Sirota: The Invisible Culture of Corruption

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http://www.workingassetsblog.com/2007/10/the_invisible_culture_of_corru.html

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I wondered: How many others on this letter are paid by industries that stand to make a buck off these trade policies?

Checking federal records, I discovered that the letter's first signatory, James Bacchus, is a former Clinton trade official now employed at convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff's old firm. Bacchus helped the firm this year rake in $40,000 from a client accused by watchdog groups of running sweatshops abroad.
Another signatory, Ira Shapiro, is at the same firm and is also a former Clinton trade official. He lobbies for Dole Foods, whose South American operations will undoubtedly benefit from the NAFTA expansion.

Going through more signatories, I kept finding the same thing. Stuart Eizenstat, a Clinton deputy Treasury secretary, now deals with "international business transactions and regulations on behalf of U.S. companies and others around the world," according to his corporate law firm's website. Former Democratic Rep. Cal Dooley is the lobbyist for large food, beverage and consumer products companies. And former Clinton Chief of Staff Mack McLarty provides "advocacy services to U.S. and multinational businesses involved in Mexico and Latin America," according to the website of his private investment fund.

In sum, the majority of those who signed are lobbyists, corporate lawyers or business consultants representing interests with a financial stake in the trade policies the letter endorses. Yet, this letter has been trumpeted by the media without a single mention of that inconvenient truth.
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[KoKo]

1. Put Sirota's piece together with "Hillary's Mystery Man Bush Connection" article here:

and it would seem that the Clintons have some very interesting allies....:eyes:

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Hillary's Bush Connection

Bush's mystery money man becomes Hillary's

by RUSS BAKER and ADAM FEDERMAN

Published in conjunction with The Nation

As his co-chair in the private firm, Quasha chose his old friend Nemazee, a fellow Harken investor. By the time of the Carret acquisition, Nemazee, a founding member of the Iranian-American Political Action Committee whose family was close with the late Shah of Iran, had become a significant fundraiser for the Clintons and the Democratic Party. In 1995 he raised money for the DNC. In 1998, in the midst of the Lewinsky affair, Nemazee collected $60,000 for Bill Clinton's legal defense fund in $10,000 increments from relatives and friends. Clinton subsequently nominated Nemazee as ambassador to Argentina but withdrew the nomination after an article in Forbes raised questions about Nemazee's business dealings in the 1980s and '90s--which noted that the American-born Nemazee magically became "Hispanic" by acquiring Venezuelan citizenship because of a requirement that certain California public pension funds be run by minorities.

Failure to be named ambassador did not, however, hamper Nemazee's rise within the Democratic Party. By 2004 he was New York finance chair for John Kerry's campaign, and in 2006 he served under Senator Chuck Schumer as the national finance chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC)--a period during which the committee raised about $25 million more than its Republican counterpart. This past March Nemazee, at the behest of McAuliffe, threw a dinner for Hillary at Manhattan's swank Cipriani restaurant, which featured Bill Clinton and raised more than $500,000.

The exact nature of McAuliffe's duties at Carret is unclear, and Quasha, Carret and McAuliffe all declined to answer The Nation's questions on this matter. But McAuliffe seems to have served, at least occasionally, as a good will ambassador for Quasha's business operations. He brought Wang Tianyi, head of a formerly state-owned Chinese firm and a business associate of Quasha's, to meet with Bill Clinton. And Quasha has visited the ex-President at his Harlem office over the past several years, according to Joe Wozny, former president of a Carret affiliate. Wozny recalls that Quasha "was up there quite a few times, meeting with Bill Clinton." As for that Washington office, the Carret website says only that it specialized in providing "information regarding products and services for institutions."

But the office seems to have benefited McAuliffe--and Hillary Clinton. When McAuliffe stepped down as DNC chair in February 2005, he said he planned to hit the lecture circuit and spend more time with his family. He may have done both, but he did so as vice chair of Carret from the new company office on the seventh floor of the venerable McPherson Building, once the home of the John Kerry campaign and just off K Street's lobbyist gulch. Simon Rosenberg's New Democrat Network, where Mark Penn, chief pollster and strategist for Hillary's campaign, has served as a fellow, was housed next door to McAuliffe and O'Keefe.

much more at..........
http://www.realnews.org/stories/2007-10-16_hillary.html

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2. Yes, very interesting allies indeed. n/t

[KoKo]

3. I hope many DU'ers will take the time to print the articles here out...

and read over the weekend. It's really important and whether you agree or not at least you are informed.

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[KoKo]

4. Kick...for what's going on "behind the scenes."

:kick: