If Duncan Donuts Hunter wants all foreign investments reviewed, will be be willing to go back and ask a few questions about this one?
http://www.floridashipper.com/news/article.asp?ltype=feature&sid=682
Since Chuckie Schumer is the recipient of campaign cash from the beneficiary. And since that beneficiary got $600 million dollars in concessions from the NY/NJ Port Authority along with the promise that they would be the top dog in this port. Then US gets to foot the bill for a few adjustments to the port designed to help this one terminal/shipper.
http://www.senate.gov/~schumer/SchumerWebsite/pressroom/press_releases/PR00370.html
And now we read that another Schumer contributor may end up scarfing up the NY leases at fire sale prices.
Makes me sick and where oh where is the ethics committee on THIS?
Whoever said "follow the money" first should get a medal.
As Rush has said many times, this "Portgate" has never been about SECURITY. The Dims have never been strong on security and in fact many have said there is no enemy and the WOT is just Bush scare tactics. NOW the Dims want to claim they are strong on security - com'on!!
"If Duncan Donuts Hunter wants all foreign investments reviewed, will be be willing to go back and ask a few questions about this one?"
Good question. I'd also like to know that since he and the Dims are so concerned all of a sudden about port security, are they going to go back and review the COSCO deal?? Seems to me if the UAE can't 'operate our ports' (which really is operating a container terminal)then the Chinese gov't shouldn't be able to either. Saudis are also involved in some of them - - let's see, UAE is helping our military and we had to move our military out of Saudi - - which country is a better ally? BTW - SSA is a co in Seattle and was one of the ones being considered to take over from DPW. If you want to know more about SSA - see my posts here: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1594261/posts?page=35#35
The National Shipping Company of Saudi Arabia
The National Shipping Company of Saudi Arabia (NSCSA) was established in 1979 to meet the transportation needs of Importers and Exporters in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and other countries in the Middle East.
By 1983, NSCSA has established itself as a combination Roll-on/Roll-off (Ro-Ro), Container and Breakbulk carrier, operating 8 fully owned vessels. It had become one of the world's largest Ro-Ro operators, offering liner services linking the Middle East with North America, the Far East and Europe.
In 1991, NSCSA (America) Inc., was established to serve as the General Agent in North America for the Liner Service between U.S., Canada and the Middle East/India Subcontinent/East Mediterranean regions.
NSCSA specializes in Project, Heavy Lift and Ro-Ro cargoes, as well as containers.
In 1997, NSCSA began service between North America and Italy, Greece and Turkey.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1584235/posts
Foreign involvement is nothing new [COSCO Chinese gov't co runs terminals]
sfgate.com ^ | February 23, 2006 | Kathleen Pender
Posted on 03/03/2006 10:45:42 AM PST by syriacus
Most terminal operators at U.S. ports are foreign companies and some are owned in part by foreign governments.
APL, which manages terminals in Oakland, Los Angeles, Seattle and Alaska, is owned by the NOL Group, which is majority owned by the Singapore government.
The Chinese government owns part of a company that operates a terminal at the Port of Long Beach.
That company, Cosco Container Lines, a division of China Cosco, caused a stir similar to the current one back in 1998.
Cosco ships had been calling on the Port of Long Beach for many years, using a public terminal. In the late 1990s, it wanted to build its own terminal at the former Long Beach Naval Station, says Howard Finkel, a senior vice president with Cosco.
The deal raised national-security concerns and Congress passed a bill that effectively scuttled it.
A few years later, other tenants at the port vacated space and Cosco was able to build its own terminal, says Art Wong, public information office for the Port of Long Beach.
That terminal is operated by a joint venture between Cosco and a U.S. company, Stevedoring Services of America. "Cosco is the majority lease holder with 51 percent, says Wong.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1589400/posts
And a little more info on Schmuckie:
Deal gives Dubai firm control of 23 U.S. ports - Eller lobbied Schumer - Causing this uproar
Buffalo News ^ | 3/4/2006 | Douglas Turner
Posted on 03/10/2006 7:37:43 AM PST by Solson
WASHINGTON - A Dubai-owned company will control 23 American ports - not six - as a result of the deal approved by a Bush administration panel in January.
The takeover of the British company Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co. involves almost every major Atlantic seaport from Portland, Maine, to Miami and along the entire Gulf Coast, according to an attorney fighting the deal.
