Obama finally pays local parking tickets

By George P. Hassett, Senior Editor

Before Barack Obama was a United States senator and a presidential hopeful, he was a Harvard University law student living in Somerville who parked in bus stops and accumulated hundreds of dollars in parking tickets. And for nearly two decades those parking tickets went unpaid, until a representative of Obama’s settled all his outstanding debts with Cambridge’s Traffic, Parking and Transportation Department Jan. 26.

 Obama attended Harvard Law School from 1988 to 1991. During his time at Harvard, Obama lived at 365 Broadway in Somerville, according to his parking tickets. Records from the Cambridge Traffic, Parking and Transportation office show that between Oct. 5, 1988 and Jan. 12, 1990 Obama was cited for 17 traffic violations, sometimes committing two in the same day. The abuses included parking in a resident permit area, parking in a bus stop and failing to pay the meter. Twelve of Obama’s 17 tickets were given to him on Massachusetts Avenue.

 In one eight day stretch in 1988, Obama was cited seven times for parking violations and was fined $45. Thirteen of the 17 violations occurred within one month in 1988.

 Obama’s disobedience of the rules of the road earned him $140 in fines from the City of Cambridge. The tickets went unpaid for over 17 years and $260 in late fees were added to the tab. On Jan. 26, the fines and late fees were paid in full. The final tally for Obama’s parking breaches was $400, according to Cambridge Traffic, Parking and Transportation.

 Obama spokeswoman Jennifer Psaki said the presidential candidate’s parking violations were not relevant.

 “He didn’t owe that much and what he did owe, he paid,” Psaki said. “Many people have parking tickets and late fees. All the parking tickets and late fees were paid in full.”

 Psaki declined to comment further. She refused to say how the fines went unpaid so long and what prompted Obama to finally pay them.

 At Harvard, Obama became the first African-American president of the Harvard Law Review. After school, he spent eight years in the Illinois state senate before becoming a United States Senator in 2005. He is currently campaigning for the Democratic nomination for president.

Comments

[Me]

Is this really news? Who cares?

[Osama Obama]

Yes, it is news. Thank you for asking.

Many citizens and voters are interested to know whether or not a candidate for President has an ounce of character.

Barak Hussein Obama apparently does not.

Bye now.

[Diva]

GO NEWS!!! KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!

[Nick]

Add this to the land deal. I'm sure we'll find more. Another rich dem who doesn't want to pay his share.

[Whatever]

Unlike all those rich republicans who ALWAYS pay their share.

[Nick]

republicans don't encourage higher taxes. not hypocritical like osama bama

[Osama Obama Yomama]

http://www.fatboy.cc/Audio/Obama%20Bin%20Laden.mp3

[TNDem]

I don't know if it's news but it is funny! I thought it was just me with these stupid parking tickets from grad school that went unpaid. I'm not sure I can ever return to Durham, NC (the site of my misfortune at Duke)--but I may just look into those before some one writes an op-ed piece about my wild college days.

[SDC]

These people who represent us think they are above the law. Obama's spokeswoman has the audacity to say its not relevant. Is integrity relevant?

[plainoldjoe]

Obviously he did not learn the law at Harvard Law !

[Max Warwick]

Integrity is not relevant. Just read the stories about the Alderman from ward 5. Maybe George Hassett can spend his time digging into some of the shit that O'Donovan is pulling right NOW instead of devoting his time writing about something a politician did almost twenty years ago.

[nobody2]

Didn't he have unpaid Somerville tickets too?

[Max Warwick]

Everyone in the city has unpaid tickets. Even those of us who don't have a car.

[Dr. Mrs. McCarthy]

George,

As my good friend Borat would say, "Varry nice."

Now let's see a list of all the elected Somerville officials who have oustanding parking tickets. Better yet, let's see a list of all the elected officials who have had their tickets forgiven.

Get right on that George. We're waiting.

Thanks Dear,

Dr.Mrs. McCarthy

[Oh I THOUGHT i paid those...]

Good sign for his campaign that they are gathering and clearing up any loose ends.

Now he's hoping no video surfaces of him realizing he's just got his 7th ticket in eight days!

And 7 tickets for 45 bucks? Those must have been the days...

[Red Marilyn]

Of course it's news. And parking in a bus stop? Now that's audacity. Does this imply Sen. Obama expects a free ticket, in general and that this is a pattern? (Someone else paid for part of his $1 Mill property; the recent news on his "purchases" of campaign donors stocks ...) Not awful, perhaps, but looks like the halo has slipped just a wee bit. Do we have Hillary's "War Room" to thank for some of the revelations?

