DOWNSIDE LEGACY AT TWO DEGREES OF PRESIDENT CLINTON
SECTION: BEHIND THE ABUSE OF POWER ALLEGATIONS
SUBSECTION: APPEARANCE OF QUID PRO QUO
Revised 8/5/99
APPEARANCE OF QUID PRO QUO
Loral - China Missile Guidance
Indonesia/Riady - Sweet Coal
Webb Hubbell - $700,000 in business in 6 months ($3.5 million?)
Teamsters/DNC - Mutual Financial
Federal contracts to unionized companies (pending)
IMF/Asia
AMF (Arkansas) Kabila (Zaire) - mineral and diamond mining rights
Barrelo/Intriago - Llanes
Hudson/IBP - Tyson
COSCO/Long Beach - China
Encryption - Perry/Hambrecht & Quist/HUA MEI/Brooks Telecommunications/SCM/Cylink (H&Q also linked with Salon, DNC)
Transfer of Hot Seat technology from Department of State to Department of Commerce
Buddy Young (testimony) v. FEMA
Suzanna Hubbell support-employment/Webb Hubbell conduct
Tough tobacco negotiations v. China campaign contribution possible links v. Chinese tobacco production higher than U.S.
Motorola ``upgrading'' Chinese space boosters/missiles under a ``national-security waiver signed by the President.''
Chung's Chinese PLA donations at same time Clinton was making it easier for American civilian communication satellites to be launched by Chinese rockets.
Digital Equipment-supercomputers-China/Anthony Podesta lobbyist(brother of John Podesta)
Jim McDougal: 1984 $2,000/month payments to Gov Clinton via Henry Hamilton (now deceased) to avoid problems with state regulators.
Businesses that donated $2,300,000 to DNC committees and won seats on trade missions in Clinton's first term, secured almost $5,500,000,000 to support their foreign business operations from the Overseas Private Investment Corp., a federal investment agency.
Ickes to Clinton in September 1994 memo, regarding Schwartz to play a role in generating campaign donations "in order to raise an additional $3,000,000 to permit the Democratic National Committee to produce and air generic TV/radio spots as soon as Congress adjourns."
CDFI/Shorebank
Enron, U.S. West, GTE, McDonnell Douglas and Fluor -- donated $563,000 to the Democrats and received at least $2.6 billion in contracts
Bernard Schwartz, CEO of Loral Space & Communications Ltd., gave $112,500 to Democrats three months after being included in a 1994 China trade trip and then received huge China contracts.
McDonnell Douglas gave Democrats more than $98,000 from 1991-1994 and landed a deal on a trade trip to Saudi Arabia to sell that nation 61 commercial aircraft.
AT&T made a 1992 donation of $400,000 to the DNC and received received $4.13 billion in business deals and contracts
Entergy Corp. made $80,000 contribution to DNC and went to China with Ron Brown, returning with $845 million in new business.
The Center for Public Integrity reports that 67 of 187 companies participating in 14 trade missions are known to have contributed to Democrats.
Even though there was a higher bid from a local union, China bought machine tools from McDonnell-Douglas in Ohio. The company that was going to use them to make commercial aircraft disappeared.
Elizabeth Ward Gracen - via Harry Thomason /Michael Viner
Larry Lawrence - Buried in Arlington
Government Jobs for Sexual Favors - Various Testimony
Paying for Silence - Jones (via Thompson) .
Monica Lewinsky - Jobs/Vernon Jordan
Monica Lewinsky - Job/U.N. Bill Richardson
Larry Lawrence - Switzerland appointment (wife?)
Gennifer Flower, State Job
Tom Lantos' committee immunity votes, delays v. son-in-law's appointment as ambassador to Denmark (pending confirmation)
Concerning China, Clinton 7/1/98 Shanghai ``Failure to renew that (MFN) would sever our economic ties, denying us the benefits of China's growth, endanger our strategic partnership, turning our back on the world's largest nation at a time when cooperation for peace and stability is more important and productive than ever''
Molten Metals and its directors from 1992 to 1996 donated $130,000 to Clinton/Gore or DNC and received $33 million in Department of Energy funding, though it showed a loss every year except $400,000 in 1995. Bill Haney, Molten Metals president worked at Gore's campaign office in Wyoming in 1988. Vic Gatto, Molten Metals chief of government sales in 1992 was Gore's college friend Peter Knight, lobbyist for Molten Metals, was chairman of the 1996 Clinton-Gore campaign, raised up to $12.5 in a single event, was Gore's top aide before he became vice-president, arranged meetings between Molten Metals and Thomas Grumbly (dept of Energy) who had worked with Knight as a member of Gore's congressional staff, attorney for Franklin Haney (part owner of Portals an empty building that has cost the US $14 million) recipient of $1 million payment from Franklin Haney on the day the Portals lease was signed. Maurine Strong , who is politically connected to Liberal Finance Minister Paul Martin (whom he once hired as a university student), U.S. Vice-President Al Gore, Middle Eastern royalty, and high-ranking members of the Communist government in China, Senior Advisor to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan; Senior Advisor to World Bank President James Wolfensohn; Chairman of the Earth Council; Chairman of the World Resources Institute; Co-Chairman of the Council of the World Economic Forum; member of Toyota's International Advisory Board.