The list includes Port Arthur and Beaumont, Texas, which have handled about 40 percent of the war materiel the Army has shipped to combat theaters in Iraq and Afghanistan.
It also includes Norfolk, Va., home to most of the U.S. Navy's Atlantic fleet, along with three seaports in Louisiana that handle massive shipments of crude oil.
In the spreading controversy, it was known that the British firm being bought by Dubai Ports World runs operations at New York, New Jersey, Baltimore, New Orleans, Miami and Philadelphia.
Attorney Joseph Muldoon III represents Eller & Co., a Miami-based shipping firm that is fighting the transaction here and in Britain's highest court.
In an interview, the attorney said Eller & Co. does not want to become an unwilling partner of DP World's Miami operations.
Muldoon told The News he unsuccessfully appealed two months ago to Sen. John Warner, R-Va., whom he knows personally, and also saw staff members for Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, to stop the sale on national security grounds.
"I'll check it out," Muldoon quoted Warner as responding.
"Finally, I went to Sen. [Charles E.] Schumer because he is a member of the Senate Banking Committee, which oversees the Treasury Department board which approved this thing. If this hadn't been for Sen. Schumer," Muldoon said in an interview, "this issue would never had gotten any traction.
"My client, and I personally, believe that the seaports of this country should not be run by a foreign government," Muldoon said.
He said claims by the Bush administration that security is not involved is a myth.
"The port operator is the one who lays out the security plan," he said, "and the Coast Guard and other government operations follow suit."
In London, Eller & Co. attorneys have been given the right to appeal the deal by Britain's highest court. It was not until Muldoon called Schumer's office three weeks ago that it bloomed into an issue that threatens the president's hold on Republican majorities in the House and Senate.
"I had an instinct about this situation," Schumer said, "and it was to keep it as bipartisan as possible. So I went first to [Sen. Tom] Coburn [R-Okla.] and he was very concerned."
Muldoon said "Schumer was hanging out there all alone on it until" Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., announced his opposition. King is chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee.
Both national and statewide polls indicate the planned takeover of operations of American ports has helped plunge Bush to the lowest ratings of his presidency.
A New York poll done by the Republican-oriented Strategic Vision LLC gives Bush an overall approval rating of 24 percent. National polls have Bush at between 36 and 39 percent.
In the state survey, 81 percent of respondents think an act of terrorism is more likely if the Dubai ports deal goes through.
Although the Bush administration officially approved the deal Jan. 16, DP World, the company owned by rulers of the United Arab Emirates, has requested the United States conduct a 45-day review of the transaction in an effort to defuse opposition.
Schumer and King are sponsoring nearly identical bills that would empower Congress to block the deal if Congress is dissatisfied with the results of the review.
Rep. Thomas M. Reynolds, R-Clarence, was an early supporter of King's bill, which now has 97 co-sponsors. Backers include almost the entire state delegation.
Bureau assistant Sara Blumberg contributed to this article.
e-mail: dturner@buffnews.com
1st post on thread:
So this is the real crux of this deal. An American company got beat out of the sell by P&O by DP World and because Eller couldn't win in the court of law, they simply lobbyied Warner who said he would look into it. That wasn't enough so he went to Schumer who made hay.
The bottom line is this was a business deal UNDERCUT by a competitor of DP World. This was purely a lobbyist play by Eller. If, in the end they get this deal, there should be a serious examination of the money trail from Eller to Schumer, Clinton, et al.
1 posted on 03/10/2006 7:37:47 AM PST by Solson
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1593857/posts
I can see this all turning veerrry ugly, when Chuckie's Union affiliations are known on Talk Radio and the New media. A lot of the uninformed like Hannity and Laura Ingraham,etc will probably not even mention the Unions/mafia hand in this matter because it will show them to be stuck on stupid about it having anything to do with Port Security. This was about two things, pumping up the tumbling numbers of Union members(Dem voters and loyal GOTV workers,contributors), and trashing the President and the White House. Thanks to Buchanan type Pubbies whose real issue is Mexicans coming across the Border, they have managed to do both. They have also managed to paint us all as Ugly,prejudiced,protectionist bigots. I would like to see one of our Best Freeper Poster Mavens post a thread where those freepers that are ashamed of the behavior of the classless,clueless,UAE trasher's could Say how sorry we are that this happened. The Press and some Pubbies running for the Hills managed to color Non Biased Americans as horrible bigots. We would keep this thread running and send a Copy to the UAE Ambassador.