Sen. Barack Obama had a contentious exchange today with Chicago Sun-Times writer Lynn Sweet over papers from his eight years in the Illinois state senate. Sweet has criticized Obama for not being more forthcoming about the location (and even the existence) of those records. She wrote on Monday:
White House hopeful Senator Barack Obama (D-Ill.), who is making government transparency a centerpiece of the latest phase of his campaign, does not always practice what he preaches when it comes to his own business
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At a press availability in Des Moines this morning, Sweet asked directly if those papers exist, where they might be located physically, and if the campaign will make them available. The Illinois senator responded that in the state senate he had a single staff aide and a filing cabinet.
"I don't have the Barack Obama state senate library available to me," he quipped. He said if she wants particular records, she should let him know. But under sustained questioning from Sweet, Obama acknowledged the papers could have been discarded.
