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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsJustice for Don Siegelman! Alabama Attorney Demands Removal of Federal Judge Mark E Fuller...
Birmingham attorney Donald Watkins tells U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice that federal judge Mark Fuller should be removed from benchBy Kent Faulk
AL.com on August 26, 2014 at 2:00 PM
BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- Birmingham attorney Donald Watkins has been on a campaign in the past few weeks to see federal judge Mark Fuller removed from the bench in the wake of the judge's arrest on a domestic violence charge in Georgia earlier this month.
On Monday, Watkins stepped up his efforts in a letter to U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. In that letter, Watkins complains about a "flagrant display of hypocrisy in the federal judiciary in Alabama" that Watkins says is due to the judges' political stripes.
"I will not allow Mark Fuller's sleazy conduct to stain the impeccable record of all of the distinguished men and women who serve this great nation's federal judiciary," Watkins stated in an email to AL.com regarding his letter to Roberts. "As a long-time member of the federal bar, I will do everything within my power to make sure that a violent wife-beater and known philanderer is removed from the federal bench."
SNIP...
"We need one standard of personal and professional integrity for federal judges, and it must apply across-the-board," Watkins tells Roberts in the letter.
"The federal judges who are pushing a double standard for the benefit of criminal defendant Mark Fuller ought to be ashamed of themselves," Watkins wrote. "Wife-beaters, drug and alcohol abusers, philanderers, and liars have no place as judges on the federal bench. Truthful and clean living judges who have respect for women represent the standard we should expect and demand on the bench. No exceptions should be tolerated."
CONTINUED...
http://www.al.com/news/birmingham/index.ssf/2014/08/birmingham_attorney_donald_wat.html
Right on!
samsingh
(17,900 posts)Octafish
(55,745 posts)Details from an excellent summation:
Republican US district court judge Mark Fuller was arrested in Atlanta this month for beating his wife in an Atlanta hotel. The judge, in whose honor courts must rise, was charged with battery and taken to the Fulton County jail at 2:30AM Sunday morning August 10. If you look at the mug shot of Mark Fuller, he doesnt inspire confidence. http://www.bradblog.com/?p=10748 and http:/www.informationclearinghouse.info/article39493.htm Fuller was a bitter enemy of Siegelman and should have recused himself from Siegelmans trial, but ethical behavior required more integrity than Fuller has.
Among many, Scott Horton, a professor of law at Columbia University has provided much information in Harpers magazine involving the corruption of Fuller and the Republican prosecuting attorneys, Alice Martin and Leura Canary. See: http://harpers.org/blog/2008/02/another-abusive-prosecution-by-alice-martin/ and http://harpers.org/blog/2008/02/cbs-more-prosecutorial-misconduct-in-siegelman-case-alleged/ and http://harpers.org/blog/2007/08/judge-fuller-and-the-trial-of-don-siegelman/ and http://harpers.org/blog/2007/06/siegelman-sentenced-riley-rushes-to-washington/ and http://harpers.org/blog/2007/10/karl-rove-linked-to-siegelman-prosecution/ and http://harpers.org/blog/2007/12/karl-rove-william-canary-and-the-siegelman-case/ and http://harpers.org/blog/2008/02/rove-and-siegelman/ and http://harpers.org/blog/2007/08/the-pork-barrel-world-of-judge-mark-fuller/ and see OpEdNews February 6, 2012, Why did Karl Rove and his GOP Thugs target Don Siegelman in Alabama? and http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bennett-l-gershman/why-is-don-siegelman_b_3094147.html
Google the case and you will see everything but justice.
The Republican frame-up of Siegelman is so obvious that various courts have overturned some of the bogus convictions. But the way justice works in America makes courts fearful of discrediting the criminal justice (sic) system by coming down hard on an obvious frame-up. To make the fact obvious that federal courts are used for political reasons is detrimental to the myth of justice in which gullible Americans believe.
Siegelmans innocence is so obvious that 113 former state attorneys general have come out in his support. These attorneys general together with federal judges and members of Congress have written to Obama and to US attorney general Eric Holder urging Siegelmans release from prison. Instead of releasing the innocent Siegelman, Obama and Holder have protected the Republican frameup of a Democratic governor.
CONTINUED...
http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/08/28/americas-corrupt-institutions/
Makes that meeting where Don Corleone was asked to share his look like small potatoes.
Dont call me Shirley
(10,998 posts)Free Don Siegelman!
