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Bush’s super-fundraisers line up
for favors
By Paul Harris
May 23-- The sun shone on the plush grounds of the Ritz-Carlton
Lodge in the rolling Georgia countryside. But the resort’s four
championship golf courses were strangely empty for a pleasant spring
weekend. Instead, 300 of America’s most powerful men and women
sat in a windowless conference room to receive the thanks of their hero:
President George W. Bush.
The 300 form part of an elite donor network that has turned Bush’s
campaign into the most powerful fundraising machine in US history. They
are dubbed Pioneers (for rustling up $100,000) and Rangers (getting
$200,000). But now, it was revealed to the gathering at the “appreciation
weekend,” a new level of fundraiser was to be created. Those Rangers
able to generate another $250,000 could become Super Rangers, the cream
of the cream of Republican cash cows. But they had to do it by Aug.
15. It is a tribute to the awesome levels of power and influence in
the room that many would expect to pass that test. But critics question
what people who raise half a million dollars for the Republican cause
expect in return. The secretive ranks of Pioneers, Rangers and now Super
Rangers expose the huge influence of cash on US policy. Many gain positions
in government. Their firms win billions of dollars worth of federal
contracts. Legislation is shaped to benefit their industries.
Since 1998, Bush has raised at least $296 million in campaign contributions.
It is believed up to half of that huge sum has come from just 630 people.
Last week Bush’s 2004 re-election fund hit a record $200 million,
doubling the total set in 2000, and it is expected to top $250 million.
It gives the Republicans tremendous firepower. At the center of this
torrent of money lie the Pioneers and Rangers. Formed by four family
friends in 1998 when Bush was still governor of Texas, they have grown
into a nationwide network of influence. With its different levels, the
aim is to make top donors compete for influence. “When you do that,
the sky is really the limit. They give more and more, but in the end
it is all just gravy for the Bush train,” said Andrew Wheat, director
of Texans for Public Justice, a group that monitors the network.
Certainly the benefits of donating seem clear. A report by the group
revealed that, out of 630 elite donors from 2000 and 2004, almost one
quarter were given an appointment from the administration -- including
24 ambassadorships and two cabinet positions. In 2002 more than $3.5
billion of federal contracts were given to 101 companies that between
them boasted 123 Pioneers or Rangers. “We believe this is only
the tip of the iceberg, too. This is only the stuff that we have been
able to find out about,” said Wheat.
Nor is the campaign choosy about where its contributions come from:
146 of the donors have been involved in corporate scandals or helped
to run companies that have. Most obvious was Kenneth Lay, former boss
of disgraced energy firm Enron. But others have been linked to financial
murkiness on Wall Street, pollution problems and even health issues.
The network has 78 donors linked to campaign finance scandals.
But the success of the donor network keeps growing. The Super Rangers
initiative was only announced last week, yet at least 25 are already
believed to exist. However, only one name has become public. He is Alberto
Cardenas, a longtime Florida Republican who now works as a lawyer and
lobbyist for Tew Cardenas, a law firm with offices in Miami and Washington.
The network is extremely “clubby” and close-knit. Four main
families are at its center. First is the Bush clan itself. It boasts
seven family members who have made at least Pioneer status, including
Bush’s sister Dorothy Bush Koch and his uncle, H.T. “Bucky”
Bush. Then comes Richard Egan, a Massachusetts millionaire, whose sons
Chris and Michael have also made the grade. Joining them with three
members each are the Fox family, who own the Harbour Group finance firm
with major investments in China, and the Reynolds family of land developers.
The April meeting was held on land owned by the Reynoldses.
The industries the network spans are also tightly knit. Almost 20 percent
of the elite donors come from the world of finance, while 18 percent
are lawyers and lobbyists.
Donors work hard for the cash. In order to bypass strict campaign laws
limiting individual donations to $2,000, each donor “bundles”
together checks from his own circle of friends and employees. But the
effort seems worthwhile.