When stock prices fell in Molten Metals, a civil suit was filed that alleged Molten Metal and its key executives, including Mr. Haney and Mr. Strong, illegally practised insider trading and manipulated stock prices. All the Molten Metal executives deny any wrongdoing. The contention is that the company's officers knew its technology was not yet commercially proven, and kept adverse news from the public while selling $ 15.3 million in company shares. One detail cited that one of Molten Metal's key joint-venture partners, contracting giant Lockheed-Martin, signaled grave doubts about the technology on Sept. 20, 1996. That day the company registered its right to sell 307,735 Molten Metal shares. The securities notice was signed by senior Molten Metal executives, including Mr. Strong. It did not include any confirmation that Department of Energy funding was also being curtailed, although the department had made that clear in July, and issued a "stop work" order to force proper technical and financial reporting from the company.
AP 9/17/98 "Commerce Department officials asked the Democratic National Committee to generate a list of candidates for a 1994 trade mission to Russia, according to a Democratic Party memo. That memo plus others from the party headquarters and the Commerce Department also show that Commerce officials urged the DNC to develop a list of businesses in each congressional district as a resource at a time when Democrats were gearing up for the 1994 elections. The memos, obtained by The Associated Press, offer new evidence in investigations into whether Clinton administration officials improperly used government-sponsored foreign trips to boost Democratic fund raising. Congressional investigators have been looking into the allegations for years.."
Freeper DC Agent report 9/23/98 "A few years ago, summer of 1995, I reported on a strange occurence at the PTO regarding some patents being awarded to TRW. TRW had been trying to patent medium-earth-orbits for satellites, and was to have two patents issue (sic). They issued for a few hours (enough to be detected publicly), only to be pulled from the APS patent text database system later the same day, a highly unusual act (in fact, I think it is the only time it ever happened). One patent later issued with a reduced number of claims. The patent's claiming of satellite orbits was controversial. At the time, I guessed that Inmarsat pressured the PTO into recalling and reexamining the TRW patents, given the multi-billion dollar stakes involved (which Inmarsat denied), while the PTO's Kunin offered some nonsense explanation that the PTO cared deeply about patent quality (see below for this history in more detail). Neither explanation was good enough to explain the very strange and bizarre circumstances of the PTO issuing a patent to the extent that the patent made it into the APS database system, only to be retracted the very same day, an unheard of quickness for PTO MIS activities. Last week, at a luncheon talk in San Jose, Commissioner Lehman let slip an ancedotal story about dealing with pressures of politics in Washington that sheds some more light on the oddities of the 1995 TRW patent handling. One of my readers was at the San Jose talk, and forwarded me the following information. During his talk, Lehman started out by jokingly saying that "even once I got a call from Air Force One about a patent issue". To explain this to the audience, Lehman started talking about the TRW patent, which he figured the San Jose crowd could relate to because one of TRW's main competitors is Loral, which has a big presence in Silicon Valley. The basic implication was that one or more of TRW's competitors complained to the White House to such an extent that President Clinton called Lehman from Air Force One and asked him to have the patent reexamined. Remember all of this happened on the very day the patent was issued and entered into the APS system and then withdrawn, unusual enough to require lots of political clout to get the PTO to make such a rapid retraction of a patent presumed to be valid. My guess is that it was Loral's complaint that caused the recall, since the CEO of Loral is a big contributor and supporter of the Democratic party, and thus with the political connections to get access to Clinton on the day the patent actually issued (so TRW's competitors could actually see what was being claimed).."
NewsMax 9/25/98 "U.S.District Court Judge Royce Lamberth ordered former White House Chief of Staff Leon Panetta, deputy Chief of Staff John Podesta and other top Commerce Department officials to explain their role in Commerce's alleged practice of selling trade mission seats in exchange for campaign contributions to the Democratic National Comittee. The judge's order came as a result of a motion by Judicial Watch, a public interest law group headed by Larry Klaymen. Judicial Watch has been pressing forward with its "Chinagate" civil suit against Commerce Department, seeking a full accounting of the departments trade mission practices. Earlier this year, Nolanda Hill, former Commerce Secretary Ron Brown's business partner, testified that "The WHite House through Leon Panetta and John Podesta, had instructed [Brown] to delay the [Judicial Watch] case by withholding the production of documents prior to the 1996 elections, and to devise a way not to comply with the court's orders." "Maybe, finally, Mr. Panetta and Mr. Podesta will explain, under oath, their role in this scandal," Klayman said.."
Newsday 9/27/98 Karen Gullo AP "House investigators have gathered evidence suggesting that the company of a major Democratic donor reimbursed its employees for donations they made to President Clinton's 1996 re-election campaign. Federal law prohibits the use of corporate funds to make donations directly to candidates, and also outlaws using straw donors to disguise the real source of contributions. Investigators for the House Government Reform and Oversight Committee have gathered payroll records suggesting employees of Future Tech International, a Miami computer company headed by Mark Jimenez, received $1,000 bonus checks a few days before they wrote personal checks for the same amount to the Clinton/Gore campaign in 1995. In an affidavit obtained by The Associated Press, one former employee told the investigators that Jimenez's assistant told her that Jimenez wanted to raise $20,000 from Future Tech employees for the Clinton campaign. She was asked to make a $1,000 contribution for which she would be reimbursed.. In 1997, the White House confirmed that Jimenez provided the administration with information alerting it to the possibility of a military coup in Paraguay. The United States took steps with the Organization of American States to avert the coup. Future Tech does business in Paraguay. Jimenez reportedly gave $100,000 to the DNC the day after the coup attempt began. The White House said at the time there was no link between the donation and administration policies affecting Paraguay."
