Nor will it ever be anywhere near a position of power.
Posted on 11/29/2003 6:43:52 AM PST by Lessismore
Neil Bush, a younger brother of US President George W. Bush, has had a $60,000-a-year employment contract with a top adviser to a Washington-based consulting firm set up this year to help companies secure contracts in Iraq.
Neil Bush disclosed the payments during divorce proceedings in March from his now ex-wife, Sharon. The divorce was finalised in April and the court papers were disclosed by the Houston Chronicle this week.
Mr Bush said he was co-chairman of Crest Investment Corporation, a company based in Houston, Texas, that invests in energy and other ventures. For this he received $15,000 every three months for working an average three or four hours a week.
The other co-chairman and principal of Crest is Jamal Daniel, a Syrian-American who is an advisory board member of New Bridge Strategies, a company set up this year by a group of businessmen with close links to the Bush family or administrations. Its chairman is Joe Allbaugh, George W. Bush's campaign director in the 2000 presidential elections.
Other figures at New Bridge include Ed Rogers, its vice-chairman and a senior official in the Reagan and first Bush administrations, and Lanny Griffith, with whom he works in the lobby firm Barbour Griffith & Rogers. Lord Charles Powell, adviser to former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, is listed as an advisory board member.
On its website, New Bridge describes itself as being created to "take advantage of business opportunities in the Middle East following the conclusion of the US-led war in Iraq".
In his deposition, Neil Bush said he provided Crest "miscellaneous consulting services". This included "answering phone calls when Jamail [sic] Daniel, the other co-chairman, called and asked for advice".
There is evidence that the relationship between Mr Bush and Mr Daniel goes further. Joseph Peacock, Crest's company secretary, is one of the original investors in Ignite, Neil Bush's educational software company based in Austin, Texas.
In 1996, Mr Daniel and his wife hosted a $1,000-a-plate fund-raising dinner at their Houston mansion for the Texas Alliance Against Alcohol Abuse. The event was chaired by Sharon Bush, while George H. W. Bush, the former president, and his wife Barbara were to be present, according to the Houston Chronicle in 1996.
Other investors in Ignite, which was founded last year, include George H. W. and Barbara Bush, and Winston Wong, a Taiwan businessman who started the Grace Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp. The court papers further show Mr Bush benefits from a contract with Grace, a company also backed by Jiang Miangheng, son of Jiang Zemin, the former president of China.
Under the deal, signed on August 15 2002, Grace would pay Mr Bush $2m in shares over five years, issued in annual $400,000 increments.
In return, according to the Los Angeles Times, Mr Bush agreed to "provide GSMC from time to time with business strategies and policies; latest information and trends of the related industry, and other advice", according to the contract.
A call to New Bridge in Houston went unanswered yesterday, a holiday in the US. Previous attempts to contact Mr Daniel through the office were unsuccessful.
Third parties do not have a record of success in this country, so honest men must fight the good fight in the majors - however difficult and unrewarding that fight may be.
The Internet has given an incredible voice to the average man. He can speak to hundreds of thousands of people without spending millions on advertising. That's great.
But you can only tell people about honesty and show them what honest behavior looks like. If they don't want it, or can't resist the temptations of quick wealth, there's not much that can be done.
But aren't you tired of holding your nose when you pull the lever? I know I am.
Change is not made in giant leaps, but small steps.
On the surface Neil Bush's making between $300.00 and $400.00 an hour for consulting fee's isn't much of a big deal. Many lawyers receive that an more for thier consultations. But if you might recall Neil was eyeball deep in the Silverado Savings and Loan debacle.
From http://www.nathanielblumberg.com/neil.htm
"What did Neil Bush do in 1985 after he became a director of the Silverado Banking, Savings & Loan Association that went bust three years later at a cost to taxpayers of at least $1.6 billion? Among other improprieties involving "some of the worst kinds of conflicts of interest" according to federal regulators, he admits that he failed to list his business relationship on a conflict-of-interest form when he got a $100,000 loan from a developer who was a partner in his oil company. That was after he helped approve more than $100 million worth of loans to that business partner. When he wrote "None" on that form, he actually was dependent on one of the thrift's biggest borrowers for the entire $75,000 annual salary that was his main source of income. "I know it sounds a little fishy," he admitted when he testified that the loan was not to be repaid unless JNB Exploration was successful, which it wasn't. What it was, he said in one of the classic understatements of our time,"was an incredibly sweet deal." One bemused expert observed that it "may have been the first completed loan in financial history in which the creditor defaulted." "The investment booty lavished on this young man by his thrift scam buddies, as he ultimately confessed, had nothing to do with his skill or experience. "I would be naive if I were to sit here and deny that the Bush name didn't have something to do with it," he told Time magazine, explaining how at the age of 30 he was invited to join the board at a federally insured institution. (The average age of a thrift director was 57 and about 1 per cent of all S&L directors were under 35.)"
"While five of Silverado's board members were banned for life from any federally insured institution, Neil Bush was ordered only to "desist from any acts,omissions or practices involving any conflicts of interest, unsafe or unsound practices or breaches of fiduciary duty." In other words, to do nothing more than obey the law. And no order to pay restitution."
When I started to respond to you I was actually going to attempt to defend your proposition that Neil Bush's character is nothing like that of the Clinton's, but the more I researched about Neil Bush the more convinced I have become that "he is just like the Clintons" in many regards.
Don't take my word for it. Do a Google seach for "Neil Bush".
And then I return to my original thought. Giving those we "want to like" a pass for behavior we would not "grant that same pass" for with those we dislike doesn't paint us in a very favorable light in my mind's eye.
But he's always believed that the political process is irrelevant because this is pretty much a dog-eat-dog world in which the devil takes the hindmost.
Raised on that philosophy his daughter made (and kept) an illegally obtained fortune during the savings and loan scandals...and has led a fine life ever since.
We can all tell stories like that.
Their lesson - the most important thing is not to get caught - is hard to resist.
But you've already admitted that "no party is immune to corruption". So the process of voting will always be an act done while holding your nose. NO?
Always? Hopefully not.
During my lifetime? Always
LOL, never! But I can dream...
Nor will it ever be anywhere near a position of power.
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