Smirk has paid Vance International $750,000 and climbing

[donsu]

http://www.dailykos.com/section/bush_admin

Yesterday I posted that Vance International, a firm that specializes in, among other things, Secret Service-like personal protection, surveillance, and corporate security during labor disputes, had received almost $200,000 from the Bush-Cheney campaign committee. I was wrong. Since July, Bush-Cheney Inc. has paid Vance International and one of its subsidiaries approximately $750,000. Should they continue at their current rate, by election day the Bush campaign will have paid over $1.5 million to a firm known for high-tech security and surveillance and low-tech picket line thuggery.
Since September 15th, Bush-Cheney Inc. has made 15 payments totaling $626,727.90 to Vance International for "equipment/personnel services." (Citations can be found below.) Prior to that, between July 11th, 2003 and August 26th, 2003, the campaign made 7 payments totaling $122,421.78 to Vance Uniformed Protection, a subsidiary of Vance International. The Bush HQ in Arlington VA occupies several floors of an office building, and upscale office buildings such as this one typically provide security for their tenants. It's not unreasonable to accept that the Bush campaign would want to have additional security of its own on the floors it occupies, but that requires a far smaller presence than securing an entire building, parking lots, and the surrounding area. So again, it's hard to imagine that the campaign has standard office security needs that cost $1,500,000.00 per year.

Many folks here and elsewhere have commented that the press should pursue this issue and ask why the Bush campaign is paying so much to a security firm, especially one with such an unsavory record for being associated with violence during labor disputes. It's possible there is a very simple and reasonable answer, but it would be nice to see someone ask the question. This time it might happen, in part because some of Vance's most heavy-handed incidents have been against members of the Newspaper Guild, some of whom were among the 61 Detroit newspaper strikers in the mid-1990's who were "attacked or injured by scabs, security guards, or police...The injured include 15 who have been run over by cars and 19 or 20 who were assaulted." Vance was also called in on the Seattle newspaper strike a few years later, by which time the company learned to tighten Vance's leash and the strikers knew about the Vance goons' bite. And it's not just Detroit and Seattle journalists who know about Vance' role on picket lines; in 1997 the Columbia Journalism Review published an analysis of the Detroit strike written by Mike Hoyt, CJR's executive editor, and NPR's Don Gonyea, whose beat included organized labor before he became NPR's White House correspondent. Surely Mr. Gonyea, a good reporter who has seen first-hand the Vance goons in actions on several occasions, might be at least a wee bit curious about this?

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Fri's post was titled: Bush Campaign Paying Firm That Specializes In Paramilitaries


and we think we are going to waltz to the voting place and all will be well.