Obama Presidential Center slammed for promoting ‘far-left' agenda on public land
The Illinois Republican Party has blasted as "divisive" the hiring language the Obama Foundation is using for the Obama Presidential Center, arguing it shows the privately run project is using...
By Fox News · Fox News
The Illinois Republican Party has blasted as "divisive" the hiring language the Obama Foundation is using for the Obama Presidential Center, arguing it shows the privately run project is using public land to advance a political agenda. The Obama Foundation, which is developing the hotly debated center on Chicago’s South Side, recently advertised roughly 150 jobs at the facility, stating that successful applicants are expected to align with the foundation’s "anti-racism" goals. "It’s an Illinois Democrat tradition to insert divisive, far-left policies into the lives of everyday Americans and to balk at the rule of law," Illinois Republican Party Chair Kathy Salvi told Fox News Digital. OBAMA PRESIDENTIAL CENTER DEPOSITS JUST $1M INTO $470M RESERVE FUND AIMED TO PROTECT TAXPAYERS "The Obama Center is no different. It is a recipient of taxpayer funds built on public lands and flouts ‘anti-racism’ hiring goals," Salvi said. "But such employment practices sound discriminatory and unmoored from any assessment of merit." The Obama Foundation secured control of a 19.3-acre section of Jackson Park — often described as Chicago’s equivalent of Central Park — under a 99-year agreement for just $10, after city officials approved the project under the premise that the center would function as a civic institution serving the public interest. Opponents argued the land transfer violated the public trust doctrine, a legal principle requiring public land to serve a public purpose, and filed multiple lawsuits seeking to halt construction. The courts ultimately allowed the project to proceed without adjudicating the merits of those claims. While commonly referred to as a presidential "library," the Obama Presidential Center is not operated by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) and does not function as a traditional presidential library. Instead, it is run entirely by the Obama Foundation, the former president’s private nonprofit organization, which also oversees le…