It doesn’t seem quite fair to jump all over a president-elect before he has had a chance to serve, but out of the gate President-elect Barack Obama seems to be part of associations where at least two of his cronies are allegedly part of  ‘pay-to-play’ politics.

We have seriously questioned, prior to his election, President-elect Obama’s past associations in the likes of Bill Ayers, a terrorist who threatened to blow up the Pentagon; Bernadine Dohrn, a former Weathermen terrorist with Ayers; the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr., who helped Barack find Jesus and condemned America by saying, “God Damn America”; Rashid Khalidi, a former spokesperson for Yasser Arafat’s PLO; the organization ACORN, who Obama worked with and counseled; and the Rev. Michael Pfleger, who Obama has known for years, but was forced to rebuke for his attack on Hillary Clinton. And, not to mention his neighbor Tony Resko, a convicted felon, who helped Obama buy some land.

And then there was the Democratic political machine that Obama came from in Chicago and his support of Governor Rod Blagojevich who is charged with an alleged ‘pay-to-play’ scheme to sell the seat Obama is vacating to become President.

And now, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, who was nominated by Obama as Commerce Secretary, is withdrawing his nomination amid a grand jury investigation into how some of his political donors won a lucrative state contract.

Richardson’s withdrawal is the second ‘pay-to-play’ investigation that has touched Obama’s transition to the presidency and a disruption to his Cabinet process.

Obama said he has accepted Richardson’s withdrawal “with deep regret.”

A person familiar with the proceedings has told the Associated Press that the grand jury is looking into possible “pay-to-play” dealings between CDR Financial Products and someone in a position to push a transportation contract worth more than $1 million through the state of New Mexico.

According to an AP review of campaign finance, CDR and its CEO, David Rubin, have contributed at least $110,000 to three political committees formed by Richardson.

The largest donation, $75,000, was made by CDR in June 2004 — a couple of months after the transportation financing arrangement won state approval — to a political committee that Richardson established before the Democratic National Convention that year, AP reported.

It is questionable how long Obama can remain above the fray of Blagojevich and Richardson’s alleged ‘pay-to-play’ scams.

If you were a horse, I don’t think you would want to stumble out of the gate this badly before you got to the finish line, least of all a president-elect, before you became President.