces of curry in them somehow linking him to the Taliban.

Desperation story if you ask me.

One thing I never understood about the conservatives. They nit pick at minor BS, make it a big issue, and totally throw the world off of the actual integrity of an individual... And for some reason... the smear campaigns work !!

Remember the CLINTON SMOKED POT smears... hell, made me wanna vote for him over and over and over...

[Solly Mack]

31. Bush would have classified the parking tickets and then claimed

national security interests prevents disclosure

[Catherine Vincent]

32. If a right winger brought this up, I would laugh in their face!

I'd also pull out my mirror and hold it up to them and say "Look at your self in the mirror as you say that again!" :rofl:

[jollyreaper2112]

34. oh my fucking gay jesus!

That is the most horrific thing I have ever heard! To think that such a man could be leading our children! Between this and John Edward's alleged faggotry, I don't know what the Democrats are thinking! I'm shocked to think that Hitlery might be one of the most moderate candidates the Dems are running. Why, this might even be worse than a blowjob between consenting adults! Oh sweet Jesus the end must be near!





*sarcasm tag broken*

[0rganism]

35. Q: what's the statute of limitations on parking fines at a private institution?

A: whatever the rightwing media hacks say it is

[goodhue]

36. This is familiar territory to those of us in MN-5

Keith Ellison had to endure a ridiculous amount of press about unpaid tickets.

[Debi]

38. Next up.....Obama's wife doesn't DO laundry

she sends out her dry cleaning :eyes:

[Ethelk2044]

40. Your Right

People will say that. They are making up any and everything.

[KansDem]

41. Well, Bush's DUI was 31 years ago...

So are we to infer that parking illegally 17 years ago renders Obama as unsuitable to be President of the United States and Leader of the Free World, but Bush's driving while shit-faced 31 years ago did not?

Actually, Bush's DUI would have been only 23-25 years prior to his candidacy for POTUS in 1998-2000

[superconnected]

47. Well he is an ASS for illegally parking so many times.

that is a lot of parking tickets. He's also an ass for not paying them.

And I won't forget now that his basic personality has the lack of respect for parking regulations.

I know why this was brought up - to smear him.

But having worked for the city and had the parking ticket servers and also worked for the courthouse including with the people who had to take the parking ticket money. My opinion is the type of person who repeatedly gets parking ticket is an out spoken asshole who doesn't give a damn about the law.

Saw too many of them.

Obama just joined them.

And yeah I know it's a smear, I just also know that type that would accumlate that much in parking tickets. They were $12 in my city 15 years ago, I bet they were less when Obama got them. He parks where he want's and ignores the rules as a compulsive habit. Now it's $75 in seattle. But then, it was peanuts.

Sorry, I like him. But the guy is a fucktard for getting that many parking tickets. It's an "I'm above the rules" personality problem.

[MGKrebs]

48. He was a college student fer cryin out loud.

College students can tend to be rebellious. It's not necessarily a bad trait in a leader.

[rebel with a cause]

50. College students can also not be able to find parking,

be late for class and in desperation park where ever they can. Have seen it many times, and have done it a few times when I was not young. Colleges do not have enough parking sometimes, and then too large of a percentage of that parking is designated for college personnel. You can have a lot of parking open but not have the right sticker to park there. Some parking is for short periods of time and if you over stay, say at an appointment with a professor, you get a ticket. It is infuriating!

[jeffrey_X]

61. Relax.

It might have only been a few tickets and the penalties and late fees have made up the majority of amount he just paid. Also you have no idea what the fuck tickets were actually for. Expired meter? BFD There are several parking ticket that really aren't that big of a deal.

Chill

[Dr Fate]

62. He needs to come clean over why he tore so many of those labels off of mattresses.

And what was he DOING around so many mattresses to begin with-HMMMMMMM?

Sleeping? A LIKELY story.

[never cry wolf]

70. damn straight... I've always wondered about those mattress tabs

Personally, I have been too chicken to pull tabs off of matresses, I am surre Obama feels the same... :sarcasm:

[MGKrebs]

71. I've heard that Chris Dodd doesn't fill out his warranty cards.

That is totally irresponsible. And he doesn't even recycle the cards! He throws them in the trash!
He should come clean now.