WorldNetDaily 10/1/98 Sarah Foster ".The House Resources Committee has been investigating what went on behind the scenes in the establishment of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument and why it was done in the first place. "Monumental Abuse" contradicts the official version at every point. The White House claims designation was necessary to protect a fragile and important ecosystem in southwest Utah from mining and development. In particular, the president wanted to include the 1,650- square-mile Kaiparowits Plateau within the monument to save it from an impending mining operation. The Kaiparowits Plateau contains the largest undeveloped coal field in the country and was to be developed by Andalex Resources, Inc., which held the leases on 34,000 acres. Most of the paperwork had been completed and the project was on track. Andalex planned on mining 100 to 120 million tons of coal over a 45-year period. This would have meant hundreds of jobs, new businesses, and millions of dollars in taxes and royalty revenues for cash-strapped local governments. That didn't matter to Clinton, who was angling for environmentalist votes..Clinton didn't mention that the coal he was effectively locking away was a low- sulfur, clean-burning coal called "compliance coal," so-named because it meets requirements set by the EPA. It is in demand worldwide as a fuel for electric plants. Nor did he mention that one of the only other places in the world where comparable coal is found is Indonesia, the home of Mochtar and James Riady, the Chinese government-connected billionaires who poured millions of dollars into Clinton campaigns in 1992 and 1996.."
New York Times 10/7/98 David Johnston ". A House panel investigating the Teamsters union disclosed internal White House documents Tuesday that shed a fuller and harsher light on an effort by Harold Ickes, former White House deputy chief of staff, to resolve an agricultural labor dispute in California in behalf of the union. The new documents are significant because they have surfaced at a time when Ickes' truthfulness about his activities with the teamsters is the subject of a 90-day Justice Department inquiry that could lead to the appointment of an independent prosecutor. Attorney General Janet Reno has until December to decide whether to go forward with an outside inquiry.. But on Tuesday the House subcommittee on oversight and investigations released a March 6, 1995, memorandum by Ickes to Mickey Kantor, who was the U.S. trade representative at the time. It said Ickes had met with a group of Teamsters officials and wanted to meet with Kantor to persuade him to intervene in behalf of striking Teamsters. "Given the situation I would like to meet with you at your very earliest possible convenience to discuss this situation," Ickes wrote to Kantor. Additional documents released Tuesday showed that Ickes did meet with Kantor on March 24, 1995, and followed up the meeting with a thank-you letter on March 27, 1995. Then, on April 4, 1995, Kantor telephoned William Cuff, the president of Diamond Walnut Growers. Ickes' efforts on behalf of the Teamsters occurred against the backdrop of White House efforts to rejuvenate a relationship that had cooled after the union supported Clinton and other Democratic candidates in the 1992 campaign. The Senate inquiry found that in the early months of 1995, Ickes considered several specific proposals to enlist the Teamsters' support.."
AP 10/7/98 Josef Hebert Freeper migjagger summary ". The gist of the AP report ist that the federal government will make it more difficult for people to build on wetlands preserves--unless, of course, you are Steven Spielberg. Recently, Steven Spielberg's SKG (Spielberg, Katzenberg, Geffen) received a federal go-ahead on his studio project to be built on the Ballona Wetlands, a wild life preserve in Los Angeles. I believe that that Mr. Spielberg may be getting a return for his campaign contributions and for all the money he helped raise for the Clinton's criminal defense."
AP 10/13/98 "A lobbyist for a big California farm company talked in 1992 of getting ``keys'' to the top Agriculture Department office in the incoming Clinton administration, a former company executive testified today. Clinton's first agriculture secretary, Mike Espy, is on trial for allegedly taking about $35,000 in illegal gifts from Sun-Diamond Growers of California and other companies with business before his department. Weeks after Clinton's election in November 1992, the Sun-Diamond lobbyist told executives at a board meeting he had ties to several prominent Democrats, notes of the meeting show. Lobbyist Richard Douglas singled out Espy, then a Democratic congressman from Mississippi, as someone who would be influential with a Democrat moving in at the White House. Douglas told the others at the Nov. 24 board meeting that Sun-Diamond ``won't have keys to the secretary's office immediately,'' but was in a good position with the new administration, another executive wrote in his notes of the meeting. ."
