And what a gift it was, the gift that keeps on giving - the Rangers / TBA deal provided Dubya with $$$, the first real money he'd made in his career, and name recognition:
- no TBA deal, no $$$
- no $$$, no Crawford ranch
- no name recognition, no Governor of Texas
- no Governor of Texas, no Presidency
As far as the Rangers' management 'playing by the rules' goes - several of the landowners who had their land siezed for the TBA took the group to court over the amounts paid for the land, and won >$11 mil in settlements. Dubya's ownership group refused to pay the settlement, trying to put the cost back on the Arlington taxpayers who had already paid for everyting else. The Hicks group paid the settlement after they bought the club in 1998.
Was Dubya aware of the land shenanigans? "The idea of making a land play, absolutely, to plunk the field down in the middle of a big piece of land, that's kind of always been the strategy." ~ GW Bush, Ft Worth Star Telegram, October, 1990
- no $$$, no Crawford ranch
- no name recognition, no Governor of Texas
- no Governor of Texas, no Presidency
Name recognition? When his name was George Bush?