Octafish
(55,745 posts)Judge Fuller may be feeling remorseful for his felony indiscretion from the rehab facility.
As a former binge drinker, I wouldn't wish his problems on anyone.
samsingh
(17,900 posts)FiveGoodMen
(20,018 posts)...to US?
Octafish
(55,745 posts)Here's how he looked after the Siegelman came back with the desired results:
Alabama Judicial Scandal Could Taint Many Cases, Not Just Siegelmans
Posted on May 19, 2012 by Andrew Kreig
Washington's Blog
EXCERPT...
The Siegelman jury provided a mixed verdict on June 15, 2006. Minutes later, the rarely photographed Fuller invited freelance photo-journalist Phil Fleming into judicial chambers to commemorate the occasion.
Fleming has released to me his copy of the private portrait (shown above). The blunt-speaking Fleming also told me that he advised the judge during the photo-shoot to stifle what Fleming told him was a Cheshire cat smile in order to look sufficiently dignified.
That implication of bias is congruent with testimony by Alabama attorney Dana Jill Simpson, who helped make this case nationally famous in 2007 and then later in the 60 Minutes broadcast. Simpson, at right, was a longtime Republican operative (and now a political independent) who says she worked with Karl Rove and others as a confidential opposition researcher while also earning large sums in the government contracts field.
In sworn statements in 2007, she described Republican plots beginning in 2002 whereby the Justice Department would indict Siegelman with the assistance of Karl in order to remove the states most popular Democrat from politics.
CONTINUED...
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2012/05/alabama-judicial-scandal-could-taint-many-cases-not-just-siegelmans.html
librechik
(30,790 posts)he was denied a new trial. Is that invalid now that the judge is indicted?
Octafish
(55,745 posts)Tragically for Justice in the USA, the national news media are AWOL on this story.
annabanana
(52,791 posts)No way this guy should be on the bench. Period.
Octafish
(55,745 posts)The Case for Impeaching Federal Judge Mark Fuller
WantedAlabamaDemocrats, July 26, 2012
EXCERPT...
If you picture yourself being outraged, then you have a pretty good idea how former Governor Don Siegelman felt about his 2006 kangaroo-court conviction before George W. Bush-appointed U.S. District Court Judge Mark Fuller.
SNIP...
Fuller was for years, including during the Siegelman trial, a principal of Doss Aviation, Inc.; some reports made him a 43% owner.¹ He was listed on corporate reports as the companys CEO, even after becoming a federal judge. Doss Aviations 2002 Annual Report on file with the Alabama Secretary of State² shows Fuller as the corporate president, with his office listed as 1 Church Street in Montgomery. That just happens to be the United States Courthouse, where Fullers court sits.³ In his 2010 financial disclosure form as a federal judge, Fuller valued his interest in Doss at between $5,000,000.00 and $25,000,000.00; with an additional $500,000.00 t0 $1,000,000.00 in the affiliated Doss of Alabama, Inc. Thats enough coin to get even Mitt Romneys attention.
So what does Doss Aviation do? I will let the homepage of its website speak to that:
Founded in 1970, Doss Aviation, Inc. enjoys over 40 years [sic] experience in supporting the U.S. Government in flight training, aircraft maintenance, maintenance training, into-plane aircraft fuels and bulk fuels management, transient aircraft support services, air traffic control, and other airfield management/logistics services. The company built an enviable reputation in over 50 contracts performing a variety of services for the U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, U.S. Air Force, Defense Logistics Agency - Energy (DLA-E), NASA, FBI, and Department of Homeland Security.
In other words, Doss Aviation is extremely, if not exclusively, dependent on government contracts, many of them no-bid, that can disappear if the Air Force - or the administration in power - decides it isnt happy with, say, the rulings of a leading shareholder. (Remember, at the time of the Siegelman trial, the administration was Republican.) The conflict of interest is obvious to even a layman. Despite this, Fuller has, throughout his career as a federal judge, regularly decided cases involving the Air Force. A summary of the reported cases follows:
Webster v. Wynne, 2010 WL 5394752 (M.D. Ala. 2010). Civil employee of the Air Force alleged employment discrimination against the Air Force. Summary judgment granted to Air Force.
United States v. 22.58 Acres of Land, 2010 WL 431254 (M.D. Ala. 2010). Action seeking condemnation of certain real property located in Montgomery County at the request of the Air Force. Landowners motion to dismiss denied.
