Florida's Democratic Gubernatorial candidate reaps benefits from DNC's power couple (Bagleys)

yahoo.com ^ | Oct 17, 2002 - 7:10 PM ET | MIKE SCHNEIDER, AP

[Cincinatus' Wife]

ORLANDO, Fla. - A couple that held a fund-raiser Thursday for Bill McBride, Florida's Democratic nominee for governor, have fought for years to end the U.S. trade embargo against Cuba and once had Elian Gonzalez over for dinner.

Elizabeth Bagley, President Clinton's ambassador to Portugal, and her husband, Smith Bagley, an heir to the R.J. Reynolds tobacco fortune, were expected to raise more than $100,000 for McBride at their home in Washington, D.C.

When told about the Bagleys' anti-embargo background, McBride campaign manager Cathy Kelly said, "I don't know about this."

McBride could cost himself votes among Florida's Cuban-American community if he's seen as soft on the 40-year-old embargo, which bans most trade and travel between the United States and Cuba.

Despite his dinner with the Bagleys, McBride supports the embargo and doesn't believe it should be lifted until Fidel Castro guarantees human rights and takes steps toward democracy, spokesman Alan Stonecipher said.

"Just because you know somebody or meet somebody or go to their dinner or house doesn't mean you hold the same views," Stonecipher said.

Republican Gov. Jeb Bush generally has the support of Cuban-Americans in Florida. Stonecipher noted the governor was being endorsed by Tampa Mayor Dick Greco, a Democrat who recently traveled to Cuba to meet with Castro.

"If we're going to have guilt by association, it's going to play both ways," he added.

Bush spokesman Todd Harris had no immediate comment.

A foundation run by Smith Bagley, the Arca Foundation, spends hundreds of thousands of dollars each year on efforts to change U.S. policy toward Cuba and promote cultural and educational exchanges between the countries.

The Bagleys held a dinner for Elian Gonzalez and his father while they awaited their return to Cuba. A month earlier, armed federal agents seized the then 6-year-old boy from his relatives' Miami home.

Frank Calzon, executive director of the Center for a Free Cuba, an anti-Castro think tank in Washington, said he couldn't be too critical of McBride.

"Mr. McBride's first priority at this point has very little to do with the Cuban American population ... He's looking for money and that's a fact of life," Calzon said.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

The Bagleys held a dinner for Elian Gonzalez and his father while they awaited their return to Cuba. A month earlier, armed federal agents seized the then 6-year-old boy from his relatives' Miami home.

Miami Herald ELIAN outing in Washington brings criticism in Miami (Bagley connections) May 9, 2000 Author: Frances Robles [Excerpt] WASHINGTON -- For the first time since flying to the nation's capital aboard a U.S. Marshals Service plane two weeks ago, Elian Gonzalez appeared in public over the weekend -- at the home of a Washington, D.C., power broker who opposes the Cuba trade embargo.

The boy's presence Saturday at the tony Georgetown home of Smith Bagley, grandson of tobacco magnate R.J. Reynolds and a big-time Democratic donor and fund-raiser, inspired criticism in Miami. ``What's he doing there?'' Spencer Eig, attorney for Elian's Miami relatives, said Monday. ``It doesn't look right.''

But a source close to the Cuban Interests Section said the idea behind the party was innocent enough -- to get the Gonzalezes out of the Wye Plantation, a rural estate where they have lived in seclusion with Cuban visitors for two weeks. ``It had to do with going out of their way to show he's not a hostage,'' said the source, who asked not to be identified.

The choice to hold the outing at the Bagleys made sense, the source said. Bagley is a wheeler dealer married to the former U.S. ambassador to Portugal. Elian was hardly his first famed guest: He's hosted Bill and Hillary Clinton, Barbra Streisand and Gen. Colin Powell.

Bagley offered $10,000 to Bill Clinton's legal defense fund and is the money behind the Arca Foundation, an organization devoted to more contact and fewer trade restrictions with Cuba. As chairman, Bagley heads what is much like the Cuban American National Foundation of the other side of the Cuba debate.

Arca's $72 million has offered millions to organizations that sponsor things like university study in Cuba and marine projects. In 1998, it gave $75,000 to the Miami-based Cuban Committee for Democracy, whose chairwoman is Elena Freyre. The group actively argues for a less hardline U.S. posture toward Cuba.

