ethics blindness" in the Obama administration

You pay ... Obama reaps the royalties

Russ Jones and Jody Brown - OneNewsNow - 11/1/2011 4:10:00 AM

Federal purchasing records show taxpayer dollars have been used that profit President Barack Obama. A DC-based watchdog group is calling into question the ethics of the recent findings.

The U.S. State Department has used more than $70,000 in federal funds to purchase copies of Dreams from My Father, written by President Obama. The book, released more than a decade ago, has been used as Christmas gifts and sent to various embassies around the world and to stock "key libraries."

Gary Bauer, president of American Values, describes the purchase and distribution of those books as "yet another example of ethics blindness" in the Obama administration.

"It is absolutely amazing to me that anybody in the State Department or at an embassy would've thought that there was no conflict of interest or other kind of ethical problem in buying thousands of copies of the president's book and distributing them," Bauer states. "It's definitely the kind of thing that I think is driving people around the country nuts about the ethical standards of Washington, DC, compared to how most people have to live their lives."

A member of Congress also takes issue with the purchase and distribution of the president's book. In a letter to the White House yesterday, Congressman David Schweikert (R-Arizona) asked that the purchases be stopped.

"At a time of record deficits and a heightened need to cut government spending, it is clear that spending taxpayer money in this manner is inappropriate," states the congressman's letter. "Furthermore ... receiving royalties from government purchases of your book is exactly the type of out-of-touch Washington behavior that the American people are weary of and will no longer tolerate." Obama is said to profit roughly $6,000 in royalties from the purchases.

According to the White House, the books were handed out to "help broker talks on important foreign-policy matters" -- to which Schweikert responded on Fox News this morning that it would make more sense to distribute literature on the "greatness of America" instead of something with a "left-wing" slant.

The Washington Times reports State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters the decision to buy the books did not come from anyone in Washington.