Do any of you remember back around 1992 to 1994 when Newt Gingrich and many of the Republicans were talking about wanting to "do away with the Commerce Department". I know I have some of those quotes somewhere, but so far haven't found them.
In 1995, on page 122 in Newt Gingrich's book, "To Renew America", he says this: "David Dreier ... led the task force ...to eliminate and alter several committees that he concluded were no longer necessary, while others needed to be reorganized or renamed. [One of these (no longer necessary) was] The Energy and Commerce Committee, which John Dingell had turned into an empire ....".
We might do a little more digging into the one SNL dubbed, "Long John Dingell", and see what we find. :D
Ron Brown (Commerce Secretary)
Brown, the millionaire former chaiman of the DemocRAT National Committee, is no longer being considered to run Clinton's '96 campaign due to the emergence of a series of odd financial dealings, as well as Brown's business relationship with Texan Nolanda Hill, owner of Washington and Boston TV stations. Brown and Hill were partners in a company called First International Communications Corp.
According to The Washington Post: "Though [Brown] put no money into the business and it never had a successful venture, Hill paid Brown more than $400,000 for his part of the partnership after he became Commerce Secretary."
That's right --- after.
Corridor Broadcasting Corp., another company Hill owned, defaulted on debts to the FDIC and Resolution Trust Corporation of more than $40 million.
Although Brown claimed he was unaware of any business connection between First International and Corridor, The Washington Post got hold of documents which "show that a promissory note from Corridor was First International's *major asset* and interest on the note was its *only source of income in 1993*."