AP 10/13/98 John Solomon " The Energy Department has spent $2.5 billion over the last decade on a program to develop new methods to clean up its nuclear weapons sites but has used less than one-fifth of the technologies it paid for, a congressional audit found. The audit, made public Tuesday, criticized the department's Office of Science and Technology (OST) for underwriting possible cleanup technologies without consulting with the weapons sites that might benefit. It said many department weapons site project managers shun the OST program because they ``lack confidence in OST's ability to provide technical advice and assistance.''.The Associated Press reported in May 1997 that a Massachusetts company with ties to Vice President Al Gore got $33 million in development funds -- nearly all without bidding -- for its experimental technology. The department often approved new funds around the time the company, Molten Metal Technology, made donations to the Democratic Party, records showed. The AP reported that the company's lobbyist, former Clinton campaign manager and fund-raiser Peter Knight, arranged for company executives to meet privately with the assistant secretary overseeing the program. Knight also provided that official with complimentary tickets to a black-tie Democratic event.."
Judicial Watch 10/13/98 Larry Klayman ".We first sued the Clinton Legal Defense Fund in July 1994. We believed then, as we do now, that the fund was not only unnecessary on its face, but it also served as a conduit for bribes to the President. When regular citizens need money, they go to the bank and borrow at market rates. This is what the Clintons MUST do.. "It appears that the payment of the Clintons' legal bills has been, and will continue to be, a popular and convenient method of laundering monies into the President's accounts, in an attempt by domestic and foreign special interests to buy influence and favors," Klayman said. "This is illegal and must be stopped, before our nation succumbs to the same endemic government corruption problems that countries such as Italy, Mexico and Brazil have been attempting in recent years to correct." "A great nation cannot continue to exist when its leaders can be bought and sold."."
UPI 10/13/98 "Elections officials and Los Angeles County authorities are investigating some 16,000 possibly illegal voter registration cards. Secretary of State Bill Jones and District Attorney Gil Garcetti said today the cards were among 40,000 submitted by the California Voter Registration Project and Assembly Democrats Statewide Voter Registration Project. Jones suggests they came from bounty hunters hired by political parties to recruit new voters.."
Freeper Charlie Chan observation from Court TV 10/15/98 ".Have not seen this story in print, but a.m. cable shows talked about Hirschfeld being indicted by the IRS for tax evasion. Instead of that good old boy "Let's Put This Behind Us" crap, could it be that this guy's offer of the million-dollar Clinton bailout in the Jones case is no more than payola for "assistance" in his federal criminal case pending? It wouldn't be the first time the Clintons killed IRS cases involving "friends".
AP 10/17/98 Pete Yost ".Copperthite introduced Landow to tribal representatives of the Cheyenne and Arapahos. They said Landow declared that in order to get help with a longstanding tribal land claim they were making, the Indians must pay $100,000 plus $10,000 a month to the law firm of former Clinton campaign manager and fund-raiser Peter Knight. Earlier, the tribes had donated $107,000 to the Democratic National Committee in 1996 in an effort to win the Clinton administration's support for the claim. Landow, the tribal leaders alleged, touted Knight's close relationship with Vice President Al Gore. The tribal leaders said Landow also solicited them for a contribution to a Gore 2000 Committee. Landow denies marketing Knight's close relationship with Gore. Copperthite testified in the Senate campaign fund- raising investigation in 1997 that Landow made threats, telling him and a lawyer for the tribes that they had to do business with him or he would make sure they never got the land back. Landow denied making the threats and Democratic committee investigators attacked Copperthite's credibility as a witness by alleging he had falsified job resumes. Under terms of proposed business arrangements that never came about, Landow was to get 10 percent of any settlement price for development of the land the tribes were trying to get and 10 percent of any revenue from gas or oil extraction. The tribes never got the land.."
American Spectator 10/1998 Byron York ".To reporters covering the presidential campaign of Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton, August 14, 1992, looked like just another day on the road. The candidate was in San Gabriel, California, a middle-class suburb north of Los Angeles. He started the morning with a conference call to top strategist George Stephanopoulos in Little Rock, followed by an hour taping a campaign commercial. Then he headed off to a fundraising lunch at the Sam Woo Seafood Restaurant on West Valley Boulevard. Sam Woo, which can seat 900, is the largest Chinese restaurant in an area rich with Asian eateries. Amid all the glad-handing and schmoozing with local leaders that is standard for such events, Clinton set aside some time to meet with one particularly notable guest at Sam Woo. "James Riady, owner of Lippo Bank, will greet BC at elevator," reads a note on the candidate's daily itinerary, referring to the Indonesian billionaire now at the center of the campaign finance investigation. After the event, according to a memo written by campaign aide Melinda Yee, Riady was scheduled to accompany Clinton during a five-minute car ride to his next stop, a meeting of small business owners. The brief drive, the memo made clear, was a very big deal for Riady: He has flown all the way from Indonesia, where he is now based, to attend the fundraiser. He will be giving $100,000 to this event and has the potential to give much more. He will talk to you about banking issues and international business. This is primarily a courtesy call.."