[superconnected]

72. I'm not going to let him off just because I'm voting for him.

It isn't one parking ticket. It's $400 bucks worth at 17 years ago prices - about 10-12 bucks in my city. He never planned to pay those tickets, he planned to keep parking wherever he wanted. Other people could bother to find a legal spot and walk further. It probably only stopped being a habit when he became a politican and cared what people think.

I'll take this for a warning sign that they're going to pull a lot more out on him. His problem likely didn't stop with habitual illegal parking and being a deadbeat when paying tickets.

[wtmusic]

76. agree

Can't we get a freaking candidate who is just all-around honest? Do they even exist?

[jakem]

80. Well it's a good thing I'm not running...

I have a 15 year old telephone bill or two kicking around out there.
God forbid we talk about the time I had no cash, and ended up in the EZ Pass toll lane... I would be sunk!


What a bunch of bs on here today...

[George1984]

84. Well whoop de doo

I was in college 14 years ago, and parked where I could get a spot. I must be a bad person. Tickets back then were in the $40-$60 for the regular tickets and near $100 if you nosed near or parked over the yellow line of a handicapped spot. $400 in total for however many years at Harvard??? Give me a break. When do we go after the cocaine fuelled, drug partying Reps, or their 'good christian born again' values? Georgie??? Newt??? This is ridiculous.

[truthisfreedom]

52. Any press is good press!

OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA

[antiimperialist]

53. The media is why nobody knows anything about Giuliani

Recent polls have found that only 17-30% of Republicans know that Rudy Giuliani is pro-gay union, and pro-choice.
This is because the media is too busy publishing negative advertising against Democratic candidates.
Giuliani's positions are not negative to us, but they are to the average Republican.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

56. I wonder if he has any overdue library books ...

I'm sure * wouldn't have anything from the library.

[BootinUp]

57. lol.

This is hilarious. I don't hold it against him, it just goes to show that he is a new kid in the game.

[KingFlorez]

60. At least he never had any DUI's like the illegal resident in the White House

Good for him for paying them, it's never too late to pay fines off.

[Skink]

63. Elect this man.

:headbang:

[depakid]

65. Now, you kind of have to laugh at that

I mean really.

There are things one might criticize Obama about... yet come on.

LOL.

It almost makes me think that his staff planted this.

[rebel with a cause]

66. New attack coming on Obama.

This is ridiculous. This time it is because his pastor was not on the podium with him when he announced his choosing to run for the presidency. They are saying that this will hurt hm with the "Black voters" because Obama chose not to expose his pastor to more conservative attacks because of him. Oh well, we know who the media does not want running.:grr:

[mahatmakanejeeves]

67. I heard he didn't close the cover before striking.

Do we really want a criminal like that in the White House? It would mean the terrorists have won.

[Placebo]

68. With stories like this, I guess the "Media Love Affair/Honeymoon"...

with Obama is over, eh?

[Eurobabe]

73. This is so much more newsworthy than that illegal war. n/t

:wtf:

[truthisfreedom]

74. I bet he forgot to put down the toilet seat once or twice too.

I hope he makes good on that as well. 8^)

[DKRC]

77. 17 year old tickets v. 17 year old Congressional pages

I'll take the man who couldn't find a parking space as a college student over the one who can't find a scruple as an adult. I'd say the RWnuts are desperate for mud to sling if this is what they're hitting him with in his run for the Presidency.

[KamaAina]

78. Wait a minute! That implies that he *drives*!

Why, that polluting SOB is holding us hostage to foreign oil!

AND, he smokes, too!

I can assure you, I'll be supporting Hillary all the way!

:sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm:

[sandrakae]

79. It is kind of rude to wait 17 years to pay parking tickets.

It sure sounds like he only paid them because he is running for President.

[Ethelk2044]

81. LOL

You are very funny trying to make something out of parking tickets he got when he was in college. Next you will try to make something of him walking on the wrong side of the road.

[sandrakae]

85. It is not a funny matter to wait until you run for President to pay parking tickets.

He should have had more respect. If it is not a big deal, then why did he pay them. Obviously he felt it was important enough to finally pay them. If he is going to do something like this then he can expect the media to find out and talk about it.

[Skittles]

90. THANK YOU

the excuses being made for this are SICKENING

[Name removed]

82. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[MGKrebs]

86. Hitlery?

You sure you're in the right forum?

[gauguin57]

83. Obama pays parking tickets. GOP candidates pay ALIMONY ALIMONY ALIMONY!

And lots of it!

