A major battle is raging in Chicago about Obama’s presidential center and library. You don’t hear much about it in the media because the people who are fighting it are liberals. Since there’s no Republican to blame, the media ignores the story.
Even so, the situation is pretty serious and now even involves a federal lawsuit.
The Chicago Tribune reports:
Federal lawsuit accuses Obama center organizers of pulling an ‘institutional bait and switch’
A federal lawsuit filed by a Chicago nonprofit in an attempt to block the Obama Presidential Center from being built in Jackson Park accuses organizers of pulling an “institutional bait and switch” by shifting the center’s purpose away from being a true presidential library.
Protect Our Parks Inc. also claims in its lawsuit, which was filed in U.S. District Court on Monday, that the Chicago Park District and the City of Chicago don’t have the authority to transfer public parkland to nongovernmental entity such as the Obama Foundation.
It has long been expected that the Park District would sell the land to the city for a nominal amount and the city would enter into a long-term lease with the Obama Foundation. The lawsuit, which also names three Chicago-area residents as plaintiffs, argues that such a maneuver would violate state law and represents “a short con shell game, a corrupt scheme to deceive and seemingly legitimize an illegal land grab.”
“The City and Park District clearly realize and fully understand that this established law precludes the Park District from arbitrarily transferring possession, use and control of this dedicated ‘open, clear and free’ public parkland in Jackson Park to a private nongovernmental … entity’s self-determined use,” the complaint says.
Ultimately, this lawsuit probably won’t matter. As history as demonstrated, Obama usually gets what he wants. There’s no way his center will be denied in Chicago.
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