cronyism

• Doing away with presidential cronyism -- dishing out noncompetitive jobs with little regard for qualifications -- will show the Washington establishment that Obama means what he says and set the tone for the new administration. —  Merced Sun-Star: front
• Chris Dodd that benefited directly from it with sweetheart deals and outright cronyism, then stonewalled any attempts to reign in Fannie and Freddie when experts were trying to sound the alarm of an impending crisis. —  Sound Politics
• For years Senator Chibás used his radio show to denounce corruption, cronyism, and gangsterism rampant throughout the federal government.
• I don't want to research all the motives for many selections-cronyism, popularity et al-but I do think that outside pressure aside, a player like Rizzuto got in at least partly because he was famous while a contemporary like Vern Stephens was virtually ignored. —  Baseball Analysts
• Obama is a product of cronyism, and has never lifted a finger to battle the corrupt practices of the Cook County / Daley machines. —  Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog

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