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Barnes says he's ashamed for getting Bush into Texas Guard (AP is running it now)
AP ^ | 8-28-04

Posted on 08/28/2004 12:48:54 AM PDT by ambrose

Barnes says he's ashamed for getting Bush into Texas Guard

Associated Press

AUSTIN - In a video posted on the Internet, former Democratic Texas Lt. Gov. Ben Barnes said he is ashamed that he helped President Bush and the sons of other wealthy families get into the Texas Air National Guard in 1968 so they could avoid serving in Vietnam.

"I got a young man named George W. Bush into the National Guard when I was lieutenant governor of Texas, and I'm not necessarily proud of that, but I did it," Barnes said in the 45-second video, which was recorded May 27 at a meeting for John Kerry supporters in Austin.

Barnes, who actually was Texas House speaker when Bush entered the Guard, said he became ashamed after walking through the Vietnam Memorial and looking at the names of people who died.

"I became more ashamed of myself than I've ever been because the worst thing I did was get a lot of wealthy supporters and a lot of people who had family names of importance into the Guard and I'm very sorry about that and I apologize to you and the voters of Texas," Barnes said.

President Bush has denied that family influence got him into the Guard.

"It is no surprise that a partisan Democrat is making these statements," Bush spokeswoman Claire Buchan told the Houston Chronicle. "This was addressed five years ago, and there's nothing new."

According to the New York Times, the video was posted June 25 on the Web site Austin4Kerry.com. It didn't get much attention until Friday, when Jim Moore, an Austin-based author of books about Bush, sent out e-mail messages calling attention to it.

The clip was moved to another Web site - 69.59.167.160 - on Friday after the original site crashed from overuse.

"I got a lot of other people in the National Guard because I thought that's what people should do when you're in office: You help a lot of rich people," Barnes said.

It was the first time Barnes, a Kerry supporter, has discussed at length his role in getting Bush into the Guard. In 1999, he said he recommended Bush for a pilot's position at the request of a Bush family friend.


TOPICS: Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: benbarnes; bushmilitaryrecord; tang
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To: ambrose

Ambrose, I clicked the AP link and look what I found.

"I got a young man named George W. Bush into the National Guard ... and I'm not necessarily proud of that, but I did it," Barnes, a Democrat, said in the 45-second video, which was recorded May 27 before a group of John Kerry supporters in Austin.

Notice how the part "when I was lieutenant governor of Texas," has been removed.


61 posted on 09/04/2004 2:41:23 PM PDT by RGVTx
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To: NYCVirago
*Bump to your summary ---

But the facts that Barnes:


62 posted on 09/04/2004 2:45:31 PM PDT by Cboldt
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To: RGVTx
"I got a young man named George W. Bush into the National Guard ... and I'm not necessarily proud of that, but I did it,"

Well does he have a complete list? Or was it just Bush that was seared into his memory?
63 posted on 09/04/2004 2:47:27 PM PDT by WHBates
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To: Cboldt

Well, from a PR standpoint, this is a good time to run this garbage. It's going to be buried with all the hurricane coverage.


64 posted on 09/04/2004 2:49:34 PM PDT by BP2
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To: mass55th

HOW DARE YOU CRITICIZE BARNES HEROIC SERVICE 30 YEARS AGO IN SHARPSTOWN!



65 posted on 09/04/2004 2:55:05 PM PDT by Diddle E. Squat ( "History? I love history! So sequential...")
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To: ambrose
"I got a young man named George W. Bush into the National Guard when I was lieutenant governor of Texas, and I'm not necessarily proud of that, but I did it,"

Barnes was Lt Gov from 1969 - 1973

May 28, 1968: Bush enlists as an Airman Basic in the 147th Fighter-Interceptor Group, Ellington Air Force Base, Houston, and is selected to attend pilot training

The dates don't match up.

66 posted on 09/04/2004 3:08:41 PM PDT by TankerKC (R.I.P. Spc Trevor A. Win'E American Hero)
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To: fuzzy122

Thank you! I am constantly having to defend Bush at Slate's fray against the rabid leftists and I need all the facts and ammo I can get!

This is just one example:
http://fray.slate.msn.com/?id=3936&m=12024081


67 posted on 09/04/2004 3:23:20 PM PDT by Capricam
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To: FreedomPoster

Me too! And ditto! I need proof, ammo!


68 posted on 09/04/2004 3:28:08 PM PDT by Capricam
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To: Cboldt
Besides all the facts that destroy Barnes' flights of fancy, can somebody explain to me why a corrupt Democratic hack Lieutenant Governor (or whatever) would
  1. Have the power to do this
  2. Have the time to do this, what with all the payola he was in on
  3. Have the desire to do this, what with all the payola he wanted to be in on
  4. Want to help the son and grandson of second-tier Republican politicians?

