How Much did it Cost Hillary to Buy the Endorsement of the Mayor of Flint, MI?

On January 19th, Mayor Karen Weaver endorsed Hillary Clinton. This was certainly beneficial to Clinton, because though she lost the state of Michigan to Bernie, she won Genesee County, which includes Flint. Obviously, the Mayor's endorsement didn't hurt. So, what did Mayor Weaver receive for the service she rendered?

Answer: $500,000, announced on March 6, 2016, just two days before the Michigan primary was held.

The Flint WaterWorks initiative, a program that will help provide young people with jobs to assist those impacted by the water crisis, was announced on Sunday by Flint mayor Karen Weaver and former first daughter Chelsea Clinton.

A story from the Detroit Free Press revealed that the project was created through a $500,000 donation from J.B. and M.K. Pritzker, who are among the top donors to outside groups that support the former Secretary of State.

So, in essence, Hillary got one of the top donors to her candidacy to come up with the money necessary to pay Mayor Weaver for her timely endorsement. Just out of curiosity, how much money have the Prizkers contributed to a Super Pac that supports Hillary Clinton? Two Million, Eight Hundred Thousand Dollars ($2.8 Million) to Priorities USA Action. The only candidate this Super Pac supports is Hillary Clinton, and the Pritzkers are determined to spend whatever it takes to see her elected President.

Pritzker and his wife, Mary Kathryn (known as M.K.), are among the top five donors to outside spending groups backing Clinton, contributing more than $2.8 million to Priorities USA, a political action committee (PAC) that supports Clinton and can legally take unlimited donations. Pritzker and his wife, who each donated $1 million in January, will contribute more, he says, if necessary. He declined to say exactly how much he’s willing to spend, but the 51-year-old Chicagoan, who is worth an estimated $3.3 billion, is calling this election “one of the most important of my life.”

I can't imagine why a billionaire might consider Hillary Clinton a better candidate as the Democratic nominee than Bernie Sanders, can you? Well, maybe Sanders' proposal to raise taxes on the upper 1% and corporations didn't sit well with him. Maybe that has something to do with it.

It should be noted that this Pritzker foundation's $500,000 grant was not contributed directly to the City of Flint but to an organization controlled by Mayor Weaver and Chelsea Clinton:

According to Weaver, the Flint WaterWorks initiative was developed in partnership with Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, whose team helped the mayor establish the public-private partnership program.

The initiative is being started with a $500,000 contribution from J.B. and M.K. Pritzker to the Community Foundation of Greater Flint.

"For my mother and for me, this is not political," Chelsea Clinton said at a news conference. "It is deeply personal and I think it should be personal to every American. ... (We want) to see the children of Flint as our children and to see the youth in Flint, as the mayor says, as being a promising youth for Flint and really our country."

Of course it is not political! Just because Hillary was publicly asking her supporters to contribute to the Community Foundation of Greater Flint back in February, a group with which Mayor Weaver has long had close ties did not make it political. And the fact that this Clinton/Weaver Flint Waterworks Initiative was announced two days prior to the primary election in Michigan, one where Hillary hoped her victory would knock Bernie Sanders out of the race, could not possibly be political. No sirree bob!

I absolutely believe Chelsea Clinton when she said this was a very personal matter for her and her mother. After all, what could be more personal than doing whatever it takes to ensure Hillary wins the Presidential election in November? And if that means getting her good friend, "The other Mayor of Chicago," to dig into his deep pockets to pay for it, so what? I'm sure it was personal to him, as well.

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since I am here and not there I can say that.

The rest of my thoughts are NOT appropriate to share anywhere online.

Just makes me sick.

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Sea Turtle

gulfgal98's picture

how I would describe them. They shake down politicians for endorsements, they shake down companies and countries for funds/donations, and they have used their positions in the government to enrich themselves. They are all disgusting people.

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Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

the Clinton cartel. Quid pro quo? Who can know, for sure, but the appearance is at a minimum mighty suspicious. They seem beyond concern about appearances at this point. "Win at any cost" is on full display.

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"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." --Jiddu Krishnamurti

Does anyone still support them? Low information voters and corrupt traditional media, I suspect. For now the internet is really the only way to get a broad view and good information. Today I looked at the CNN political page and not a single article headline mentioned Sanders. I also watched them pre-announce Hillary's victory in Arizona apparently only from early ballots and while thousands of people were still waiting in line at the polls. That should be criminal and actually prosecuted.

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Martha Pearce-Smith's picture

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First Nations News

Lisa Lockwood's picture

but it sure as hell buys lots of other stuff.

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"When the powerless are shut out of the media, we will make the media irrelevant" ~Anonymous~

inquiring minds want to know.

