Monday, October 24, 2011

Video: Obama crony Penny Pritzker called out at OccupyChicago by union speaker

Obviously I need to work on my video skills. But videotaping at night--with an oblivious person holding a sign near me, presents challenges.

Chicago billionaire Penny Pritzker was the national co-chair of Barack Obama's first presidential campaign committee, she was the co-chair for his inaugural committee, and was briefly considered to be his Commerce secretary. The latter fell through after her role in the 2001 collapse of a subprime lender, Superior Bank of Chicago, became widely known. Lynn Sweet of the Chicago Sun-Times wrote three years ago that 1,400 customers lost money after Superior went belly-up.

Penny the dollar-loser is known to OccupyChicago now.



"That's why we're out here together with everyone here in Chicago demanding that billionaires like Penny Pritzker pay their taxes," a UNITE HERE union member told a crowd of about 1,000 two nights ago in Grant Park.

Members of UNITE HERE held a one day strike at various Pritzker family run-Hyatt hotels in July. On a hot day, the heat lamps were turned on while the picketers marched in front of a Chicago property. Hyatt workers have been working without a union contract since 2009, which the spokesman mentioned before I could get my camcorder turned on--let alone properly focused.

OccupyChi protester
The tax issue mentioned by the union speaker most likely is in regards to Vi, which was formerly known as Classic Residence by Hyatt. Last year the IRS sided with Vi in a complicated backtaxes case. Pritzker is the chairwoman of Vi and serves on the board of the Hyatt Hotels Corporation.

UNITE HERE filed a complaint with the Obama-friendly National Labor Relations Board about the heat lamp assault.

From the viewpoint of both the right and the left, Penny Pritzker is a snake in the grass.

But she's Obama's snake.

Related posts:

Just like Wall Street: OccupyChicago protesters want others to bail them out
OccupyChicago pics from 10/22 march: Dear rich straight white dudes, f*ck off
More OccupyChicago pics from 10/22 march: Commies and Palestinian activists
OccupyChicago Saturday march pics: Communists, obscenities, and masks
More pics from Saturday's OccupyChicago march: Cancer conspiracy, Teamsters, and Che
Video: OccupyChicago protester is a paid volunteer, UPDATED
21 arrested at Monday's OccupyChicago march, one for punching a cop
Sunday #OccupyChicago pictures
Video: OccupyChicago protester not looking for job, he "likes being in the moment"
Week long strike at Obama crony's Hyatt Hotels; union calls them "the worst employer in the hotel industry"
Union film spanks Obama pal Penny Pritzker
Obama crony alert: No media at Hyatt Hotels Corp. annual meeting
Another subprime headache for Obama

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8 comments:

ampersand said...

Penny Pritzker packed her parlor with plenty of pickled plutocrats. How many pickled plutocrats pockets did the present President pick?

David WL said...

"Pritzker" is the name behind the University of Chicago Medical School. Yep, the same medical school that created a cushy administrative position for the current First Lady, the same university that created an adjunct position for Obama.

Anonymous said...

Is there any evidence that Penny Pritzer hasn't paid her taxes?

Anonymous said...

Guess Guido and Shabazz will be explaining to OccupyChicago why dissing Penny was a really bad idea...

Marathon Pundit said...

"Is there any evidence that Penny Pritzker hasn't paid her taxes?" I'm just repeating what the UNITE HERE guy claimed. However, there is no evidence that Pritzker has not. As I mentioned late in this entry, her Vi, formerly Classic Residence by Hyatt, was involved in a nasty dispute with the IRS, which eventually sided with Vi.

The Pritzker family union disuptes are another matter...

The Kraken said...

OWS seems more each day like a Ouiji board where different factions of the same coalition that came together to support Obama in 2008 are now all trying to move this thing hoping to spell out something coherent.

I think the message will be...

http://orangecow.org/pythonet/sketches/probe.htm

Anonymous said...

The Pritzkers (and the Kennedys) wrote the book on using trusts and offshore account to avoid estate taxes.

More power to them for that, but wouldn't it just be easier to reduce taxrates all around, rather than moving money around the Caymans and Bermuda?

Marathon Pundit said...

Good points. That's why I'm not a big supporter of sales tax holidays and tax breaks for corporations. Low tax rates for everyone, every day is the way I look at it.