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

[Obama is a fake]

Obama is a right winger in disguise, people. A populist demagogue who is going to do exactly nothing for the middle class and below.

[Don Oldman]

Wow. The democrats are from the land of misfit toys. You got a black guy (Osama), a woman (Hillary "Kankles" Clinton) and a gay guy (John "Ambulance Chaser" Edwards). Those clowns got a great shot at winning - LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL!!!!!!!!!!!

LOSERS! And tell Osama to pay his damn tickets. What a jerk.

[Ron Newman]

I haven't heard of anyone named 'Osama' running.

[Don Oldman]

Hey genius (Ron), what do you call a guy who was trained in an Islamofacist madras... is named Obama... and whose middle name is Hussien? Yep, a goddamn terrorist wannabe and a possible "manchurian candidate". That is what Barak "Hussien" Obama (Osama) is.

A vote for Obama is a vote for Osama. A vote for Edwards is a vote for fudge packing. A vote for Hilalry is a vote for women with fat ankles (Kankles). None of these imbeciles from the land of misfit toys would ever get my vote. Democrats suck.

[Ron Newman]

This kind of garbage may play well in Texas or Mississippi -- not Somerville.

[Craig]

Anyone who believes those idiotic emails that are still being forwarded about Obama getting schooling at a "radical maddrassa" and that he is a secret Muslim is clearly biased to hate him, or is a raving idiot. The email itself says something like "I checked this out on Snopes(dot)com and it's for real!" However, if these folks ever even tried to look at that site, they'd see that these claims have been debunked for a long time. Just google "Obama smear" and you'll have plenty to read.

Of course, those are just every major news organization's actual reporting, which you may not believe anyway because you like to keep thinking what you want, facts aside...

I *love* that we live in times like these, where the term "reality-based thinking" is an insult and smear among those in our political leadership. Sigh.

[To Craig]

Just google "Clinton smear" and you'll have plenty to read. It's not just Obama but Clinton also.

[Kate]

Don Oldman - Are your parents first cousins?

[character]

I believe the poster who referred to Obama's Church was quoting either Obama himself, or the pastor of the church. These statements are real. However, the later comment that he is 'right wing' and won't do anything for the middle class (that part is true - $200 tax rebates!?!?). Obama is so far left of Hillary that if the world really were flat, he'd fall off!!
And there's only one interesting fact about this parking ticket issue. Granted, everyone gets tickets and many of us don't pay them (especially if we leave town). However, Obama decided to pay them when he wanted to run for national office. Someone once said that the truest form of character is what someone does when noone is looking. Obama paid the tickets because EVERYONE was looking!

[Imux]

It's always a good thing when the democrats keep slinging mud at each other. Whoever emerges from the democratic (read: moonbat) primaries will be so bloody and so pushed into positions they can't defend in the general election that it will be another easy romp for the Grand Old Party (GOP). Go McCain! or Huckabee or Thompson or Giuliani. You guys/girls get the idea, right?

Also, Obama's father was a muslim. His mother did indeed remarry a muslim from indonesia (where Obama did in fact go to a school that taught muslim teachings). His mother was AT BEST agnostic - he doesn't have a christian bone in his body (unless Edwards tossed his into him). That's a fact! Is he a radical, sloberring, terrorist, Al Queda plant (Manchurian Candidate) as Don pointed out? I don't know. I suppose he could be. It should be of some concern as he obviously had no intention of paying his tickets here (was he going to beat feet and head back to Osama?). We need to keep an eye on this guy no matter what happens in the election. I'm thinking Gitmo.

I bet Hillary does have fat ankles - she has a fat ass. Kankles!!! Don, that was great!

And John Edwards certainly sounds like he likes to put a "pinch between his cheek and gum"... and we ain't a talkin' no chewing tobacco! Edwards is an idiot (lawyer) who will bend over for any special interest group (or maybe just anybody).

[Kate]

Imux - "With the thoughts you've been thinkin' ........, if you only had a brain."

[Katie Kid]

When you first arrived here you used to compliment a lot of posters.....how times have changed, when you hang around here long enough it gets easy to mudsling.......right?