[Skittles]

87. people who don't pay their parking tickets SUCK

arrogant f***s - and while he was in LAW SCHOOL? BAD.

[Ethelk2044]

88. Tickets

I am glad you had money to pay tickets. Unlike others who had to struggle just to get through.

[Skittles]

89. and WHY do you assume I had money????

I worked an extra job for my money - I NEVER ignored my responsibilites - he was easily able to ignore his for SEVENTEEN YEARS

[ret5hd]

91. My god...I've never been acquanted to a saint before! I am glad to know you!

[Skittles]

92. o lord

:puke:

[ret5hd]

93. No really...You don't understand!...

I have always been a VERY responsible person also...except for once, and it has been the shame of my life. When I was younger I was moving from an apartment and the landlord gave me my deposit back with the understanding that i would vacuum the carpet. I never did. I have never talked of this before, and i am so glad to get it off my chest. There was also a very ugly incident where a store clerk gave me $.17 too much in change, but i can't bring myself to talk of THAT right now, so maybe later.

Good on ya! It is very seldom we run across soemone of your personal level of responsibility perfection, and we are better for it!

[The Animator]

94. As a former college student I can assure you.

Parking tickets are very easy to acculmulate on campus. Any campus really, they are notorious for there complete lack of student parking. I went to the University of Central Florida, about seven years ago now. Let me tell you, they had three different kinds of Parking lots. The green labeled ones were for students, and they were always packed. The Blue ones were for faculty, and they were always practically empty, and the red ones were for on campus vendors, and again completely empty. All the lots were pretty much the same size, despite the fact students outnumbered faculty about 100 to one at least. They're would never be a time when all those spaces could be filled by faculty. Hell the Faculty and Vendors could have shared one lot and still had plenty of room for all their cars, which would open up another full lot for students, who desperately needed them. It was just a waste of space, course if you parked there you would defintely get a ticket.

Some spaces you had a time limit, 15 minutes max. Course the one thing you needed to do on campus took fifteen and a half minutes... so you got a ticket. Traffic was horrible... so they redesigned the the roadways... to make it worse. I lived a mile from campus and it once took me forty-five minutes to get to class, cause I couldn't find a fucking parking space. They next day I rode my bike and got there in fifteen. I would have ridden everyday, but this is Flordia, the land of nintey degree Winters, daily monsoons at 4:30 sharp, and a bike is not the most effecient way to transport big-ass awkward art projects.

Yes, parking tickets happen. on campus they happen... alot. If it was up to me I'd have gladly told the campus ticket court to shove it.

I don't fault Obama for having this unfinished buisness with Harvard. In fact I'm glad that the media has made such a fus over this... it's very telling.

They're really trying to rip into him... cause they're scared shitless of him, he is their biggest threat... They want to destroy him... You know they've been digging, they've been trying so hard... and all they've got on him is a few unpaid parking tickets.


So they've got Jack Shit... and now, they've just let us know it.

[0rganism]

95. The interesting thing here is that it doesn't matter that he's paying them now

Sure, it's all fair game now, call it a pre-emptive PR move if you like, CYA if you don't.

Yet it doesn't matter. Sen. Obama is now officially "vulnerable" on the "respect for the law" media line item for avoiding them for 17 years, never mind that these were outstanding debts to a private institution. This is serving exactly the kind of shit that the rightwing media whores gobble up like sirloin on a gold plate, to regurgitate ad-nauseum to their faithful.

The detail that will make him vulnerable here is not that he paid the fines, but that he let them linger for 17 years. It's actually debatable which would have been worse: to pay them early on in the campaign ("Nothing to see here, move along..."), or let the opposition research dig them up so he could feign ignorance later ("What? I thought I paid those. I'll have the staff get right on it.")

Forget substance, the whole presidential campaign thing is appearance, and this looks stupid. Not highly unethical, not corrupt, just stupid.

[MGKrebs]

96. As I often say, it's usually not the initial act that is the problem,

it is the response.

Everybody has something they can be attacked on, and even if they don't the right wing will make something up. It is how the candidate responds that is the test people will be looking for. Kerry failed this test last time.

[Ethelk2044]

97. Then you are stating All Candidates are at state

Because 9 out of 10 chances they have all received tickets. Therefore they have all broke the law.