Day: November 5, 2005

Governing elite: The recent Supreme Court decision that allows local governments to use eminent domain to evict property owners in order to use their property for private development set off a howl on the Right.

To counter the ruling, Republicans in Congress are working on legislation that would cut off all federal funding to local governments who use eminent domain to evict property owners.

The president may have a hard time keeping a straight face when he signs the bill, however. In his past life as a baseball team owner, Mr. Bush profited from exactly this sort of eminent domain eviction – to the tune of $14.3 million.

The story was first rerported by Texas reporter Robert Brice in May 1997, late in Bush’s first term as governor of Texas:

[…]

Gnarly: Orange County Republican Congressman Dana Rohrabacher has been accused by the Los Angles Times of taking money from Southern California movie producer Joseph Medawar, in exchange for entré in the Capitol.

Medawar portrayed himself as one of a rare breed: a producer of conservative Christian-oriented films. He made a lot of noise in this small, eternally under-performing Hollywood subsector when he announced plans to launch a rightwing film and TV unit called Steeple Productions.

One of Steeple’s first acquisitions was a $23,000 option on a screenplay written by Rohrabacher 30 years ago. Soon after signing with Medawar, the Orange County congressman introduced the producer to Washington bigwigs who might be helpful with another Steeple project in development – a television series about the Dept. of Homeland Security.

Unfortunately, Steeple Productions was a sham. A federal investigation found that Medawar defrauded Steeple’s investors – most of whom were members of Orange County churches – out $5.5 million in stock. He faces a 23-count indictment and life in prison.

You gotta love this quote from Dana:

“Frankly, had Medawar not had this meltdown and not been able to fulfill his obligations on his Homeland Security project, there would have been no question about this at all,” Rohrabacher said.

You’re right, Congressman. Only outside meddling by federal investigators could have prodded the corrupt Republicans who run the Congress into investigating one of their own.

More hot water for Rove: There’s a new outbreak of Republican corruption, and this time it’s not in the energy sector or the Pentagon, it’s at the top of the public broadcasting bureaucracy.

Is nothing sacred to these people?

According to the New York Times, Ken Tomlinson, who is a friend and philosophical fellow traveler of Karl Rove, was ousted on Friday from the board of directors of the Corporation of Public Broadcasting. The termination was the result of an internal investigation into Tomlinson’s efforts to turn PBS and NPR into outlets of Fox News and, by extension, the Bush White House Communications Office.

In true Bush failing-upward style, Tomlinson will keep his other, even more powerful job. At least for now, he remains head of the Ministry of Propaganda, otherwise known as the Broadcasting Board of Governors, which oversees the government’s foreign broadcasting operations, including Voice of America, Radio Free Europe, Radio Martí, Radio Sawa and al-Hurra.

But Tomlinson is also in hot water at the BBG, where a separate, even more serious investigation has been looking into allegations he misused funds and hired unqualified cronies.

And here’s where it gets interesting: Investigators into the BBG allegations recently siezed Tomlinson’s email records and found a trove of messages back and forth between Kenny Boy II and his buddies at the White House, including Karl Rove. The contents of those emails could spell more trouble for the White House.