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******************************

Muerte al fascismo. Muerte a la tiranía. colapso total de los que promueven tampoco. A la pared con el unico porciento%

Steven D's picture

Hope to have more tomorrow or the day after.

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"You can't just leave those who created the problem in charge of the solution."---Tyree Scott

Ask them if honesty matters. Then ask them if Hillary should release the transcripts to the Goldman Sachs speeches.

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Gerrit's picture

Crook." Nixon is running on both sides of the house in 2016, eh?

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Resilience: practical action to improve things we can control.
3D+: developing language for postmodern spirituality.

Bollox Ref's picture

"For my mother and for me, this is not political," Chelsea Clinton said at a news conference.

Barf-inducing stuff.

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Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.

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thanatokephaloides's picture

How many pinocchios is that worth?

6.022E+23

(Everybody's got Avogadro's Number!)

Wink

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"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

Bulldawg's picture

YOU'RE a MOLE!!! #chemistryhumor.

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“Socialism never took root in America because the poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires.” - John Steinbeck

Bollox Ref's picture

...

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Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.

PennBrian's picture

I also thought the endorsement from the Ferguson, MO mother on the day of the MO primary was suspicious. It read "I trust her" which is too perfectly calibrated to offset Hillary's most poll-tested obvious negative.

Has Hillary -ever- mentioned Flint since she lost Michigan? I thought she'd be spending more time there, you know, helping and stuff... No? Biggrin

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Bollox Ref's picture

Has Hillary -ever- mentioned Flint since she lost Michigan? I thought she'd be spending more time there, you know, helping and stuff... No?

Especially, as Chelsea said, this stuff isn't political.........

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Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.

did sound oddly coached.

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

MsGrin's picture

It was last fall, I think before the first debate. He promised her mother that he would say her name, and he did at the debate right after their accidental meeting. He left her family to their own grief and privacy. He made zero bones about having met with them, made no political hay. It was a friend of the family who was with them who posted the photo on FB - a pic the family asked to have taken. Sanders could have turned that into political gold and he did not. I so deeply respect that. THAT is evidence that he felt that was personal rather than political.

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'What we are left with is an agency mandated to ensure transparency and disclosure that is actually working to keep the public in the dark' - Ann M. Ravel, former FEC member

Bernie gets it from me. Didn't really know much about him until recently, start of the primaries, but the more I learned and the more I heard the better I liked him and his positions. He is an honest man in favor of the American people with no obligation to corporate interests, their lobbyists or the ultra wealthy they represent.

Time for change is now.

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Bisbonian's picture

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"I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.” —Malcolm X

I read about all of this when the primary was going on in MIchigan. The Mayor appeared to be desperate for whatever she could get. I don't know if it is because she is new or it is just her.

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"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon

Bollox Ref's picture

Cock-up of a post. I was attempting to reply above.

But thanks for the vote.

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Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.

RantingRooster's picture

should be treated as a crime against humanity. Tens of thousands have been poisoned while some have died of disease from the water supply switch.

Argh....pisses me off to no end!

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C99, my refuge from an insane world. #ForceTheVote

gulfgal98's picture

Thank you for saying that.

And kudos to having a diary front paged after you were banned. Dirol

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Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

TrueBlueinWDC's picture

... When Genesse County was leaning Bernie during the primary. Did you see her press conference? Perhaps she was afraid something might jeopardize the funds. But I am so pleased that the residents of Flint will (hopefully) see some of the benefits of that money (don't bring up Haiti). It's a shame it took an election year to bring their plight to national attention. Unfortunately, so many other cities in the US face similar problems with their water, too. We need Bernie's infrastructure job plan!

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"Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change." Stephen Hawking

NEW: http://www.twitter.com/trueblueinwdc

Great job of digging underneath the surface news. Chelsea is a tool.

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

How much did it cost to buy off Markos. That's a question that's been on my mind a lot recently, especially considering his 2008 post about Hillary.
#WhichMarkos #HowMuchMarkos

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With their hearts they turned to each others heart for refuge
In troubled years that came before the deluge
*Jackson Browne, 1974, Before the Deluge https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SX-HFcSIoU

for a while now, too.

I don't know enough about him to guess what his sellout price would be though.

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'Well, I've wrestled with reality for thirty five years, Doctor, and I’m happy to state I finally won out over it." Elwood P. Dowd "

PennBrian's picture

His website gets less views in a month than most Adele videos get in an hour.

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as insider status -- he wants to be inside the gates he once wanted to crash.

He'll get the strategic "leaks" that benefit both the site and the Clinton Administration, and his website will be known as the place to go for that sort of information.

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Bulldawg's picture

A job in the Clinton White House is my guess.

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“Socialism never took root in America because the poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires.” - John Steinbeck

NWIA's picture

If Christie had thought of this, he might still be a viable candidate, rather than tossing everything to bung up traffic. Damn, her evil is so mellow and smiley.