A classic example is that of West Virginia coal baron James Harless,
a Pioneer in 2000 and 2004, therefore contributing at least $200,000
to the Bush campaign. He saw his grandson appointed to a Department
of Energy team looking at drawing up new policies. The Bush administration
then reversed a campaign promise to reduce carbon dioxide emissions
that bedevil the coal industry and eased environmental restrictions
on opencast mining. “Here is where ordinary Americans are sold
down the river. When donations affect policy, it is ordinary people
who end up biting the bullet,” Wheat said.
Critics say the impact of the elite donors is most obvious in legislation
governing energy and air pollution. Bush has eased laws governing old,
polluting power plants. In many cases lawsuits against the worst offenders
were finally dropped. With cash being the key to winning US elections
and industries all too keen to use it to exert influence, it seems reform
is all but impossible. Certainly Democratic challenger John Kerry, who
has raised more than $100 million for his own campaign, is unlikely
to overhaul the system.
Bush was back in Georgia last week. Accompanied by his political guru,
Karl Rove, he flew in for a four-hour visit to a gated community in
the suburbs of Atlanta. He hosted a garden reception at the house of
Robert Nardelli, chief executive of giant retailer Home Depot. Then,
Bush was guest of honor at an exclusive dinner of steak, potatoes and
vegetables. It did not sound like haute cuisine, but at $25,000 per
head the price tag was certainly high. When Bush left for the airport,
he had racked up another $3.2 million to his cause.
Source: The Observer (UK)
Prisoners strike over inhumane conditions
By Liz Allen
Asheville, North Carolina, May 26 (AGR) — Prisoners at
the Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution (EOCI), located in Pendleton,
OR, have formed a collective and gone on strike. From May 12 through
May 15, letters from prisoners to the Lawrence Anarchist Black Cross,
reported that over 1,400 inmates in general population refused to eat
in the dining hall and 25 people in administrative segregation refused
to eat at all. Only 160 prisoners were reported not to have participated
in the strike and over 100 inmates were reported disciplined. On May
17, 58 prisoners were reported to be held without disciplinary charges
in “administrative segregation,” known as “the hole.”
“We intend to stand united in protest of the inhumane and unconscionable
treatment we have suffered at the hands of the officers and staff of
the Oregon Department of Corrections. A non-hierarchical, racially and
socially inclusive delegation of men (representing the prison population
as a whole) has reached consensus on the following: because all prior
attempts to resolve our grievances by official means have been either
ignored or unfairly dismissed, our inborn dignity and self-respect as
human beings cries out for us to ensure our voices will finally be heard,”
read a statement titled “A Message to the World Beyond the Razor
Wire,” signed by the EOCI Prisoner Collective, and dated May 12.
Complaints cited by the collective include: use of excessive force and
physical punishment; lack of adequate health care; lack of fulfilling
work and educational opportunities; discrimination based on religion,
race, culture, or politics; excessive disciplinary fines and sanctions;artificially
high prices of canteen items and phone calls; and “a myriad of
other problems that have created an environment hostile to our well-being,
rehabilitation, and integration into the free world.”
The strike actions include refusing to eat in the dining hall, make
collect phone calls, or purchase items from the canteen.
Doug Carter, a spokesperson for EOCI said the complaints listed in the
press release are unsubstantiated, “vague and non-specific.”
He said the prison has good and open lines of communication between
the community, staff, and prisoners. He specifically cited the “Prison
Blues” operation that employs prisoners to make uniforms for prisons
and law enforcement officials, as a postive prison work program. Last
week, Carter reported that a grand jury did an annual visitation of
the facilities.
Carter said those who had been placed in administrative segregation
have had a hearing by an “impartial hearings officer” and
either been written up and transferred back into the general population
or deemed a threat to prison safety and continue to be held in segregation
because they were trying to coerce others to join the strike. He called
the strike against the dinning hall a “slow down” which “had
a minimal impact on what was going on around here, we identified individuals
that were trying to influence others into something and set them apart.”
A letter from a prisoner to the Black Cross reported that around 20
prisoners have been sent to other prisons, mostly the Two Rivers Correctional
Institution in Umatilla, OR. Carter said he does not know the exact
number of prisoners that were moved, but 20 sounds too high, he believed
it would be more like 4 that were moved.
The EOCI prisoner collective has also asked that donations for disciplinary
expenses be sent to the Lawrence Anarchist Black Cross.
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