Rush Limbaugh is talking right now on his radio
show about the widening scandal related to a teleconference
call in which the White House used the NEA to push artists to
produce pro-Obama art.
The story comes from Patrick Courrielche of Andrew Breitbart's
Big Hollywood.
What's new here is the proof Courrielche just now revealed that
the Obama White House was actually participating in and
coordinating the conference call.
It turns out Buffy Wicks, deputy director of President Obama's
White House Office of Public Engagement, was on the
teleconference call.
Wicks is a political operative who was worked with ACORN.
My sources in the progressive movement say Wicks handled the
Obama campaign in Missouri last year. Obama lost in Missouri and
activists in that state and people within the Obama campaign
placed the blame for the defeat squarely on her shoulders.
After failing to win Missouri for Obama, Wicks had a very hard
time finding a job but somehow she landed a job in the Obama
White House. It's unclear how she did that.
Wicks used to work for Wake Up Wal-Mart (wakeupwalmart.com),
which is not a formal affiliate of ACORN but is an
ACORN-sponsored spinoff group. The group works very closely with
ACORN and is modeled after ACORN's own anti-Wal-Mart affiliate
W*A*R*N* (Wal-Mart
Alliance for Reform Now).
Wake Up Wal-Mart entered into a national partnership with ACORN
in 2005. In a Wake Up Wal-Mart press release from 2005, ACORN
national president Maude Hurd said: "This is a new day in the
fight to change Wal-Mart. We have created an unprecedented,
bottom-up force for change which will demonstrate why Wal-Mart
needs to change now."
The group's legal name is Change Wal-Mart Association. It has a
Federal Employer Identification Number (FEIN) of 20-2643179. It
is a 501(c)(5) nonprofit, which means it is a labor-oriented
organization. The group was formed in 2006 but no tax return (IRS
Form 990) is available for the group at guidestar.org. This is
unusual.
Donations to the group do not appear in philanthropy databases.
Fortune reports that the group is funded entirely by
UFCW.
Nexis reports that its office address is 1775 K St. NW,
Washington DC 20006. This is the same address as the United
Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW). This is
not surprising because Wake Up Wal-Mart is a project of UFCW.
Wicks is identified as a Wake Up Wal-Mart employee in a press release
issued by the group.