[Steve]

This clown is turning out to be quite the shady character. . . Invests more then $50,000.00 in a company startup with four friends and doesn’t know anything about it, and now this. . . Obama is sounding more and more like the Clintons “I don’t remember. . .”

These LIBERALS have two sets of rules, one for themselves, and one for the Peasants, that would be us, just the common folk. Do as I say, not as I do!

[AZ_Squeegee]

Yeah Steve, like our DUI fixing current prez.......damn liberal that he is.

Pardon me while I go off and piss myself laughing at you all.

[dot]

Parking tickets? Oh, the horror! Well, that's it then. Finally the Big Scandal of the Decade that Obama Slimers have been dreaming about---no presidency for you, Bad Boy!
Can this get any more desperado?
Sure is busy in the Obama Slander Response Team Room.

[Steve]

AZ_Squeegee. . .

I think we are talking about Obama and not the current president.

Also try getting your facts straight. . . Bush was charged with DUI nothing was fixed as you say.

Obama: My fellow American ask not what you can do for your country; but ask what your country can do for you!

[Ojisan Desu]

Sure lots of people has an outstanding parking citation. The question is, will they settle after recieving a payment notice?
It's an issue of CHARACTER and taking SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY. Mind you, the public servant and especially the politicians are placed on higher standard than the peasants.

[AZ_Squeegee]

Steve:

No, you were talking about liberals, and their level of dishonesty. I tried to inject some sanity, to no avail. Just trying to keep you conservatives honest.....a more than full time job for most.

And.....duh. You run over a garbage can and are observed to be drunk behind the wheel......and no police report is ever filed. Yeah, nothing got fixed there.

And after your last sentence, my irony-meter broke. You, my friend, are a complete tool. Keep it coming, though. You are hilarious.

Off to continue laughing at you.

[George Austin]

Such a special man he is. Hiding his islamic history. Membership in a radical separatist and racist church. Now we learn that he has felt himself "special" for so long now. How quaint. Another liar, thief and cheat coming up through the political ranks. I would say more but I have to take a barrack.

[Shawn Hannitie]

Osama is right!. Barak smokes, he gets parking tickets, he has a Islamic middle name, he went to a secular school in a Islamic country!,... and some say that he *Gasp!* snores!. Clearly a disrespect towards the santity of marriage by impeding his spouse's night rest!.

Not an ounce of character on his halfrican, liberally unginged, moonbat bones, by jove!.

Praise God

[Steve]

AZ_Squeegee:

One more time! Try getting your facts straight. . .

The Smoking Gun: Archive... the arrest of George W. Bush for driving under the influence of alcohol. ... Bush pleaded GUILTY to DUI charge, paid $150 fine...

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/bushdui1.html

[Ed]

Good Christ, whoopdedooo he had some unpaid parking fines. Who the hell hasn't? At least he didn't snort coke and get DUIs (George Bush) or kill his girlfriend (Laura Bush)

[Joe from Brooklyn]

Have any of you ever tried to park at Harvard? Let me tell you, you cannot go to Harvard and avoid a parking ticket. Sometimes, you don't even know you have a parking ticket because wind blows them off, or snow covers them up. I attended Harvard, so I know. As a poor graduate student, Im sure Obama chose to spend his last coupla bucks on ramen noodles than parking tickets.

There is no way you can avoid getting a parking ticket at Harvard. Catholic nuns in Cambridge have unpaid parking tickets. Having them says NOTHING about ones character. NOTHING.

I can't believe this is news. Sad.

[Joe from Brooklyn]

By the way, its good to see Bush The War Loser and his loser supporters, who probably couldnt get into Harvard if it had open admissions, jumping all over this. It goes to show how truly pathetic they are.

Sad.

[Somerville native...]

Hey, as long as the people posting anti-Obama sentiments here are on other message boards talking about the gross, criminal and immoral failures of the Bush administration in veteran's health care - which actually matters - then they have every right to attack Obama for parking tickets.

If they attack only Obama, and not the Bush administration, then they only love Bush, and thus hate America, the soldiers, and everything this country ever has or ever will stand for. Their choice...

[Brickbottom]

I'll take someone not paying their parking tickets, which probably 90% of the posters here are guilty of, than a sitting President sending our men and women to war under false pretenses anyday! Also our sitting President was a coke sniffing raging alcoholic in his younger days, that I would say is a tad bit more serious than not paying parking tickets.