New York Times Jeff Gerth 10/19/98 "Shortly after he took office in 1993, President Clinton traveled to Silicon Valley to lay out his vision of a robust American economy buoyed by high-technology companies that could compete anywhere in the world. The night before his speech, Clinton went out to dinner with two dozen executives, some of whom complained bitterly about Government rules impeding the overseas sale of computers and other cutting-edge technologies. Clinton grabbed a pad, furiously took notes, and promised relief, one executive recalled. Over the next five years, the President delivered, personally presiding over what industry executives and Government officials agree was one of the most sweeping relaxations of export restrictions in American history..In 1995, Central Intelligence Agency analysts wrote a report warning of the military implications of technology transfers to China, but it never became an official assessment because senior aides felt it was "not well done and lacked analytical depth," an American official said... But the United States maintained tight controls over what he termed the most sensitive technologies -- those that could improve China's missiles or anti-submarine capabilities. The fall of Communism brought a precipitous drop in the Pentagon budget, prompting the defense industry to scramble for new markets. Companies that once made spy satellites for American spy agencies began making equipment for cellular networks that served China or Russia. They quickly confronted a significant obstacle to making money on sales to former adversaries. The cold war-era rules remained largely in effect, and they were being interpreted by career officials who had devoted their lives to blocking exports to Russia and its allies. Enter Bill Clinton. His 1992 campaign had been driven by the slogan "It's the economy, stupid.". For decades, every proposed export of technology was weighed by a committee of Western nations. It had authority to block sales involving military hardware or so-called "dual-use" equipment that had military or civilian applications. Even before the committee disbanded in 1994, the Clinton Administration moved to ease restrictions on the sales of many dual-use items. The new rules allowed companies to export many categories of technology without applying for a Government license. American companies were delighted with the new system, which relieved them of a time-consuming and frustrating process. But the benefits came with a cost. Because sales could be made without export licenses, the Government and its intelligence agencies no longer had a record of many deals that involved dual-use equipment. There was no way to trace patterns of sales, to know, for example, how many decoding devices were being sold to a particular country. Commerce Department internal documents show that China has been a major beneficiary of this policy.."
AP 10/28/98 ".A real estate tycoon today withdrew his $1 million offer for Paula Jones to settle her sexual harassment case against President Clinton, accusing her attorneys of dragging their feet. Abe Hirschfeld, who is facing 123 counts of income tax evasion, offered to give Jones the money if she dropped charges that Clinton, then governor of Arkansas, asked her to perform a sex act in a Little Rock hotel room in 1991. The stipulation attached to the offer was that the money go to Mrs. Jones and not to pay her legal bills.."
Judicial Watch Press Release 10/28/98 ".Linda tripp, who worked with Klein, has reportedly told Lucianne Goldberg that she saw FBI files being uploaded into a computer in the White House Counsel's office. William Kennedy, another former Klein colleague in the Clinton White House, testified in the Judicial Watch Filegate suit on October 15 that Linda Tripp had complained about the office procedures in Klein's office. Indeed, after the death of Vince Foster, Klein filled Foster's job and occupied his office. In the least, Mr. Klein was at "the scene of the crime" during Filegate. Nevertheless, he was promoted by President Clinton and Janet Reno and placed in charge of the Antitrust Division of the Clinton Justice Department. Judicial Watch will seek his deposition in its 90 million dollar class action lawsuit. Judicial Watch believes the involvement of the Reno Justice Department's "tainted" political operatives such as Joel Klein has pushed the ongoing antitrust action against Microsoft. "Is this a matter of the Clinton Administration once again doing favors for selected Clinton/Gore donors, this time Microsoft's competitors in Silicon Valley and elsewhere?" asked Larry Klayman, Judicial Watch Chairman and General Counsel. Klayman was a trial lawyer on the famous AT&T case for the Justice Department's Antitrust Division in the Carter and Reagan administrtions. "The recent news that Joel Klein had breakfast at the home of Netscape's CEO just before the suit against Microsoft was filed raises questions about Mr. Klein's possible involvement in a political hit," stated Klayman. "This Clinton Justice Department has no concept of conflict-of-interest." ."
Behind the Headlines 10/25/98 F.R Duplantier ".Filegate is only one of several criminal activities planned and directed from the White House. "Judicial Watch has also found evidence that President Clinton condoned and participated in a scheme, conceived by First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton and approved by the President, to sell seats on U.S. Department of Commerce trade missions in exchange for political contributions," Klayman confides. "In President Clinton's push to sell taxpayer-financed government services to raise money for his political operations, national security likely was breached by his Commerce Department appointees and those involved in his fundraising scheme." Clinton's Corruption Corporation is fully diversified. "In addition to the illegal sale of taxpayer-financed services, such as seats on trade missions, for political contributions, the President and Mrs. Clinton have illegally solicited and received monies directly from private citizens and others," claims Klayman. "The creation and use of legal defense funds is not only prohibited under federal law," he observes, "but they have proved to be a means whereby lobbyists, influence peddlers, and foreign powers have tried to influence the Administration, contrary to U.S. national security interests." Klayman concludes that "William Jefferson Clinton has acted in a manner contrary to his trust as President and subversive of constitutional government, to the great prejudice of the cause of law and justice, and to the manifest injury of the people of the United States." ."