69 posted on 09/04/2004 3:43:39 PM PDT by AmishDude
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To: ambrose
This would be the same Ben Barnes that should have spent a bunch of prison time for his participation in the Sharpstown Scandal?
70 posted on 09/04/2004 3:48:42 PM PDT by Clay Moore
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To: mass55th
The above article mentions it in an off-hand "so what?" way:

Barnes, who actually was Texas House speaker when Bush entered the Guard, said he became ashamed after walking through the Vietnam Memorial and looking at the names of people who died.

71 posted on 09/04/2004 4:07:05 PM PDT by cyncooper (We're mad as Zell and we're not going to take it anymore!)
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To: NYCVirago
Barnes, I think, was Texas Speaker of the House then, according to something I read in another thread, not Lt. Governor.

Nope. In 1968, the Texas House wasn't in session and there WAS no Speaker.

"The Texas Legislature meets in Regular Session for about five months every other year. Regular Sessions begin at noon on the second Tuesday in January of odd numbered years and can last no more than 140 days, ending during the last week of May or the first week of June.

At the beginning of each Regular Session, the members of the House of Representatives elect one member to serve as the presiding officer -- the Speaker of the House."

72 posted on 09/04/2004 4:12:03 PM PDT by Leroy S. Mort
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To: Qwinn2
The only way you can claim a number like that (Bush served 5.25 years more than Kerry) is if you're -not- counting Kerry's time aboard the Gridley, etc., or Kerry's 9 years in the Reserve following 1970, ONLY Kerry's 4.5 months in Vietnam, while counting every last minute of Bush's service, including his mostly- off-time in Alabama.

You do know what Kerry was up to from 1971 to 1972, right? Hint: It was not serving in the Navy in any capacity.

Yes, one can rightfully point to George W. Bush's service. His "mostly off time" in Alabama came in 1972 a full 4 years after he had joined up.

73 posted on 09/04/2004 4:17:39 PM PDT by cyncooper (We're mad as Zell and we're not going to take it anymore!)
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To: Capricam

See backhoe's links in #48.


74 posted on 09/04/2004 4:21:47 PM PDT by FreedomPoster (hoplophobia is a mental aberration rather than a mere attitude)
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To: cyncooper
"The above article mentions it in an off-hand "so what?" way."

Well, I guess we know that the MSM doesn't worry about the truthfullness of statements from Democrats.

75 posted on 09/04/2004 5:31:46 PM PDT by mass55th ( “Where they have burned books, they will end in burning human beings.”)
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To: Leroy S. Mort
At the beginning of each Regular Session, the members of the House of Representatives elect one member to serve as the presiding officer -- the Speaker of the House."

Yeah, but I'm sure it works the way it does in Congress, that the speaker of the house is still considered the speaker, even when Congress is no longer in session for the year.

76 posted on 09/04/2004 5:47:21 PM PDT by NYCVirago
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To: Capricam; FreedomPoster; All
" The US president, George Bush, was transferred to the Alabama National Guard during the Vietnam war because his drunken behaviour was a political liability to his father in Texas, the wife of one of his father's former confidants revealed yesterday."

Well, this one is quite easy. 1st George H. W. Bush was a U.S. congressman from Texas (1966-1970) then an ambassador to the United Nations (1971-1974).

I could understand a drunken Dubya being a "political liability" for a Congressman from Texas but seeing as how Bush was "sent" or went to Alabama in 1972 - 1973 how would this be better for an ambassador to the United Nations?

As usual, the left is so inept at anything resembling debate because (as Rush so often points out) they lost the necessary skills. They have had a monoploly in Congress and an unquestioning press for over four decades and so they have no idea on how to construct a valid argument that can withstand the least bit of scrutiny!

This research took all of about 15 minutes. Spread the word!!

Here is a link to page I put together full of video and audio links.

The Swiftvets news conference on C-SPAN can be found here.

"Stolen Honor" video clips are at the top.

An interview of Steve Gardner (the gunner that served under Kerry) is next and then all 3 of the Swiftvets.com ads

There are many other links.

If you have a few minutes to spend - check out my 9/11 memorial page and turn up your speakers to hear "Have You Forgotten?"

Arm yourself with ALL the facts. Then enlighten someone else - spread the knowledge.

Disclaimer: I do NOT make any money off of my site. It's just a place for me to play.
When I can I try to help.


