Former Obama aide fined $90,000 for illegally lobbying Emanuel on Uber's behalf
A former Uber senior executive who once served as Barack Obama's campaign manager has been fined $90,000 by the Chicago Board of Ethics for illegally lobbying Mayor Rahm Emanuel on behalf of the ride-sharing company.Related:
The board voted 5-0 to find that David Plouffe violated city ethics rules by failing to register as a lobbyist after contacting Emanuel to help the company on regulations for picking up travelers at Chicago's two airports.
Plouffe's lobbying violation only became public after Emanuel in December released hundreds of personal emails related to public business under the pressure of two open records lawsuits alleging the mayor violated the state's open records law.
Included was a message Plouffe sent to the mayor Nov. 20, 2015
"Assume both of us thought the airport issue was settled and we would never have to discuss again, but unfortunately two significant new hurdles were introduced," wrote Plouffe, the political strategist who managed Obama's 2008 presidential campaign and in 2015 was Uber's senior vice president of policy and strategy. "Coming to you because of their severity that would prevent us from operating. We were all set to announce Monday we were beginning pickups."
Plouffe, who like Emanuel served in the Obama White House, went on to describe concerns Uber had about pickup fees and the requirement to display an airport pickup placard in Uber vehicles....MUCH MORE
David Plouffe Leaves Uber, Joins Chan-Zuckerberg Philanthropy
From the outro to "Uber Hires A Bunch More Politicians":Uber Accuses NYC Of Snooping On Its Passengers: "They Want Full Details Of Every Trip You Ever Take"
For those playing along outside the U.S., Mr. Plouffe was the architect of President Obama's successful 2008 presidential campaign and continued working for the administration, first as an outside consultant and then as a highest-level advisor until he joined Uber in 2014.
Now where will I go for set-ups like:
I don't care who you are, David Plouffe, Kalanick, whoever, that accusation, coming from Uber, is funny.
Granted, not as funny as...
...“Plouffe said, ‘Well, you know we’re active in these markets and we’re providing a service and there is great demand in Oregon and blah blah blah,’ ” Mr. Novick said. “I said, ‘Mr. Plouffe, announcing that you’re going to break the law is not civil.’ ”