Insight Magazine Vol. 14, No. 43-11/23/98 Kelly Patricia O'Meara and Jennifer G. Hickey ".The cooperation of three Teamster felons with federal investigators finally may expose intricacies of Clinton/DNC campaign fund-raising. Look for big trouble. ..The first hint of a connection followed confessions to U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White of the Southern District of New York by three consultants to Ron Carey's 1996 campaign for Teamster president. Carey's campaign manager Jere Nash, telemarketer Michael Ansara and campaign consultant Martin Davis all pleaded guilty this year to felonies, including embezzlement, conspiracy and mail fraud. Insight has learned that under court order they recently paid nearly $1 million into a restitution fund to help defray the cost of the new Teamsters election made necessary by the corrupt Carey campaign they helped to run. . The first glimpse into the tangled webs of Teamster- associated deceit now spinning around the various 1996 fund-raising debacles came as a result of the Nov. 17, 1997, decision to disqualify Carey as a candidate in new court-ordered union elections. Court-appointed election officer Kenneth Conboy detailed six illegal-money schemes conceived by Nash, Davis and Ansara that were designed to funnel money back to the Carey campaign. In total, these six schemes improperly raised $538,100 for the Carey campaign. But questions remain. Were the DNC and the Teamsters fund- raising scandals related in ways yet unreported? Equally important, were they unique or part of a broad pattern involving still others? According to federal law-enforcement sources who spoke to Insight on the condition of anonymity, symbiotic schemes such as those engineered by Nash, Ansara and Davis may have been created throughout the 1996 presidential campaign illegally to assist both the Democratic Party and the Carey campaign.."
Washington Weekly 11/2/98 Robert Stowe England (March for Justice) ".Some of the speakers reported new information about previously unreported Clinton scandals, including former Arkansas Sate Trooper L.D. Brown, who said Clinton had revealed to him that he had accepted $5,000 in return for an appointment of an admittedly unqualified man to a high position in law enforcement in Arkansas. Brown also confirmed reports that Vince Foster and Hillary Clinton had an affair. "It's a fact. It was there. I know it," he said. "Hillary and I talked about it." He said that official investigators "can not come to a valid conclusion" about the death of Vince Foster until they interview Hillary Clinton. Dr. Paul Fick, a psychologist from Laguna Niguel, Calif. and the author of a psychological profile of President Clinton, "The Dysfunctional President," reported that he had talked with a source in Arkansas while researching his book. That unnamed source reported that while Governor of Arkansas, Bill Clinton had sold state commission posts for sums up to $50,000. "He personally set the price. He took the cash and laundered it back into his campaign," he said. Fick also claims that President Clinton lied under oath during the 1996 criminal trial of Herbert Branscum and Robert Hill when he answered "Absolutely not" to the question, "Did you ever sell a state commission?" Fick called on House Judiciary Committee Chairman Henry Hyde "to subpoena me and I will provide them with information regarding this absolute lie under oath." This, Fick noted, "is a criminal act [by the President] that has nothing to do with sex."."
Washington Weekly 11/9/98 Wesley Phelan ".(following from interview with Larry Klayman, Judicial Watch).".QUESTION: With regard to the sale of seats on Ron Browns' trade missions, have you been able to identify who in the White House ordered that this operation take place? KLAYMAN: We know from Nolanda Hill that it was ordered by Hillary Clinton with the full knowledge of the President. We know it was executed by Harold Ickes and Alexis Herman, now Labor Secretary. One is under Independent Counsel investigation, while the other is under consideration for investigation. We know Leon Panetta and John Podesta, the current White House Chief of Staff, ordered Brown to obstruct Judge Lamberth's orders. The court has given us the opportunity to force them to set forth whether or not these things occurred. But we have the sworn testimony of Nolanda Hill that they did occur, that both Panetta and Podesta instructed Brown to disobey the court's orders. There has been no evidence presented by anyone to refute that.."
WorldNetDaily 11/9/98 ".Last month, WorldNetDaily columnist Charles Smith broke the story of how the Clinton administration procured a deal with Russia for its Zvezda-Strela Kh-31 missile to serve as the Navy's next generation of target drone, despite the fact that it does not meet the Navy's specifications. Last Monday, the U.S. Navy admiral in charge of the Russian missile program suddenly announced his retirement, effective November 11, 1998. House National Security Committee members are scrambling to serve the retiring Admiral a formal request to answer questions before he leaves the service. In a related development, Russian missile-maker Zvezda-Strela is now offering the improved Kh-31 Down Under. The Kh-31 is being pitched to Australia in a bid with aircraft makers Sukhoi and MiG to arm the Su- 27 and MiG-29. The Russians are offering the Aussies Su-27s and MiG-29s to replace American made F- 111s and F-18s. The offer includes the Zvezda-Strela Kh-31A antiship missile and the Kh-31P anti-air version.Zvezda-Strela has already courted Iranian sales, showing the Kh-31 at a number of Moscow and Middle East air shows. Possible customers for the Kh-31 include India, Syria, Libya, Iran, Iraq and China. Vice President Al Gore is said to be behind the purchase of the Kh-31 by the Navy. The Russian maker Zvezda-Strela is backed by Gore supporters Cassidy Associates and IBP International. Cassidy Associates made hundreds of thousands of dollars in political donations to the Clinton/Gore campaign. In fact, Cassidy Associates made a total of over 2,500 political contributions between 1991 and 1998. Cassidy Associates is also linked to the Ron Brown Commerce Department trade missions. Cassidy Associates sent a Maely Tom, a Democratic National Committee donor, to the Far East on a Ron Brown trade mission. The same mission included Charlie Trie, Pauline Kanchanalak and Nora Lum. Lum has already been convicted of illegal campaign contributions. IBP International is a firm based in London and McClean, Virginia, run by Gore backer Judith De Paul. IBP successfully lobbied NASA to select the Russian Tu-144 and Boeing/Douglas for high-speed test flights.."