OSI, Inc. v. United States, 510 F.Supp.2d 531 (M.D. Ala. 2007). Owner of property adjoining Air Force base sued United States government and officials, stemming from alleged dumping of Air Force hazardous wastes into landfill on property. Summary judgment granted to Air Force.
Waid v. United States, 2006 WL 1766808 (M.D. Ala. 2006). Driver of automobile injured in accident with Air Force vehicle sued for injuries. Claim against Air Force dismissed.
Keel v. U.S. Dept. of Air Force, 256 F.Supp.2d 1269 (M.D. Ala. 2003). Plaintiff, a white male, claimed that defendants terminated him on the basis of his race and sex in violation of Title VII, and retaliated against him by barring his access to Air Force base. Summary judgment entered for Air Force.
In another questionable case where the Air Force was not a party, Houston v. Army Fleet Services, L.L.C., 509 F.Supp.2d 1033 (M.D. Ala. 2007), Fuller denied summary judgment to an employment discrimination defendant - which is a competitor of Fullers company. I did not find one reported opinion in which Fuller was the judge, in which the Air Force lost the case.
CONTINUED...
http://wantedalabamademocrats.blogspot.com/2012/07/the-case-for-impeaching-federal-judge.html
Money trumps peace, indeed.
woo me with science
(32,139 posts)k&r
Octafish
(55,745 posts)In addition to Domestic Violence, Fuller made a killing off war.
The Pork Barrel World of Judge Mark Fuller
By Scott Horton
Harper's August 6, 2007, 5:14 pm
For the last week, weve been examining the role played by Judge Mark Everett Fuller in the trial, conviction, and sentencing of former Alabama Governor Don E. Siegelman. Today, we examine a post-trial motion, filed in April 2007, asking Fuller to recuse himself based on his extensive private business interests, which turn very heavily on contracts with the United States Government, including the Department of Justice.
The recusal motion rested upon details about Fullers personal business interests. On February 22, 2007, defense attorneys obtained information that Judge Fuller held a controlling 43.75% interest in government contractor Doss Aviation, Inc. After investigating these claims for over a month, the attorneys filed a motion for Fullers recusal on April 18, 2007. The motion stated that Fullers total stake in Doss Aviation was worth between $1-5 million, and that Fullers income from his stock for 2004 was between $100,001 and $1 million dollars.
In other words, Judge Fuller likely made more from his business income, derived from U.S. Government contracts, than as a judge. Fuller is shown on one filing as President of the principal business, Doss Aviation, and his address is shown as One Church Street, Montgomery, Alabama, the address of the Frank M. Johnson Federal Courthouse, in which his chambers are located.
SNIP...
Doss Aviation and its subsidiaries also held contracts with the FBI. This is problematic when one considers that FBI agents were present at Siegelmans trial, and that Fuller took the extraordinary step of inviting them to sit at counsels table throughout trial. Moreover, while the case was pending, Doss Aviation received a $178 million contract from the federal government.
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http://wantedalabamademocrats.blogspot.com/2012/07/the-case-for-impeaching-federal-judge.html
And I hope he gets dragged off in chains, straight from the dock, like he did to an innocent man.
Dont call me Shirley
(10,998 posts)Octafish
(55,745 posts)She was wondering about corrupt Military Industrial Complex between the Pentagon and Congress and the Bush White House and all manner of stuff when given the ziggy by Karl Rove and his poodle Alberto Gonzalez.
Was Carol Lam Targeting The White House Prior To Her Firing
By Faiz Shakir on Mar 19, 2007 at 1:52 pm
lamReferring to the Bush administrations purge of former San Diego-based U.S. attorney Carol Lam, Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) questioned recently on the Senate floor whether she was let go because she was about to investigate other people who were politically powerful.
The media reports this morning that among Lams politically powerful targets were former CIA official Kyle Dusty Foggo and then-House Appropriations Committee Chairman Jerry Lewis (R-CA). But there is evidence to believe that the White House may also have been on Lams target list. Here are the connections:
Washington D.C. defense contractor Mitchell Wade pled guilty last February to paying then-California Rep. Randy Duke Cunningham more than $1 million in bribes.
Wades company MZM Inc. received its first federal contract from the White House. The contract, which ran from July 15 to August 15, 2002, stipulated that Wade be paid $140,000 to provide office furniture and computers for Vice President Dick Cheney.
Two weeks later, on August 30, 2002, Wade purchased a yacht for $140,000 for Duke Cunningham. The boats name was later changed to the Duke-Stir. Said one party to the sale: I knew then that somebody was going to go to jail for that Duke looked at the boat, and Wade bought it all in one day. Then they got on the boat and floated away.