Bagley is a former national finance chairman of the Democratic Party. ``Smith Bagley is financier of not the anti-embargo movement, but the pro-Castro movement,' said Jose Cardenas, director of the Cuban American National Foundation's Washington office. ``He's openly hard-core, low-key but very committed. He and his wife are the prototypical power couple -- wanting to impress their similarly minded friends with, `We are so tied in that we can serve up to you Juan Miguel and the little raft boy.' It bugs me.'' [End Excerpt]

Leftwing stooges create another front for Castro*** The Cuba Policy Foundation is headed by Ambassador Sally Grooms Cowal, who acts as its president. If you can remember back to the Elian Gonzalez debacle, Sally Grooms Cowal was the individual whose other group, Youth for Friendship, "hosted" the Cuban boy in the Rosedale mansion after he was taken by Janet Reno's agents in Miami. The Rosedale compound, which is in Maryland, is owned and operated by Youth for Friendship. Additionally Grooms Cowal, was a former deputy assistant secretary of state for inter-American affairs under President George Bush in the late 1980s. She has also served as ambassador to Trinidad and Tobago. The CPF (Cuba Policy Foundation) is bankrolled by the Arca Foundation.……………. Communist Cuba is the main focus of Arca's Foreign Policy grants list, and although it gives money to other international and domestic institutions, it annually gives a substantial amount of funds to causes dealing with communist Cuba. In 1999 alone, the Arca Foundation gave to over 19 organizations that are sympathetic to revolutionary Cuba.

The Arca Foundation's records denote that it has spent over $3 million dollars since 1995 devoted to institutions that ignore human rights in Cuba, but fight aggressively to drop US sanctions to the rouge nation. The Arca Foundation which is run by the R.J. Reynolds tobacco heir Smith Bagley, has silently worked in the background with institutions and Castro sympathetic Democratic politicians working to end economic sanctions against the dictatorship. ***

House Group: Ease Cuban Sanctions (Cuba Policy Foundation: Smith Bagley)***"Ending the Cuban embargo is a bipartisan issue," said Sally Grooms Cowal, who was U.S. ambassador to the Caribbean nations of Trinidad and Tobago during the administrations of the first President Bush and President Clinton. She is now president of the Cuba Policy Foundation. ***

[HAL9000]

The Arca Foundation which is run by the R.J. Reynolds tobacco heir Smith Bagley, has silently worked in the background with institutions and Castro sympathetic Democratic politicians working to end economic sanctions against the dictatorship....

...which would open the way for Bagley and Nathan Landow to build a casino resort in Havana.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Bump!

And all that beautiful slave labor.

[scooby321]

This Needs to Spead in Tampa & Miami Cuban People , that might Help Jeb Alot

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Yes it does!!

Bump!

[windchime]

"When told about the Bagleys' anti-embargo background, McBride campaign manager Cathy Kelly said, "I don't know about this." "

Hmmm....seems to be unaware, just like the guy she works for.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/771338/posts

Thanks for posting this CW. We need to shine a light into this campaign and see what else runs out.

[windchime]

FYI

[Cincinatus' Wife]

We need to shine a light into this campaign and see what else runs out.

Bump!

[Cincinatus' Wife]

McBride backers want U.S. to end Cuba embargo [Excerpt] The Bagleys have been active in efforts to normalize relations between the United States and Cuba for years. A foundation run by Smith Bagley, the Arca Foundation, spends hundreds of thousands of dollars each year on efforts to change U.S. policy toward Cuba.

The Bagleys held a dinner for Elian Gonzalez and his father while they awaited their return to Cuba. A month earlier, armed federal agents had seized the then 6-year-old boy from his relatives' Miami home. Elian, who had survived a clandestine boat trip from Cuba that killed his mother, spent the evening in the Bagleys' swimming pool and playing video games, according to news reports.

The Bagleys also have been big donors to the campaigns of Clinton and his wife, Hillary, and were overnight guests at the Clinton White House. McBride, who appeared at the Clinton White House in 1999 to speak on diversifying the legal profession, said he is "not close" to Clinton, but added, "I admire him."

Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, Al Gore's running mate in the 2000 presidential election, will help the state party raise money for McBride's campaign Sunday at the Broward County home of Fort Lauderdale attorney Mitchell Berger. Lieberman also plans to campaign with McBride in South Florida on Sunday before traveling to Orlando for more Democratic campaign fund-raisers Monday. [End Excerpt]

[windchime]

" McBride, who appeared at the Clinton White House in 1999 to speak on diversifying the legal profession, said he is "not close" to Clinton, but added, "I admire him.""

Well, maybe he wasn't close in 1999, but I'm sure his admiration for WJBC has changed that! Thanks for the additional material, Cincinatus'Wife.

[Belial]

The Cuban Embargo is one of our most ridiculous pieces of foreign policy. However, it enjoys the support of a powerful lobby, which is often enough to dictate policy in our "democractic republic".

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Yes, they are powerful. Too bad more groups don't have representatives that serve their interests so well. So many politicans and anti-embargo activists serve themselves. Like the ones who are pushing to end the last remaining restrictions on the communist dictator and his island of slave labor just 90 miles off our coast. The idea that Castro funds anti-American activities doesn't seem to get through to those so eager to have the American taxpayer bankroll an enemy through subsidized loans and tourism, just so they can line their pockets.

[JulieRNR21]

The Bagleys held a dinner for Elian Gonzalez and his father while they awaited their return to Cuba. A month earlier, armed federal agents seized the then 6-year-old boy from his relatives' Miami home.

Luis: So those who helped give Elian back to Castro are helping to elect McBride......I hope the Cuban Americans will come out it droves to elect JEB!

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

Thank you for the post and the ping! We're supposed to believe that a longtime DNC insider and friend of the Bagleys did not know about the well-publicized Bagley-Elian dinner? I don't buy it and I doubt that the Cuban-American community will, either (good!).

I stop over at Lucianne.com to read the Florida threads and comments. One poster said,

"A friend of mine who is an attorney in Tampa, used to be a U.S. attorney, says this man is a bag of scum."

We knew.

[floriduh voter]

Of course McBribe admires x-42. He's the supreme liar. If only McBribe could lie half as good as bubba. He's just too inept to pull it off. He can't even make a decent sentence. I don't think McBride can pass the FCAT test - maybe that's why he doesn't like it.

[floriduh voter]

Let's go in the wayback machine. Didn't Elian and his dad stay at a mansion in the country around DC (I think DC) for about a week before they flew Elian on meds to the communist regime?

Anybody remember whose mansion they were guests at, who participated in the kidnapping of Elian? Maybe it was more than dinner but they don't want us to remember they harbored Elian there.

[windchime]

"A friend of mine who is an attorney in Tampa, used to be a U.S. attorney, says this man is a bag of scum."


This bears repeating for the benefit of those who read here and still have not arrived at this conclusion. Thanks!

[windchime]

"I don't think McBride can pass the FCAT test - maybe that's why he doesn't like it."

Ooooooh. Now you've done it. It might be fun if a reporter, at a public function, handed him the FCAT test that is required for high school graduation and asked him to complete it on the spot. OR.....it could be someone who intimates (NOT impersonates) reporter status for a newly formed Florida newsrag.:)

He doesn't understand the 'what get measured gets done' aspect of the FCAT.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Anybody remember whose mansion they were guests at, who participated in the kidnapping of Elian? Maybe it was more than dinner but they don't want us to remember they harbored Elian there.

Look at the body of this thread under the picture of Elian sitting on the ground in Cuba. The gal that hosted him and Castro's people, is now bankrolled by the Bagleys and running a pro-Castro group called the Cuba Policy Foundation. Her name, Sally Grooms Cowal, formally head of the Youth for Understanding, the facility where they housed Elian in D.C.

[floriduh voter]

Someone NEEDS TO SEND THIS INFO TO TIM RUSSERT FOR HIS DEBATE PREP. The debate's Tuesday night at 7:00 pm est, and if Russert is true to form, he'd blindside McBride with this information. Connect the dots - er, I mean, rats.

I'm doing headquarters stuff today, can't do it. I have to step away from my computer today.

PLEASE FIND SOMEONE TO SEND THIS TIDBIT ABOUT ELIAN TO TIM RUSSERT. Thanks in advance, FV.