If this is all the naysayers can come up with then it's a pretty pathetic attempt to discredit a guy running for President!

[Brickbottom]

Talking about underhanded deals:

George Bush Junior and his involvement in the Texas Rangers baseball team. In a nutshell, he was offered a piece of this valuable franchise for only $600,000, by supporters of his dad who also bailed out his failing oil company. He sold his stake for $14 million, while Texas governor, to a Texas millionaire with lots of businesses regulated by his administration. "When all it is all said and done, I will have made more money than I ever dreamed I would make," Bush told the Forth Worth Star-Telegram.

Bush was allowed to buy 1.8% of the team for $600,000 of borrowed money, and was even made one of the two general managers. His qualifications for partial ownership? Several years working at failing oil companies, and his political connections through his father. It's hard to be sure, but we're guessing that latter was probably more important.

So please, there is so much dirt on this guy it would take hours of writing on this blog to chronicle them all!

[Marie]

A college student got parking tickets?! Parking tickets?!
Horrors!! And he PAID them! What is this country coming to?
Good grief -- if parking tickets is on the list of character demerits, how long is the list for GWBush? Is a roll of Scot tissue long enough? And his were a heckuva lot more serious than parking tickets!

[Real World]

Did Obama get a "white envelope" to put his cash in ? Hey Somerville news, nice scoop it looks like your getting some national attention. Dr. Mrs. McCarthy can take her message national !!

[Sam]

I love that this (OMG parking tickets in a city I know for a fact is ridiculous to park in!) and the fact that his ancestors owned slaves ZOMGZ is the best anyone can come up with. If someone can point me to an average southern white family that didn't own slaves I'd be surprised. The way some people try to make it sound is like Barack Obama traveled back in time to personally oppress his people. Haha. The Republicans are gonna have to try harder than that to get the black vote, all I'm saying.

[CB]

Intergrity is doing the right thing when no one else is around. Should we not have this in a President??

[Brickbottom]

CB,

Integrity does not get you to the Oval Office!

[Dr. Mrs. McCarthy]

Did someone say a national audience???????????????

First, let me take this opportunity to introduce myself to all of you. My name is Dr. Mrs. Mary McCarthy, I'm 103 years old, I live at the the Little Sisters of the Poor home here in Cambriville and I'm running for Mayor. I have two Latino lovers, drink heavily only on special occasions and every Tuesday. I have been known to piss off almost every elected and appointed official in Cambriville and one of my best friends is former First Lady Barbara Bush. I've also had a recent fling with Lance Armstrong and Joey Buttafucco. I'm the Editor in Chief of the Cambriville News, I've won a Pulitzer, a Nobel and two toasters at last years Christmas Bazaar here at the home.

And now here comes something that even my most avid fans here in Cambriville don't know. When Barack lived here in Somerville, he and I had our own little "Love Story". I won't go into the details now, you'll all just have to stay tuned to the Somerville News to find out that sordid story.

Now that this story is out, something that Barack "O"(as I used to call him)used to say to me makes sense.

"Love means never having to pay your parking tickets".

Stay tuned. Next week, a chapter on our favorite things to do on date night.

Sleep Well America,

Dr. Mrs. McCarthy

PS - The man did'nt pay his parking tickets for Christ's sake. All of you just calm right the f^%k down.

[anonymused]

By golly, parking tickets still outstanding after 17 or 18 years? Doesn't Somerville have a statute of limitations? THAT'S the scandal!!!

[anonymused]

My apology...it seems to be the City of Cambridge without the statute of limitations, or at the very least, a very long one! Cambridge, Somerville--what do I know? I live in New York City, where the statute of limitations on a parking ticket is 8 years and 3 months.

[sha]

If you have ever lived in Cambridge
you would surely know how easy it is
to get a ticket. He was a college student in Cambridge living in sommervile. No resident parking privileged. Do you know how hard it is for a Cantabrigian who has a parking
sticker to park. Get real is that all
you have. What type of violations did you receive when you were in college?

[Brendan]

Is swift payment of parking tickets now a family value?

This isn't news. This is lazy journalism designed as ammunition for people who have made up their minds against Obama but don't really have any justification for it other than his middle name being "Hussein."

The man was busting his ass getting through law school on his own dime in a city with absolutely NO parking. Next.

[Warren Harding]

Let's have some *moving* violations, none of this parking crap. Republicans have honest DUIs.