According to Cunninghams sentencing memorandum, the purchase price of the boat had been negotiated through a third-party earlier that summer, around the same time the White House contract was signed.
CONTINUED w/LINKS...
http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2007/03/19/11209/carol-lam-white-house/
Things like the prosecution of traitors and warmongers are exactly what I look for in a prosecutor, judge, attorney general and president no matter what party.
Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)Thank you, Octafish.
Octafish
(55,745 posts)Not the Treatment he deserves, unfortunately.
Arrested U.S. judge embarrassed, entering treatment
AP 2:04 p.m. EDT August 20, 2014
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) An Alabama federal judge charged with domestic violence following his arrest in Atlanta is embarrassed and entering a treatment program, one of his attorneys said Wednesday.
Barry Ragsdale is representing U.S. District Judge Mark Fuller of Montgomery in an administrative complaint filed by the chief judge of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. He said Fuller already has sought counseling and will check into a treatment program within days.
Fuller is seeking a program "that is best for his situation and circumstances," Ragsdale said, but he declined to elaborate on the type Fuller is seeking.
"He's embarrassed for this," said Ragsdale, an old friend of Fuller from law school. "He's embarrassed for his colleagues and his family."
SNIP...
U.S. Circuit Judge Gerald Tjoflat, acting as the chief judge of the 11th Circuit, sent Fuller a complaint following his arrest to begin the judicial discipline process outlined under federal law, Ragsdale said.
SNIP...
Federal law doesn't have a provision for the suspension of judges, and Fuller is still receiving his annual salary of $199,100 while not hearing cases.
CONTINUED...
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/08/20/judge-ala-domestic-violence/14343013/
PS: You are most welcome, Enthusiast! Justice for Don Siegelman!
Thanks for bringing this to our attention! I wish there was a way we could figure out how to swap Siegelman out of prison with KKKarl Rove. Siegelman out, Rove in.
Octafish
(55,745 posts)Especially when based on real life.
All Roads Lead to Rove
ABC News Page 2, March 21, 2007
OPINION By MIKE PAPANTONIO
Any time there is political filth floating around in the GOP cesspool, you can bet that the smell generally originates with Karl Rove or Dick Cheney. That's not to say that the little Shrub himself is not often part of that filth machine, but the truth is that a real complicated dirty tricks operation may be outside little George's grasp.
If Congress has the good sense to issue subpoenas and maintain congressional hearings even after Alberto Gonzalez resigns, you will see Rove's grimy little fingerprints all over the Justice Department's firing story. He just can't help himself.
Alberto Gonzales absolutely will resign because the GOP cannot afford all the political filth stories already confronting them. But the House Judiciary Committee should not let Rove and his creepy political henchmen stroll away from this one without showing Americans just how far gone decency and integrity really is in GOP politics.
Any time an ugly GOP political story has developed legs, Rove has always quietly slithered away like an unrepentant reptile. No questions asked -- no answers given.
Nine out of 10 Americans still are mostly in the dark about Rove's hands-on manipulation of the Valerie Plame outing because no one had the chance to actually watch Rove testify under oath. This should be the time that Americans get to see how the most influential man in GOP leadership goes about perpetuating Republican political filth. It will make for great TV.
CONTINUED...
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/BothSidesAllSides/story?id=2969777&page=2
For corruption in office, Bush's Brain Turdblossom and their legal toady Alberto Gonzalez deserve nothing less than life imprisonment.
PS: Great idea, ReRe. It would be sort of a Great Escape where the good guys get out and the bad guys get in...Siegelman out, Rove in. I'm calling my Agent.
ReRe
(10,737 posts)How the Hell has KKKarl escaped incarceration?
Jack Rabbit
(45,984 posts)It's long past time that Don Siegelman and Mark Fuller to trade places. Those Bush-appointed federal prosecutors who persecuted Siegelman should join Fuller in the slammer.
Cirque du So-What
(27,485 posts)I was thinking the same thing about Governor Siegelman and Fuller trading places.
Octafish
(55,745 posts)If Siegelman could win in Alabama, perhaps he could win nationwide. Tough now, seeing how he's been in the slammer for so many years, but not impossible. I now you, Jack Rabbit, remember Nelson Mandela.
rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)Octafish
(55,745 posts)Judge Mark E "Doss Aviation" Fuller is where Alabama industry welcomes the money trumps peace crowd.
