Tag: Conservative Values

Criminal behavior: Last week we reported that when he was an owner of the Texas Rangers George W. Bush used eminent domain to seize private property in Arlington, Texas, in order to build a baseball stadium. Less than ten years later, when he was governor of Texas, Bush sold his interest in the Rangers and profited over $14 million.

Since then, we have learned that there is much more to this story. First, it appears that Mr. Bush evaded paying sufficient taxes on the sale. Second – and, more signficantly – he appears to have illegally used political influence as governor of Texas to increase the value of his share – actions that mirror the activities of an Illinois governor who was convicted of income tax fraud for influencing public policy that benefited his holdings in a race track .

Finally, the Rangers ultimately refused to pay the court-ordered $7.5 million settlement to the family whose land Bush seized, leaving the taxpayers of Arlington to cover the debt.

The allegations that Bush evaded paying sufficient taxes on the sale of the Rangers and that he broke the law by using his political influence to increase the value of the stadium property come from the excellent Make Them Accountable news site:

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A whiff of fascism: In an era when the IRS looks the other way as Republican operatives hand out voter guides at services held in rightwing Christian megachurches, it is shocking to read that the IRS is targetting the taxt-exempt status of a liberal church over a single, apparently benign sermon last year:

The Internal Revenue Service has warned one of Southern California’s largest and most liberal churches that it is at risk of losing its tax-exempt status because of an antiwar sermon two days before the 2004 presidential election.

Rector J. Edwin Bacon of All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena told many congregants during morning services Sunday that a guest sermon by the church’s former rector, the Rev. George F. Regas, on Oct. 31, 2004, had prompted a letter from the IRS.

In his sermon, Regas, who from the pulpit opposed both the Vietnam War and 1991’s Gulf War, imagined Jesus participating in a political debate with then-candidates George W. Bush and John Kerry. Regas said that “good people of profound faith” could vote for either man, and did not tell parishioners whom to support.

But he criticized the war in Iraq, saying that Jesus would have told Bush, “Mr. President, your doctrine of preemptive war is a failed doctrine. Forcibly changing the regime of an enemy that posed no imminent threat has led to disaster.”

On June 9, the church received a letter from the IRS stating that “a reasonable belief exists that you may not be tax-exempt as a church … ” The federal tax code prohibits tax-exempt organizations, including churches, from intervening in political campaigns and elections.

The letter went on to say that “our concerns are based on a Nov. 1, 2004, newspaper article in the Los Angeles Times and a sermon presented at the All Saints Church discussed in the article.”

The IRS cited The Times story’s description of the sermon as a “searing indictment of the Bush administration’s policies in Iraq” and noted that the sermon described “tax cuts as inimical to the values of Jesus.”

Fans of HBO’s “Six Feet Under” will note that this is the gay-friendly church that David Fisher attended.

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:

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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.

Coinkydinks: Follow the money, via the Associated Press:

Investigators have unearthed e-mails showing Rep. Tom DeLay’s office tried to help lobbyist Jack Abramoff get a high-level Bush administration meeting for Indian clients, an effort that succeeded after the tribes began making a quarter-million dollars in donations.

Tribal money went both to a group founded by Interior Secretary Gale Norton, the Cabinet secretary Abramoff was trying to meet, as well as to DeLay’s personal charity.

“Do you think you could call that friend and set up a meeting,” then-DeLay staffer Tony Rudy wrote to fellow House aide Thomas Pyle in a Dec. 29, 2000, e-mail titled “Gale Norton-Interior Secretary.” President Bush had nominated Norton to the post the day before.

Rudy wrote Abramoff that same day promising he had “good news” about securing a meeting with Norton, forwarding information about the environmental group Norton had founded, according to e-mails obtained by investigators and reviewed by The Associated Press. Rudy’s message to Abramoff was sent from Congress’ official e-mail system.

Within months, Abramoff clients donated heavily to the Norton-founded group and to DeLay’s personal charity. The Coushatta Indian tribe, for instance, wrote checks in March 2001 for $50,000 to the Norton group and $10,000 to the DeLay Foundation, tribal records show.

The lobbyist and the Coushattas eventually won face-to-face time with the secretary during a Sept. 24, 2001, dinner sponsored by the group she had founded.

Abramoff’s clients were trying to stop a rival Indian tribe from winning Interior Department approval to build a casino.

The Ice Queen cometh: According to the Israeli business paper Globes, the November issue of Forbes Israel names U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice the most powerful woman in the world.

A look under the rock: As about half the country has learned over the past five years, when confronted by a political opponent, the Bush Team, led by General Rove, launches a campaign against their rival, often on two concurrent fronts:

• They smear: The trick here is to float untrue allegations about the person’s character targetted at the opponent’s most noble or benign characteristic (a.k.a. “Swiftboating”).
• And they spin: They add an element to the debate that may appear to be germaine but is actually irrelevant. For example, whether or not Joe Wilson’s wife sent him to Africa is completely irrelevant to what he found, or rather what he didn’t find, there. In fact, his wife did not send him, but if she had, why is important? This factoid is only important to the Bushites because it changes the topic away from the fact Wilson debunked their disinformation campaign in the run-up to the war.

The true ugliness of Team Bush’s methods of dealing with opponents must remain hidden from other half of the public – their base, the Unsmart-Americans who haven’t caught on to the level of corruption and depravity at the top of the government – or it will cease to be effective.

The trial of Scooter Libby for lying about his participation in the campaign to smear Joe and Valerie Wilson threatens to reveal in stark detail the inner workings of the White House “Smear ‘N Spin” campaigns, and Republicans are nervous:

Republicans worry that Libby’s court fight will force President Bush to deal with the prospect of top officials testifying and embarrassing disclosures of how the White House operates and treats critics. It is also possible, they note, that Libby will strike a plea agreement and avert a public trial.

The stakes are too high for George Bush and Dick Cheney. So it’s likely there won’t be a trial – that Libby will take his lumps, get sentenced to jail and then receive a pardon from President Bush before he’s served a day.

How Republicans do it: When the pandemic comes, Sec. of Defense Donald Rumsfeld will become even richer:

The prospect of a bird flu outbreak may be panicking people around the globe, but it’s proving to be very good news for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other politically connected investors in Gilead Sciences, the California biotech company that owns the rights to Tamiflu, the influenza remedy that’s now the most-sought after drug in the world.

Rumsfeld served as Gilead (Research)’s chairman from 1997 until he joined the Bush administration in 2001, and he still holds a Gilead stake valued at between $5 million and $25 million, according to federal financial disclosures filed by Rumsfeld.

The forms don’t reveal the exact number of shares Rumsfeld owns, but in the past six months fears of a pandemic and the ensuing scramble for Tamiflu have sent Gilead’s stock from $35 to $47. That’s made the Pentagon chief, already one of the wealthiest members of the Bush cabinet, at least $1 million richer.

Rumsfeld isn’t the only political heavyweight benefiting from demand for Tamiflu, which is manufactured and marketed by Swiss pharma giant Roche. (Gilead receives a royalty from Roche equaling about 10% of sales.) Former Secretary of State George Shultz, who is on Gilead’s board, has sold more than $7 million worth of Gilead since the beginning of 2005.

Another board member is the wife of former California Gov. Pete Wilson.