Stay Strong,
Fuzzy122

77 posted on 09/04/2004 6:21:58 PM PDT by fuzzy122 (GBGB [God Bless George Bush] ... Arnold and Zell too!)
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To: fuzzy122

Sir! Your page rocks!

Kudos. I'll be rubbing some noses in some of those links - and getting some undecideds to look at them, in the process.


78 posted on 09/04/2004 7:12:26 PM PDT by FreedomPoster (hoplophobia is a mental aberration rather than a mere attitude)
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To: FreedomPoster
"Your page rocks!"

Thank you. Thank you. No please, stop!

You're welcome. Spread the word.


Stay Strong,
Fuzzy122

79 posted on 09/04/2004 7:57:03 PM PDT by fuzzy122 (GBGB [God Bless George Bush] ... Arnold and Zell too!)
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To: ambrose
Here is some good dirt about Barnes' association with the Sharpstown scandal (probably the biggest political scandal in Texas history) in the '70s. He's not a credible witness.

The 

Handbook of Texas Online


SHARPSTOWN STOCK-FRAUD SCANDAL. Texas went through one of its traditional and periodic governmental scandals in 1971-72, when federal accusations and then a series of state charges were leveled against nearly two dozen state officials and former state officials. Before normalcy returned, Texas politics had taken a slight shift to the left and had undergone a thorough housecleaning: the incumbent governor was labeled an unindicted coconspirator in a bribery case and lost his bid for reelection; the incumbent speaker of the House of Representatives and two associates were convicted felons; a popular three-term attorney general lost his job; an aggressive lieutenant governor's career was shattered; and half of the legislature was either intimidated out or voted out of office. The scandal centered, initially, on charges that state officials had made profitable quick-turnover bank-financed stock purchases in return for the passage of legislation desired by the financier, Houston businessman Frank W. Sharp. By the time the stock fraud scandal died down, state officials also had been charged with numerous other offenses-including nepotism and use of state-owned stamps to buy a pickup truck.

In the 1972 electoral aftermath, incumbent Democrats were the big losers, although at the top level of officialdom it was a matter of conservative Democrats being replaced by less conservative Democrats. Using the scandal as a springboard, less conservative Democrats and Republicans carried the "reform" battle cry and also gained a stronger foothold in the legislature. Democrats, defensively, charged that the whole scandal atmosphere in Texas was a national Republican plot, originated in the Nixon administration's Department of Justice. But before the smoke cleared, Will Wilson, an ex-Democratic Texas attorney general, by then one of the top Texas Republicans in the federal government, was hounded from his position as chief of the criminal division of the Department of Justice because of his own business dealings with Sharp.

The political tumult that was to become known as the Sharpstown stock fraud scandal started out meekly, though symbolically, on the day Texas Democrats were gathering in Austin to celebrate their 1970 election victories and inaugurate their top officials. Attorneys for the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, late in the afternoon of January 18, 1971, filed a lawsuit in Dallas federal court alleging stock fraud against former Democratic state attorney general Waggoner Carr, former state insurance commissioner John Osorio, Frank Sharp, and a number of other defendants. The civil suit also was filed against Sharp's corporations, including the Sharpstown State Bank and National Bankers Life Insurance Corporation. But it was deep down in the supporting material of the suit that the SEC lawyers hid the political bombshells. There it was alleged that Governor Preston Smith, state Democratic chairman and state banking board member Elmer Baum, House Speaker Gus Mutscher, Jr., Representative Tommy Shannon of Fort Worth, Rush McGinty (an aide to Mutscher), and others-none of them charged in the SEC's suit-had, in effect, been bribed. The plot, according to the SEC, was hatched by Sharp himself, who wanted passage of new state bank deposit insurance legislation that would benefit his own financial empire. The SEC said the scheme was for Sharp to grant more than $600,000 in loans from Sharpstown State Bank to the state officials, with the money then used to buy National Bankers Life stock, which would later be resold at huge profits as Sharp artificially inflated the value of his insurance company's stock. The quarter-of-a-million-dollar profits were, in fact, made. But they weren't arranged by Sharp, the SEC said, until after Governor Smith made it possible for Sharp's bank bills to be considered at a special legislative session in September 1969, and Mutscher and Shannon then hurriedly pushed the bills through the legislature. (Smith later vetoed the bills on the advice of the state's top bank law experts, but not until he and Baum had made their profits on the bank loan-stock purchase deal.)