[Dr.Dawg]

I live in Cambridge. Born, bred & educated here. Just for the record parking tickets are a major source of revenue for the city and have been for 50+ years. Local cops are directed to write any possible infraction. This has been a major issue for local since before I was born. If your bumper is "close" to a bus stop you are ticketed. Own a car in Cambridge owe parking tickets. A minor note; local kids are known to take tickets off out of state cars to put them down the sewers.
Make all you want out of this but check each pol. thats attended Harvard or MIT and see what the tickets owed to the city really stack up to.

[Lync]

3 quick comments:

1. It's not Republicans publishing this stuff...they'll just recycle it if he gets a nod from the Democrats. The culprit are those in the Democratic party that are contesting him for the nomination. Way to early for the Replicans to care one way or another.

2. Not paying parking tickets, in my book, is pretty bad. I've gotten parking tickets and I've always paid up within a month. He should have at least made good on these long before he decide to run for President. It says a lot about character that he knowingly skipped out on those tickets and even more about his money management skills. The late fees were more than the tickets...that is just plain stupidity.

3. Republicans gave up going for the "black vote" a long time ago. If a group of people vote in a block instead of thinking independantly...that is there problem and they deserve the types of idiots they elect to office.

[SickOfHypocrites]

Leave it to right wingers to post such pathetic comments while ignoring the murderous idiots THEY elected (or had appointed) to office.
And to Lync--I applaud you for at least being honest about your bigotted, racist feelings--admitting YOU group a block of people (African-Americans) and judge them AS A GROUP instead of "INDEPENDANTLY" (PS-since you clearly have the same English language skills as your PREZZEDENT, it's I-N-D-E-P-E-N-D-E-N-T, and "there" denotes a place, unless you meant that THERE is a problem with THEIR way of thinking!).

And for all you HYPOCRITICAL Republicans who are condemning Obama for parking tickets, may I suggest you take a look at your bribing, embezzling, lying, Constitution-ignoring, war-mongering, HYPOCRITICAL and downright-scandoulous representatives (from congress to the oval office). Or is that too painful for you? IMAGINE! IF ONLY THE REPUBLICAN PARTY WERE IN A POSITION THAT THIS WAS ALL THE PRESS COULD DIG UP ON GEORGE, CHENEY, AND ALL OF THEIR APPOINTEES AND PALS, HOW DIFFERENT THINGS MIGHT BE! IMAGINE...

I wish!

[Juanita McKenzie]

Are you kidding me with this ? Is this the best you guys can do ? 17 unpaid parking tickets ? WOW ! Now that's big. OK, you tried. Now why don't you (the author) do something really useful with yourself like donate the puny teeny tiny brain you are working with to science ? I'm sure science could learn lots & lots from it. But don't wait until after you die, DO IT NOW and really help us all ! LOL

[FYI]

Barry Obama (the name he went by in school, apparently before he decided to become a politician and needed a more 'ethnic' name), owed $ for 17 parking tickets for 17 years, and the total was ONLY $400.00. I wish I could get that deal. I've paid several hundred dollars in late fees for a few tickets after one year!!
And to the person above that said that at least Obama wasn't snorting coke.....have you read his book??? He apparently was snorting lots of coke not too many years ago. It's right there in his book, so I suggest you read it before you make a decision on who to bash and who to support!

[Roland Barthes]

Please don't read his badly written book, the scandalous parts are few and will only let you down. Instead, try reading something that will open up that deep-fried white trash head of yours, like those Bernays classics "Propaganda" or "Engineering Consent," or Pynchon, or maybe just listen to a pretty song or watch a sunrise. It's too bad good votes are wasted on rubes who actually think parking tickets are news. Felons in the White House? Maybe...17 tickets? Nooo...

[Times are changing]

Sick of Hypocrites,

I think you need to take your medication and calm down. This is only a blog. I am an independent and I despise the Bush administration. I am SURE Bush has committed more serious offenses than outstanding parking tickets but I fail to understand how this is not relevant at all, as stated by Obama's spokesman. Please do not slander Republicans. What about JFK'S invation of the Bay of Pigs? No, not as significant as the Iraq war but Dem's are no better than republicans. You are looking at GWB and labeling all Republicans based on his actions. You are a hypocrite as well. You should hate yourself as well!

[DickyBird]

Come on guys lets stay here no comments on our Polls the must have some things in the closet failed to clear snow maybe? Squired out of a deal maybe? Placed VERY LARGE AMOUNT OFF ADDS maybe?
Before I leave the sun and the RED SOX come home lets see some digging at home.