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General discussion

Something more important than trading hats?

Feb 20, 2004 2:56AM PST

Discussion is locked

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She said she got the contract on her merits
Feb 20, 2004 3:51AM PST

What more do you need?

You are so cynical.

Dan

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As the name Bush, Dave...
Feb 20, 2004 4:04AM PST

Dave the name Bush does not appear in that story. But since you mentioned it on in your post, can I mention Roger "pardon me" Clinton? Or should I have said Roger "pardon him" Clinton.

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Re: As the name Bush, Dave...
Feb 20, 2004 11:47AM PST

Hi, J.

There's been some of that for a long time, but it's gotten worse lately. Rhenquist's daughter is another example, to say nothing of the FCC head that's been in the news so much lately after the Janet Jackson flap. He's Colin Powell's son!

-- Dave K, Speakeasy Moderator
click here to email semods4@yahoo.com

The opinions expressed above are my own,
and do not necessarily reflect those of CNET!

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Re:Something more important than trading hats?
Feb 20, 2004 6:44AM PST
Congressional ethics rules provide few barriers to the practice. They do not forbid members of Congress from helping companies or others who are paying their relatives.

Well, they ought to, IMO.

But, just in case you've forgotten: I'm quite sure that the Boeing Corp. hired Wendy Daschle as its lead D.C. lobbyist due to her professionalism and ability, and not because her hubby happens to be the Senate Minority Leader, right?

And, it almost worked; after all, the Air Force, until publicity caused the deal to be scrapped, looked like it was going to be forced to accept that lease arrangement for 767 airframes converted to air refueling tanker configuration - a deal that would have cost the USAF some $7 billion more than the cost of simply buying the aircraft (excluding the costs of converting the aircraft back to cargo/passenger configuration at the end of the lease term or buying them outright at that point), and stood to make the Daschles a pretty penny when we found out that Wendy Daschle's contract with Boeing included a percentage of the proceeds from any contracts she worked on - an arrangement that is unheard of even among D.C.'s most experienced and capable lobbyists!
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I wonder how much, Paul...
Feb 21, 2004 12:41AM PST

Paul, I wonder what that percentage was. Looking into that deal, it seems like it was an 18 Billion dollar deal. Even 1/1000 of one percent of that for a commission would be a remarkable pile of change. Reading on the situation a bit, I found the statement that she and her husband won't release their income tax records, so so far we don't know.
I did find a list of her clients, though:
American Airlines
American Association of Airport Executives
American Concrete Pavement Association
American Trucking Associations
Boeing
Centennial Airport, Englewood, Colorado
Hopkins International Airport, Cleveland
L-3 Communications, maker of cockpit technology
Loral Space and Communications
Northwest Airlines
Schering-Plough, a pharmaceutical company
United Technologies, a defense contractor
(Source: the Secretary of the Senate).

Note: Schering-Plough makes Claritin, the drug in the attempt to get a patent extension that caused such a furor.

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Something about Blood thicker than Water..........
Feb 20, 2004 7:09AM PST

Let's see now, is this so unheard of and uncommon. I'll bet the books are full of stories, over all the years from day one.

Wasn't there something about Kerry and the Vietnamese Government recently ? And didn't his relative benefit from Kerry's efforts ?

But if a Republican does the same thing, even when not as blatant as Kerry's, then it's wrong ?

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Re: Blood thicker than Water --
Feb 20, 2004 11:51AM PST

That's a new one to me, Del, and I follow these things pretty carefully. Link, please?

-- Dave K, Speakeasy Moderator
click here to email semods4@yahoo.com

The opinions expressed above are my own,
and do not necessarily reflect those of CNET!

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If it didn't bash GWB,,,I guess
Feb 20, 2004 2:06PM PST

....it didn't catch your eye, but this has been in several of the posts recently, with different links. I have no inclination to research for you, but here is a sample:

As chairman of the Select Senate Committee on POW/MIA Affairs, created in 1991 to investigate reports that U.S. prisoners of war and soldiers designated missing in action were still alive in Vietnam, Kerry badgered the panel into voting that no American servicemen remained in Vietnam.

?[N]o one in the United States Senate pushed harder to bury the POW/MIA issue, the last obstacle preventing normalization of relations with Hanoi, than John Forbes Kerry,? noted U.S. Veteran Dispatch.

?But Kerry's participation in the Committee became controversial in December 1992,? reported the nonpartisan Center for Public Integrity, ?when Hanoi announced that it had awarded Colliers International, a Boston-based real estate company, an exclusive deal to develop its commercial real estate potentially worth billions. Stuart Forbes, the CEO of Colliers, is Kerry's cousin.?

The ?odd coincidence,? according to FrontPageMagazine.com, involved a deal worth $905 million.

http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2004/1/20/131219.shtml

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Re:Something more important than trading hats?
Feb 20, 2004 10:58PM PST

Hi Dave,

This confuses two issues.

1. The laws of Congress as regards doing business with family members. This needs to be changed. But to be fair, this is nothing that is the sole province of either party.

2. This Congressman's efforts on behalf of a few Serbs. The association with Milosevic seems to be thrown into issue #1 in a way as to make it seem more sinister. Milosevic has been in jail for a few years now, and supposedly the intelligence is that these guys were close to him. There isn't even an allegation that they might have been involved in war crimes is there? Seems like a bit of hyping over the things easiest to demonize -- rich and Serbian.

Evie Happy

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The 'story' says nothing other than...
Feb 21, 2004 12:51AM PST

pointing to a new instance of an old (and not illegal) practice deeply enmeshed into the fabric of BOTH parties.

This is not a new thing nor is it any more prevalent today than it was 30 years ago or 50 years ago or 150 years ago--look at familial business connections and advocates In the Lincoln Administration and the FDR Administration (and although I haven't looked it would not come as a surprise to note it in the Washington Administration).

If you think it is more prevalent today you have simply not done your homework before accepting another pet theory as fact.