[cabbie]

Good God you're from some altered reality Imux. Your constant talk of "locking up" the "Moonbats" in Gitmo is tiresome. If you really believe people should be locked up due to their ideology not agreeing with yours then you don't believe in America, you believe in totalitarianism. More like the old Soviet Union or Hugo Chavez than baseball, apple pie and Mom.

So why do you hate America Imux? Seriously, I disagree with you almost always BUT I'll fight for your right to have an opinion that differs from mine. That sir, is what America is all about.

[Chris Conway]

Is it amazing how much interest this issue which would be a minor issue in anyone elses life creates for the presidential hopefuls. I hope they get pass these issues and work on the important ones. Thanks for everyones opinions which are great to read.
Chris Conway
www.OntarioTrafficTickets.com

[Emma]

Ya'll are GIANT RACISTS

[John P]

What a silly story, who hasn't accumulated parking tickets while going to University. Many of graduated with massive debt, we all choose food & rent before parking tickets. We move cities and years go by and we have forgotten that we had them to start with. This is a nothing story that will get reposted all over the net by the neocons.

Regarding Bush lying to get us into war. The "intelligence" reports that the Democrats receive are first funneled through the Whitehouse. Bush and Co. didn't like the initial CIA report about Iraq so Cheney made a trip to the CIA to convince them to change their report. The CBC did a show on this in which they interviewed CIA analysts who said that Cheney made it clear that these reports needed to be changed and anyone who didn't comply would have a hard time ever finding another job.

The second set of intelligence reports that the Democrats viewed were the ones that Cheney had made sure were changed.

The only democrat who was complicit in this was Hillary Clinton. She used her husbands contacts in the intelligence community to research the situation. She was told the truth, that there wasn't evidence pointing towards WMD in Iraq. However if you check her campaign contributions and supporters you will see AIPAC (pro-Israeli lobby group)is a key one. AIPAC is very influential in US politics, they can make or break careers even Clintons. AIPAC made it clear to her that they viewed Iraq as a threat and wanted an invasion.

Why did so many other countries and traditional allies like Canada not join the Iraq war? Canada is involved in the war in Afghanistan so we have stood by America. Let me tell you. I use to work in intelligence for Canada. We were getting reports from the US and Israel that claimed Iraq had WMD's but the reports lacked certain factual information. So we started calling they analysts and some of the field personnel to find out of the reports were accurate. Everything we heard back was that they were not. That the reports had been changed to satisfy Cheney.

We didn't want a nuclear Iraq anymore than anyone else but when we found out the reports were lies we said there was no way we were going to be apart of this.

So see Bush lied plain and simple. Most of what I have said is a matter of public record. Certainly Cheney's pressure to the CIA to change the reports is.

[Obama's wife not proud]

“Can it really be there has not been a moment during that time when she felt proud of her country?” reads an article in Commentary magazine. “Forget matters like the victory in the Cold War; how about only things that have made liberals proud — all the accomplishments of inclusion? How about the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1991? Or Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s elevation to the Supreme Court?”

The article then says Michelle Obama’s comments suggest “the pseudo-messianic nature of the Obama candidacy is very much a part of the way the Obamas themselves are feeling.”

Weekly Standard Editor Bill Kristol said the comment “was sort of revealing.”

“She was an adult when we won the Cold War without firing a shot. She was an adult for the last 25 years of economic progress, social progress,” he told FOX News. “I think the Democrats have to be careful … they’re running against the status quo … You have to be careful not to let that slide into a kind of indictment of America. Because I don’t think the American people think on the whole that the last 25 years of American history is a narrative of despair and nothing to be proud of.”

For crying out loud, she's a Princeton and Harvard educated LAWYER!!! She read about slavery, she wasn't one.

Geez, the Obama's are really starting to fall in love with themselves. What will Barack do on the 7th day? I assum he won't rest, as only a God would have to rest and Barack is above such tireless descriptors.

I'm scared that we live in a country the runs its campaigns like American Idol episodes and where someone with absolutely no experience whatsoever has a good chance of becoming president based on a cult of personality.

[Me]

Wow, really? Yea, this article would DEFINITELY change my decision in voting for him. Move on people.

[It's racism, stupid!]