The Case for Impeaching Federal Judge Mark Fuller
WANTED Alabama Democrats, Thursday, July 26, 2012
EXCERPT...
At every turn of Siegelmans trial, Fuller improperly ruled against Siegelman and co-defendant Richard Scrushy, and for the prosecution. He failed to take action when the Government failed to disclose evidence favorable to Siegelman, as he should have done under the rule of Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83 (1963). He silenced Siegelmans attorneys from making relevant and legal arguments to the jury. He let charges go to the jury which were later ruled improper by the U.S. Supreme Court. Not only that, Fuller failed to notify defense attorneys that a female juror, by the name of Katie Langer, had been passing notes through Judge Fullers bailiff, asking if the FBI agent sitting at the prosecution table was single. I cant imagine how her not wanting Mr. Potential FBI Dream Date to be angry about an acquittal could have influenced her vote on the jury. (In a criminal case, any private communication, contact, or tampering directly or indirectly, with a juror during a trial is ... deemed presumptively prejudicial, United States v. Khanani, 502 F.3d 1281, 1291 (11th Cir. 2007)).
Fullers conduct in the trial (I have only named a handful of his pro-Government rulings) gave Siegelmans attorneys lots of ammunition in his partially-successful appeal, and is doubtless going to provide them more fodder in the § 2255 proceeding that is likely going to be filed, now that the direct appeals are playing out.
But what do those violations of Siegelmans rights have to do with the hypothetical case I described in the first paragraphs? To understand that, you have to know a little something about Judge Fuller. Even while serving as a district attorney for several years before being appointed a federal judge, Fuller found time to be a full-time businessman. His extensive business activity did not miss a beat when he took the presumably full-time job of federal judge.
Fuller was for years, including during the Siegelman trial, a principal of Doss Aviation, Inc.; some reports made him a 43% owner.¹ He was listed on corporate reports as the companys CEO, even after becoming a federal judge. Doss Aviations 2002 Annual Report on file with the Alabama Secretary of State² shows Fuller as the corporate president, with his office listed as 1 Church Street in Montgomery. That just happens to be the United States Courthouse, where Fullers court sits.³ In his 2010 financial disclosure form as a federal judge, Fuller valued his interest in Doss at between $5,000,000.00 and $25,000,000.00; with an additional $500,000.00 t0 $1,000,000.00 in the affiliated Doss of Alabama, Inc. Thats enough coin to get even Mitt Romneys attention.
So what does Doss Aviation do? I will let the homepage of its website speak to that:
Founded in 1970, Doss Aviation, Inc. enjoys over 40 years (sic) experience in supporting the U.S. Government in flight training, aircraft maintenance, maintenance training, into-plane aircraft fuels and bulk fuels management, transient aircraft support services, air traffic control, and other airfield management/logistics services. The company built an enviable reputation in over 50 contracts performing a variety of services for the U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, U.S. Air Force, Defense Logistics Agency - Energy (DLA-E), NASA, FBI, and Department of Homeland Security.
In other words, Doss Aviation is extremely, if not exclusively, dependent on government contracts, many of them no-bid, that can disappear if the Air Force - or the administration in power - decides it isnt happy with, say, the rulings of a leading shareholder. (Remember, at the time of the Siegelman trial, the administration was Republican.) The conflict of interest is obvious to even a layman. Despite this, Fuller has, throughout his career as a federal judge, regularly decided cases involving the Air Force. A summary of the reported cases follows:
* Webster v. Wynne, 2010 WL 5394752 (M.D. Ala. 2010). Civil employee of the Air Force alleged employment discrimination against the Air Force. Summary judgment granted to Air Force.
* United States v. 22.58 Acres of Land, 2010 WL 431254 (M.D. Ala. 2010). Action seeking condemnation of certain real property located in Montgomery County at the request of the Air Force. Landowners motion to dismiss denied.
* OSI, Inc. v. United States, 510 F.Supp.2d 531 (M.D. Ala. 2007). Owner of property adjoining Air Force base sued United States government and officials, stemming from alleged dumping of Air Force hazardous wastes into landfill on property. Summary judgment granted to Air Force.
* Waid v. United States, 2006 WL 1766808 (M.D. Ala. 2006). Driver of automobile injured in accident with Air Force vehicle sued for injuries. Claim against Air Force dismissed.