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ppnortney's picture

I understand this has always been and will always be the way things roll.

I only wish people who want to assume leadership positions at least made an EFFORT not to be so obvious about it, so that those of us inclined to be cynical could only suppose there's a connection while those who want to believe we're not living in a hopelessly corrupt country could hold onto some illusions.

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The smaller the mind the greater the conceit. --Aesop

NWIA's picture

And just what are the Pritzkers expecting for this?

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that Penny Pritzker, part of the same family, has an estimated worth of $2.4 billion. She is the Secretary of Commerce.

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From either the debate in flint or the night of the primary (I forget which now) that seemed to indicate that the mayor's endorsement was bought.

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Steven D's picture

is just a drop in the bucket for what those folks need. I spoke to a someone today who lives in Flint and his last water bill (yes they are still charging people for dirty, lead infested, carcinogenic water) was over $1,200.

That $500,000 will go fast, and I wonder how much of it will actually reach the intended recipients.

This is like a Potemkin village effort.

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"You can't just leave those who created the problem in charge of the solution."---Tyree Scott

seefleur's picture

have less of a stench than this Clinton-based quid pro quo. Thank you for posting this.

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Think off-center.
George Carlin

hester's picture

I have no idea how you know who the HRC moles are but kudos to you for that as well.

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Don't believe everything you think.

tourniquet's picture

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GIANT ALL-CAPS SIG

mjsmeme's picture

Cafe in Chicago to convince the mother's of kids killed by cops of her sincerity and to publicly endorse her. http://chicago.suntimes.com/news/hillary-clinton-meets-with-moms-of-chic....

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mileser's picture

I hate what has become of our country. Flint mayor definitely sold herself cheap. America so much looking more and more like the end of the USSR. The privileged classes holding on tenaciously while everything crumbles around them and the people suffer.

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-9.75, -8.21

Penny Pritzker, billionaire Chicago banker hooked up with a promising Chicago politician a few years back. She introduced him to the Rubin banking folks who bankrolled his rise to POTUS.
They all got paid back when the banksters couldn't be prosecuted for their frauds. Penny is now Sec. of Commerce & helped HRC write the TPP deal.
It is now HRC's turn to receive the largesse of the the same folks.
I'm through with the Dem's if HRC gets the nomination.

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chuck utzman

TULSI 2020

josb's picture

and it's finally paying off. She has been carefully crafting this image that people now have of her, which will likely drag her across the finish line. It's not accurate, but it clearly motivates a lot of people. They "know" Clinton. The truth doesn't really matter to them - they respond to this image the same way they buy detergent. They don't know what is in it, they pick it based on how the ad makes them feel. It's all mostly marketing, except for the few on sites like these that pay attention. But we are the minority.

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"For my mother and for me, this is not political," Chelsea Clinton said at a news conference. "It is deeply personal and I think it should be personal to every American. ... (We want) to see the children of Flint as our children and to see the youth in Flint, as the mayor says, as being a promising youth for Flint and really our country."

Michael Moore grew up in Flint. He pointed out, in his post calling for the arrest of Rick Snyder, that all the help in the world is too late at this point. This is lead poisoning, and there's no fixing it. Any kids with chronic lead poisoning will grow up with an average of 20 points lower IQ. Given this fact, I find Chelsea Clinton's statement above to be one of the most callous, disconnected, and shallow things I have ever heard in all my years of following politics. Words fail me.

But then again, words apparently fail her, as well. English is your first language, Chelsea. You have no excuse. Dubya Bush is not a good model.

Snyder is responsible for this. When you use your dictatorial powers to circumvent democratically-elected local governments, and appoint your minions, for which there was no oversight, recourse, and precious little vetting, you are responsible, Rick Snyder. The buck stops in your lap.

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"Capitalism is the extraordinary belief that the nastiest of men for the nastiest of motives will somehow work for the benefit of all."
- John Maynard Keynes

Alison Wunderland's picture

why have a news conference mentioning anything about it?

JH Kuntzler calls it "an inter-connected web of mafias."

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Your child and child-to-be live in multi-million dollar digs.
I want to see you make those lead-poisoned children of Flint your children.

Seriously, is lying hereditary or is Chelsea just very well trained by experts?

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I'm not surprised she's turned out as she has. Her lifestyle reflects the milieu she grew up in. What kind of role models did she have?

Then, consider her father-in-law, Edward Mezvinsky. From Wikipedia "In March 2001, Mezvinsky was indicted and later pleaded guilty to 31 of 69 felony charges of bank fraud, mail fraud, and wire fraud.

snip

"Mezvinsky, Federal Bureau of Prisons # 55040-066, was released in April 2008. He remained on federal probation until 2011, and as of 2010 still owed $9.4 million in restitution to his victims."

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