Rahm Emanuel's Ties to BP, Add To His Growing Problems

June 11, 2010 (LPAC)—White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel's ties to British Petroleum have now added to his problems and those of Barack Obama. While the Obama administration's subservience to BP is not explained by Emanuel's ties, the ties are nonetheless coherent with an administration that does the bidding of the British Empire, despite the recent spate of method-acting expressions of anger.

As reported by Los Angeles Times blogger Andrew Malcolm, while he was a Congressman, Rahm Emanuel lived rent-free for five years in Washington, D.C. in an apartment owned by Rep. Rosa Delauro and her husband, Stanley Greenberg. Greenberg's consulting firm is the one which worked for BP on repositioning itself as a "green" corporation. Specifically Greenberg's firm, Greenberg Quinlan Rosner, was a prime architect of BP's recent rebranding drive as a green petroleum company, down to green signs and the slogan "Beyond Petroleum."

Greenberg and Emanuel are longstanding friends. It was Greenberg who brought Emanuel on to Bill Clinton's 1992 campaign. Emanuel performed the marriage ceremony for Greenberg's daughter Anna.

Greenberg is chairman and CEO of Greenberg Quinlan Rosner, a premium research and strategic consulting firm. According to its website, the firm helped BP plan and evaluate its successful re-branding campaign, focusing the company's branding on energy solutions, including the development of solar and other renewable energy sources. BP's Beyond Petroleum rebranding campaign began after it merged with Amoco in 2000. Greenberg's other clients include United Healthcare, Monsanto, former British prime minister Tony Blair, and many environmental organizations.

In the 2008 election, BP employees donated about $70,000 to Obama. The center for Responsive Politics confirms that the $71,051 that Obama received during the 2008 election cycle was entirely from BP employees. BP's PAC contributed $1,000 to Obama's US Senate campaign in 2004. Prior to 2008 Obama received a total of $6,000 in contributions from BP's PAC and BP employees.

BP's corporate headquarters in the United States is in Chicago.

One wonders what Rahm Emanuel's obligations as a U.S. Congressmen were to report free rent for 5 years and whether he met those obligations.