House of Representatives 9/11/98 Chris Cox R-CA ". Stephanopoulos, Nation's Bank . Again, this is a White House memo that they prepared secretly inside the White House using taxpayer resources and in the White House counsel's office, which they should not have been doing. That is not appropriate use of taxpayer funds. They have listed all of these scandals that they wanted to inoculate against and spin the press about. The Stephanopoulos-Nation's Bank story was of course what the press widely described as a sweetheart, below market mortgage for George Stephanopoulos, the kind of deal that ordinary Americans could not get..Now there are 39 of these scandals that White House staff--there is a name of a White House staffer right after each one of these, after each one of these scandals, and they were all assigned and presumably are all still working at taxpayer expense on preventing the Congress from getting to know all of the facts in these things.
AP 11/10/98 ".John Huang, a central figure in the fund-raising controversy, has obtained limited immunity in Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr's criminal investigation of presidential friend Webster Hubbell and has cooperated with the prosecutor, legal sources said. Starr struck the deal, approved by a court, last spring as part of his investigation into whether hundreds of thousands of dollars in payments to Hubbell by friends of President Clinton were designed to buy Hubbell's silence in the Whitewater investigation of the Clintons. The sources familiar with the arrangement, who spoke only on condition of anonymity, said Huang told Starr's investigators he was unaware that Hubbell did any work for a $100,000 payment he received June 27, 1994, from Huang's employer, the Riady family of Indonesia. The Riadys, who run the global conglomerate Lippo Group, are longtime political supporters of Clinton. Huang told prosecutors that, based on his conversations with James Riady, a son of the family's patriarch, he understood the Hubbell payment was intended to help a friend in trouble, one source said.."
Judicial Watch Press Release 11/17/98 ".Today, Judicial Watch, the non-partisan government watchdog that uncovered John Huang, sparked the Chinagate scandal, and is pursuing a $90 million dollar class action suit in Filegate, filed amicus curiae briefs with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit and U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas asking these Courts not to dismiss the Paula Jones case, because it is based on a settlement which will be implemented using illegally obtained monies. Accordingly, the briefs, which can be found on Judicial Watch's internet site, at http://www.Judicial Watch.org, set forth the legal standards for rejecting a settlement which is contrary to law and public policy. The settlement, as admitted by counsel for Bill Clinton and others, will be paid for with monies from the Clintons' legal defense funds, and the buyout of a Chubb insurance policy. As explained in the briefs, the law prohibits any federal official, including the President, to solicit, accept or benefit from monies from private citizens. 5 U.S.C. 7353. The reason for this is simple; to allow the President to accept cash from private citizens opens him up to influence peddlers. Indeed, Clinton's first legal defense fund was infiltrated by Charlie Trie and over $600,000 of Chinese cash (which once discovered had to be returned), at a time that the White House was delivering a letter to Mr. Trie about American intentions over a crisis between China and Taiwan. To pay any settlement, the President can borrow the money -- at market rates -- rather than open himself up to more "Charlie Tries," or Hollywood moguls like Steven Spielberg or Barbra Streisand. If Monica Lewinsky can get millions for a book deal, just think of what the Clintons will be worth when they leave office. Money can be advanced by banks as loans in anticipation of the Clintons' impending wealth. Finally, one of the insurance carriers, Chubb, has reportedly offered to "buy out" the Clintons' umbrella liability policy for hundreds of thousands of dollars. The average American citizen must ask when his insurance carrier was so accommodating. The answer is that the average American cannot influence regulation affecting the insurance industry, and for this reason Chubb's offer is obviously not only legally baseless, it is an obvious attempt to buy influence. For all of these reasons, the Courts are urged not to dismiss the Jones case based on this illegal settlement. Mr. Clinton should, for once, have to bear the consequences of his own actions, rather than again allow himself to be "bribed" by influence peddlers."
Boston Herald 11/24/98 Editorial ".There is a certain irony that while members of the Judiciary Committee proceeded apace on Capitol Hill with their efforts to rid themselves of this troublesome case, just down the street in U.S. District Court another Starr target, Webster Hubbell, once again was pleading ``not guilty'' to a federal indictment. When this happened once before, the former No. 3 in Clinton's Justice Department ended up with several hundred thousand dollars in his pocket, all from friends of the president and most of it arranged by that really, really big Friend of Bill, Washington fixer Vernon Jordan. Yes, that's the same Vernon Jordan assigned to find a job for ex-White House intern Monica Lewinsky. Too bad the Judiciary Committee is in such a big hurry that it'll never have time to call Jordan, never have time to ask how he gets people to pay large sums of money for guys like Hubbell to do nothing and why. If a job at Revlon was offered to assure the silence of a love-struck intern, just imagine what secrets were covered by the $400,000-plus secured for Hubbell's silence. Maybe we'll find out next March, when Hubbell is scheduled for trial.."