Funny isnt it how they try to justify someones not being "proud" to be an American. That statement which was made by someone, a smart, highly-educated woman who may be the next first lady and who should really know better, only shows how much of a racist she really is to me. How much of an ax she has to grind with "The Man". What she was saying to me is that she was always ashamed to be an American because we as a nation never embraced a black for president this strongly before. That is a RACIST attitude. Everyone was bashing Hillary for playing the race card indirectly after South Carolina but this statement puts anything she and Bill did to shame. There wont be a spin put on it either since doing that would only dig Mrs. Obama in deeper and expose this fraud. I voted for Barack in the primary but now I wish I hadn't. I feel she has hurt the cause of people of color by speaking her feelings like that.

[kate]

Well, if Hillary doesn't get the nomination, we can always vote for McCain.

[it *is* funny]

Let's remember it's not Michelle Obama who is running. I thought her comment was unfortunate, but really folks ... over-react much?

[Somali Obama]

What a tell tale picture of Obama in Somali garb.

Anyone ever hear of "Black Hawk Down"!

[Wakefield]

Prince of the city, above the law? The measure of a person is what he does when no one is looking. No one was looking for 20 odd years until Obama was vetted for candidacy... and then suddenly his obligation is paid in full. This is the measure of his character: a scofflaw.

[Kate]

To me, it's only parking tickets -- not a big deal.

[Flatus]

So, how many 'f's in scofflaw?

[disgruntled]

Please stick to the issue. He (Obama) didn't pay his tickets until they might have become an embarrassment to him. Small, sure, but a nice indicator of someone who thinks he is above the general population and laws. Taking pokes at GWB like "well George did this or that" have nothing to do with it. We all know about George. Grow up Obama was wrong (again)

[rozi]

This is baloney. As anyone who got any parking tickets in Cambridge could tell you, even in the late '80s seventeen parking violations would have cost far more than $140. Who ever heard of parking tickets in any major city in the US costing an average of less than $8.25? And two decades of late fees? Way more than $260. Wake up people, you're being had by someone who refuses to accept the fact that Clinton has lost the nomination and, by her refusal to admit defeat, is working hard to hand the presidency to John McBush.

[andy]

oh lord, give it up. this is stupid. parking tickets? come on.

[Paula]

Reading a past article on Obama's parking tickets, I am responding, even though late, because I do believe it is newsworthy. Of course this is news. He is a candidate for President of the United States. This shows the character of a person and his respect, or lack of respect, for rules. We all hate getting parking tickets but to get as many as Obama has and leave town never caring to pay debts is a true reflection of character. He has handled this the same way he has handled the reasons he and his family attended the church they attended for decades. Also in question is why are they refusing to make public, until after the election, a final college essay his wife wrote, and why is Obama refusing to show his birth certificate as of yet. For those of us who are open-minded and are interested in voting with and educated point of view, these actions, and many more, expose the true person before they put their political spin on decisions they have made.

[colonel mandrake]

Imagine all the coke debts he never paid. It's September 2008, all his skeletons are about to come out.

[writing a dissertation]

Blogs are good for every one where we get lots of information for any topics nice job keep it up !!!

[jz]

why is it it took him until he became prez to pay off the fines? oh, thats right, so he could spend our hard earned money not his to pay them. my other question is since he was in the public eye why didnt they go after him like they would a regular citizen? democracy at its finest, its not what you know its who you know and how much money you have. well, one thing is for certain, he promised change! soon thats all we will have in our pockets is change. another one with empty promises! what do they teach these representatives in college? lying 101

[Dori]

Unpaid parking tickets may be no big deal. However, calling the department that issued them 'stupid' to the press suddenly puts a new slant on the issue. Can you say 'grudge'. A 20 year 'grudge'?

[justlikeitis]

If you don't pay your parking tickets and your car gets booted will you consider that be a big deal? I know I would.
Should the fact that our President listened to the racial B.S. of Rev Wright for 17years be considered a big deal. I know I do.
IN GOD WE TRUST-YES
IN OBAMA I TRUST-NO

[justlikeitis]

Do you think Obama would have thought they were a big deal if he got BOOTED? YES YES YES YES

[Lawrence Nicholas]

Chances are his Somerville address will become an historic site. A local Boston TV station, after the 2008 election, visited the location, interviewed the President's old landlord and - - with consent from the current tenants - - did a video of his old digs. Also, the check he wrote as payment may easily become an historic document or valued political item as it shows that our President, like the rest of us, is a regular guy.