Bush, his Y2K Florida legal team, and their high-profile rewards (jobs)

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

This comes from pages 151-152 of "Bush Must Go" by Bill Press. If you don't have it...GET IT. Seriously, it is excellent. No fluff, just meat 'n' potatoes. Proof (as if anyone on DU needed it) that Bush ALWAYS takes care of his "base." Now watch him drive.

These are the lawyers that made up the core of Bush's legal team when he was fighting Al Gore in Florida. After they handed him the White House, they were rewarded with the following high-power, high-profile positions:

1). From the firm of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher:

Ted Olson, Solicitor General of the U.S.
Eugene Scalia (son of Justice Antonin Scalia), Solicitor for the Dept. of Labor
Robert Bonnor, U.S. Customs Commissioner
M. Sean Royal, Deputy Director of the Federal Trade Commission's Bureau of Competition
Miguel Estrada, failed nominee to the federal D.C. court of Appeals

2). From the firm of White & Case:

Tim Flanigan, Deputy White House Counsel
Marcos Daniel Jimenez, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida

3). From the firm of Greenberg Traurig:

Alberto Mora, General Counsel of the Navy
Michael P. Socarras, General Counsel of the Air Force

4). From the firm of Baker Botts:

Kirk Van Tine, General Counsel, Department of Transportation
Claude Allen, Deputy Secretary, Department of Health and Human Services
Angela Styles, Administrator, Office of Federal Procurement Policy
Robert Jordan, Ambassador to Saudi Arabia
Patrick Wood, Chairman, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
John P. Elwood, Counselor to Justice Department, Criminal Division

On the following pages, Press lists an additional 22 people who were given similar positions "with no qualifications other than having raised a minimum $100,000 for the 2000 Bush campaign."

[NMDemDist2]

1. i just wonder why these hotshot lawyers would take a major

pay cut to work in the government, there has to be more to the story IMO

[unblock]

3. pay cut? how naive

yes, salary is lower while you are in your government post.
but you exert HUGE power over mega-corporations and can make great contacts and work out deals for your post-governmental career.

it puts you in a position to make gazillions afterward, if you spent your government career with that in mind.

[Edmond Dantes]

2. Don't forget Douglas R. Cox from Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher

He was under consideration to head DOJ's Office of Legal Counsel -- the office that produced the torture memoranda -- but got nixed by the White House Counsel's Office.

Flanigan was Cox's former boss in OLC during Bush I. Turns out that Cox had fudged his time sheets during his prior OLC tenure and someone brought a citizen's suit against him for having done so. Flanigan reportedly put the kabosh on it.

Typical neocon crook ... .