Obama/Holder Department of Justice now the Department of Cronyism?

**Posted by Phineas

Back before the 2010 midterm elections, President Obama went on Univision radio and made this revealing claim:

“We’re gonna punish our enemies and we’re gonna reward our friends…”

Now, at the time, Obama was talking about Latino voters. But it also seems to be his guiding philosophy when rewarding supporters, and he’s not above using the Department of Justice to dish out those rewards and punishments.

In this case, PJMedia reveals that the DoJ has quietly reinterpreted the 1961 Wire Act to allow the online sale of lottery tickets, something no administration of either party has ever done before. Two companies and two states are the big beneficiaries. “Why,” you wonder,” would they do this?” Say it after me:

“Reward our friends!”

GTech and Scientific Games both have strong connections to the Democratic Party, according to Federal Election Commission records. Scientific Games’ chairman is Lorne Weil. According to the FEC, Weil has given more than $22,500 to political campaigns and committees since 2008, with over 80% of that sum going to Democrats. Jaymin Patel is president and CEO of GTech. Patel has donated $9,300 since 2008, with over 90% of his generosity going toward Democrats.

So we have two companies whose leaders donate heavily to the Democrats, benefiting from a Democratic administration’s reinterpretation of the Wire Act, and one of those two companies has a history of corruption. But the ultimate beneficiaries of lottery systems are state budgets, right?

Two states seem to have gotten the jump on the other 48. They just happen to be Illinois, home state of President Obama, and Delaware, home state of Vice President Joe Biden. How did that happen? Illinois and New York, two states addicted to government spending and apparently incapable of living within their means, specifically asked for the Wire Act’s reinterpretation in 2011. And they got it. Delaware was poised to get in on the action early.

As for the “punish our enemies” part, Bryan Preston reminds us of the Republican-lead states that have opposed Obama and are now facing the wrath of the Department of Injustice Justice, which has been repurposed from the evenhanded enforcement of our laws to race-based “payback” and handing out door-prizes to Democratic donors.

And you can bet the MSM will be all over this… just as soon as they figure out a way to blame Republicans.

(Crossposted at Public Secrets)

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