* Keel v. U.S. Dept. of Air Force, 256 F.Supp.2d 1269 (M.D. Ala. 2003). Plaintiff, a white male, claimed that defendants terminated him on the basis of his race and sex in violation of Title VII, and retaliated against him by barring his access to Air Force base. Summary judgment entered for Air Force.
In another questionable case where the Air Force was not a party, Houston v. Army Fleet Services, L.L.C., 509 F.Supp.2d 1033 (M.D. Ala. 2007), Fuller denied summary judgment to an employment discrimination defendant - which is a competitor of Fullers company. I did not find one reported opinion in which Fuller was the judge, in which the Air Force lost the case.
CONTINUED...
http://wantedalabamademocrats.blogspot.com/2012/07/the-case-for-impeaching-federal-judge.html
rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)Always click on an Octafish post.
Octafish
(55,745 posts)One big fish the greedheads feeding from the Pentagon trough were most interested in landing.
Inside Story on DoDs Boeing Air Force Tanker Deal: Opinion Analysis
February 25, 2011
By Andrew Kreig
Washington, DC The Department of Defense Feb. 24 announced its choice of Boeing for a $35 billion contract to build the Air Forces next generation of mid-air refueling tankers. Boeings selection, subject to any challenge by the losing bidder EADS, could end a decade-long, scandal-ridden process that became one of the controversial and important in modern U.S. procurement history.
Boeings victory over the consortium lead by EADS (European Aeronautic Defense and Space Co.) surprised many industry experts who believed EADS held the edge over Boeing. Alabamas powerful Republican Senate delegation fought so hard for EADS that Sen. Dick Shelby put a hold last February on every Obama nomination in the federal government unless the White House promised to give EADS what he called fair consideration. Later in the spring, President Obama promised to provide such fairness also in response to requests by European leaders, whose subsidies of EADS have sparked criticism at the World Trade Organization and elsewhere.
But DoD officials under Defense Secretary Robert Gates cited Boeings smaller planes among other factors in making this weeks award. What that means is that, in the end, Boeing won on price, Loren B. Thompson, a defense policy analyst for the Arlington-based Lexington Institute, told the Washington Post. Price consists of the cost of producing the plane, plus the cost of operating it over 30 years, he continued. The Airbus plane is so much bigger and burned over a ton more fuel per flight hour.
Boeing Bribery
My Justice Integrity Project has tracked the competition closely for a year and a half after learning from reliable sources details about industrial espionage and skulduggery. This went far beyond even the scandals showcased in Senate oversight hearings led by Sen. John McCain (R-AZ). Those scandals sent a Boeing executive and former Air Force procurement officer to prison on bribery charges and led in 2005 to DoD revocation of its initial award to Boeing.
Last spring, Connecticut Watchdog published my column, Im Shocked, Shocked! To Find Politics In Defense Contracting. It linked EADS and its United States allies to the frame-up of former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman on corruption charges. The plot, according to our sources, was for EADS-proponents working behind the scenes with selected federal authorities to remove the Democrat Siegelman from public life with trumped-up charges.
This was, according to our information, part of an overall plan to help well-connected military contractors and their political allies. In part, the EADS plan empowered Siegelmans Republican successor, Gov. Bob Riley, to use his superb connections stemming from his previous House Armed Services Committee leadership to work with Europeans and fellow Republicans to win the contract. The contract is sometimes estimated, as here, at $35 billion. But is often reported also as $40 billion in United States spending. The value could be much more if other nations followed the U.S. lead to achieve economies of scale by selecting the same supplier. For this and other military deals, EADS created a North American subsidiary based in Virginia, partnered with politically well-connected Northrop Grumman and planned $600 million parts reassembly plant in Mobile, AL.
Bidding With an American Face
All of this put an American face on the bid. This was vitally necessary for political reasons in an era of job-decline in the United States, especially given the political clout of Chicago-based Boeing and its workforce around the nation. As revealed by the McCain hearings, Boeing has its own dark-side in lobbying. Even publicly disclosed operations show that consultant David Plouffe, a longtime Obama adviser, has been on their payroll.
CONTINUED...
http://ctwatchdog.com/business/inside-story-on-dods-boeing-air-force-tanker-deal-opinion-analysis
Interest in the USAF tanker deal was Buy-Partisan, especially for those having to, um, deal with the Alabama congreffional delegation.
PS: Thank you for the kind words, Go Vols! They mean the world to me.
sabrina 1
(62,325 posts)Watkins better watch out too, this criminal organization has a way of going after anyone who dares to question their criminal behavior.