The state officials denied all the charges, asserting that they had obtained the bank loans and made the stock purchases purely as business transactions unrelated to the passage of Sharp's bank bills. But as the spring of 1971 droned into summer, political pressure mounted on Smith, Baum, Mutscher, and Shannon-even on Lieutenant Governor Ben Barnes, who had been connected in several tangential ways to Frank Sharp, his companies, and the bank bills. By the fall of 1971, when Mutscher and his associates were indicted, the politics of 1972 had begun to take shape. Incumbents moved as far away as possible, politically, from the "old system" and the current state leaders. New candidates came forward, some of them literally with no governmental experience, under a "throw the rascals out" banner.

Mutscher, Shannon, and McGinty were tried in Abilene, on a change of venue from Austin because of adverse pretrial publicity, in February and March 1972. The indictment charged the three men with conspiracy to accept a bribe from Sharp, and District Attorney R. O. (Bob) Smith of Austin said during the trial that Governor Smith was an unindicted coconspirator. Prosecutors acknowledged from the start that the case would be based entirely on circumstantial evidence, which produced legal technicalities inexplicable to laymen. But the jury needed only 140 minutes on March 15, 1972, after exposure to hundreds of pounds and hours of evidence, to find the Mutscher group guilty. The next day, at the request of the defendants, Judge J. Neil Daniel assessed punishment at five years' probation.

The conviction of the Abilene Three dramatically advanced the momentum of the "reform" movement, coming less than three months before primary elections, at which more legislative seats were contested than in any year since World War II.qv (Redistricting decisions by the federal courts added to the high percentage of electoral challenges, but the Sharpstown scandal generally was credited as the main factor.) In statewide races "reform" candidates also dominated. The Democratic governor's race saw two newcomers-liberal legislator Frances (Sissy) Farenthold of Corpus Christi and conservative rancher-banker Dolph Briscoe of Uvalde-run far ahead of Governor Smith, who was seeking a third term as governor, and Lieutenant Governor Barnes, whose seemingly inexorable rise to political prominence was ended when his reputation was tainted by the scandal. Briscoe defeated Farenthold in the runoff and later was elected governor; but Republican candidate Henry Grover of Houston and Raza Unida Partyqv candidate Ramsey Muñiz of Waco drew enough votes to make Briscoe Texas's first "minority" governor. For the state's second top executive branch job, voters chose moderate Houston newspaper executive William P. Hobby, Jr., over seven other Democratic candidates as lieutenant governor-also on a "reform" theme. Reform-minded moderate Democrat John Luke Hill of Houston, a former secretary of state, left a successful private law practice to defeat the popular three-term attorney general, Crawford C. Martin,qv who had been criticized for his handling of the stock fraud scandal and for his own relationship with Frank Sharp. The Democratic primary and the general election of 1972 also produced a striking change in the legislature's membership, including a half-new House roster and a higher-than-normal turnover in the Senate. Most of the newcomers were committed to "reform" in some fashion, regardless of their ideological persuasion. The voters simultaneously indicated that their confidence in the legislature had been restored to some extent, because they approved in November 1972 an amendment allowing the legislature to sit as a constitutional convention in 1974. The convention failed by three votes on July 30, 1974, to approve a proposed new constitution for the voters to consider (see CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION OF 1974).

The final impact of the stock fraud scandal on Texas politics occurred during the regular session of the legislature in 1973. The lawmakers, led by new House Speaker Marion Price Daniel, Jr.,qv of Liberty, a moderate and son of a former governor, with active support from Attorney General Hill and Lieutenant Governor Hobby and with verbal encouragement from Governor Briscoe, passed a series of far-reaching reform laws. Among other subjects, the legislation required state officials to disclose their sources of income, forced candidates to make public more details about their campaign finances, opened up most governmental records to citizen scrutiny, expanded the requirement for open meetings of governmental policy-making agencies, and imposed new disclosure regulations on paid lobbyists.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Charles Deaton, The Year They Threw the Rascals Out (Austin: Shoal Creek, 1973). Sam Kinch, Jr., and Ben Procter, Texas under a Cloud (Austin: Jenkins, 1972). Vertical Files, Barker Texas History Center, University of Texas at Austin. Tracy D. Wooten, "The Sharpstown Incident and Its Impact on the Political Careers of Preston Smith, Gus Mutscher and Ben Barnes," Touchstone 5 (1986).

Sam Kinch, Jr.

Recommended citation:
"SHARPSTOWN STOCK-FRAUD SCANDAL." The Handbook of Texas Online. <http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/ha ndbook/online/articles/view/SS/mqs1.html> [Accessed Wed Sep 8 23:21:34 US/Central 2004 ].

80 posted on 09/11/2004 11:44:53 AM PDT by Paleo Conservative (Do not remove this tag under penalty of law.)
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