Communist sympathizer introduced top adviser?

Valerie Jarrett

NEW YORK – Was Valerie Jarrett, one of President Obama's closest advisers, introduced to the president's political circles by her father-in-law, a communist sympathizer who worked with the radical Obama mentor Frank Marshall Davis?

Jarrett reportedly interviewed Obama's former environmental adviser Van Jones for his White House position from which he resigned this past weekend. WND exposed Jones is an admitted black nationalist and radical communist.

Jarrett defended Jones after his appointment in March. She stated in an interview that the White House staff were "so delighted to be able to recruit him into the White House."

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"We were watching him, uh, really, for as long as he's been active out in Oakland. And all the creative ideas he has. And so now, we have captured that. And we have all that energy in the White House," she said.

In the vicinity of Oakland, Calif., Jones founded several radical organizations, including the communist revolutionary organization Standing Together to Organize a Revolutionary Movement, or STORM, as well as the socialist-oriented Ella Baker Human Rights Center.

Fox News yesterday reported the White House said Jones never filled out a seven-page questionnaire the Obama team previously touted as necessary for incoming administration officials, leaving some to speculate Jarrett may have been instrumented in pushing Jones through.

Jarrett's family background and her initial introduction to Obama may tie her to Jones' radical ideology.

Jarrett's father-in-law, Vernon Jarrett, was an associate of Frank Marshall Davis, the controversial labor movement activist who has been identified as an early influence on Obama.

Vernon Jarrett and Davis worked together in 1940 in a Communist Party-dominated organization, the Citizen's Committee to Aid Packing House Workers. The group's own correspondence, previously uncovered by the New Zeal blog, describes its communist influence. Many of its leaders were tied to the Communist Party.

The pair also frequented the South Side Community Art Center, which was dominated by communists. In addition, Davis and Vernon Jarrett worked in the late 1940s on the communist influenced, black-run Chicago Defender newspaper.

In 1948, Jarrett started a radio show, "Negro Newsfront," and went on to become the Chicago Tribune's first black syndicated columnist.

A Washington Post obituary of Jarrett notes he "stoked the political embers in Chicago that led to the 1983 election of the city's first African-American mayor, Harold Washington."

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"Vernon Jarrett was a key influence in Washington's decision to run for the Chicago mayoralty and remained a key supporter through his four-year tenure," the newspaper reported.

Obama has hailed Washington's victory as a motivation for him to move to Chicago from New York. Washington was involved in communist-dominated circles in Chicago.

Jarrett clearly watched the rise of Obama as an activist. When Obama worked for Project Vote to register black voters with the intent of aiding the senatorial campaign of Carol Moseley Braun, Jones took note. Obama later took over Braun's senate seat.

Writing in the Chicago Sun-Times in 1992, Jarrett noted: "Good news! Good news! Project Vote, a collectivity of 10 church-based community organizations dedicated to black voter registration, is off and running. ... If Project Vote is to reach its goal of registering 150,000 out of an estimated 400,000 unregistered blacks statewide, 'it must average 10,000 rather than 7,000 every week,' says Barack Obama, the program's executive director."

Valerie Jarrett married Vernon's son, William Robert Jarrett, in 1983.

In 1987, she got her start in politics, working for Washington as former deputy corporation counsel for finance and development. She was deputy chief of staff for Mayor Richard Daley, during which time she hired Michelle Robinson, then engaged to Obama.

Valerie Jarrett did not immediately return a WND request for comment about her father-in-law's involvement in her landing a spot in Washington, which later brought her into Obama's circle.

She went on to run the finances for Obama's senate bid in 2004, the year Vernon Jarrett died.

Currently, Jarrett is touted as one of Obama's closest advisers.