WorldNetDaily 11/23/98 Charles Smith ".The Clinton administration is funding a project designed to improve the Kh-31 for Russian customers such as Libya, Syria, India and China. Clinton wants to buy a Russian missile over a U.S. missile. The Russians promised Clinton they would not sell the Kh-31 even as Zvezda weapons merchants were meeting with Asian and Middle Eastern clients. Vice President Al Gore is alleged to have supported the purchase of the Kh-31 by the Navy. The Russian maker Zvezda-Strela is reportedly backed by Clinton/Gore supporter Cassidy Associates, a firm of lobby lawyers located inside the Beltway. Cassidy Associates made hundreds of thousands of dollars in political donations to the Clinton/Gore campaign. In fact, Cassidy Associates made a total of over 2,500 political contributions between 1991 and 1998, nearly one donation every two days. Cassidy Associates also traveled with Ron Brown on trade missions. Cassidy Associates sent Maely Tom, a DNC donor, to the Far East on a Ron Brown trade mission. The same mission included DNC donors Charlie Trie, Pauline Kanchanalak and Nora Lum. The process was driven by political donations and big power lobby groups -- not national security needs. Clinton intends to spend $172 million on North Korean food aid but cannot account for the meager $72 million squandered on a U.S. Navy super-sonic target.."
Washington Weekly 5/4/98 ".When young Bill Clinton in 1974 made his first run for political office, a crucial $10,000 loan was arranged for him by his uncle, Raymond Clinton. Uncle Raymond has been tied by Clinton biographer Roger Morris to the Hot Springs Mafia. But it was not until 1984, when Clinton was elected for a second term as Governor of Arkansas, that Mob money really started pouring in. "That was the election when the Mob really came into Arkansas politics, the dog-track and racetrack boys, the payoff people who saw a good thing," a former U.S. attorney told Roger Morris. "It wasn't just Bill Clinton and it went beyond our old Dixie Mafia, which was penny-ante by comparison. This was eastern and and West Coast crime money that noticed the possibilities just like the legitimate corporations did." Among the "legitimate corporations" that noticed the possibilities with the rapidly ascending governor thirsting for power and money were front corporations for the intelligence services of the People's Republic of China. The Lippo empire came to Arkansas that year. By then, Bill Clinton's ties to organized crime had become well- known. His half-brother Roger Clinton was convicted of cocaine distribution in association with Mob figure and Clinton money man Dan Lasater. In the years that followed, Arkansas became a major cocaine trans-shipment point for the Mafia, crossing paths with the famous CIA Contra resupply operation at Mena. Bill Clinton had found a most successful formula in U.S. politics: financial backing from a coalition of organized crime and hostile foreign governments.."
The American Spectator 12/98 Byron York ". Of all the central characters in the Monica Lewinsky scandal, only Bill Richardson has emerged with his reputation virtually untouched. At the time U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Richardson offered Lewinsky a job just when President Clinton was struggling to find a place for his desperately unhappy former girlfriend. Richardson then kept the position open for an extraordinarily long period while Lewinsky made up her mind. But his actions attracted far less public scrutiny than those of Clinton friend Vernon Jordan, who arranged a job for Lewinsky in private business; a search of the Washington Post and New York Times reveals Jordan's role has been mentioned five times more often than Richardson's in the months since the story broke. In some ways, the light treatment of Richardson is surprising; unlike Jordan's job search, his actions represented an attempt by the Clinton administration to arrange a taxpayer-funded job to make Lewinsky happy and ensure that she remained silent about her affair with the president. But Richardson's role in the scandal seemed less suspicious because--again unlike Jordan--he spoke openly to the press, insisting he did not offer Lewinsky any special treatment. For the most part, reporters have accepted Richardson's word, and as the scandal dragged on, no evidence emerged to cast doubt on his account of events."
Progressive Review 12/3/98 Sam Smith ".As the law now stands -- it's before the Supreme Court in another Smaltz case -- it is okay for federal officials to accept bribes as long as no one can prove they did anything specific in return and further that if the bribers and bribee are buddies, than the latter is off the hook. Clearly this interpretation makes a mockery of bribery laws and, if allowed to stand, will contribute further to the rampant culture of impunity among the powerful. You can add "payoff" to the growing list of words -- like "sexual relations" and "is" -- that those in high places no longer comprehend. ."
WorldNetDaily Joseph Farah ".Only weeks before a national security scandal over the propriety of a relationship between Loral Space & Communications Corp. Chairman Bernard Schwartz broke, a subsidiary of the U.S. company was accepting full partnerships and a $37.5 million investment by two Chinese government-front companies. On April 21, Loral's Globalstar Limited Partnership division finalized a deal with China Telecom and CHINASAT, both wholly owned by Beijing's new Ministry of Information Industry. "The addition of China Telecom as a full partner solidifies Globalstar's commitment to bringing the promise of mobile satellite communications to China's 1.2 billion people," said Schwartz, chairman and chief executive officer of both Loral and Globalstar, in a public statement issued last month. Loral remains the largest equity holder in Globalstar with 42 percent. Beijing's government companies will manage all Globalstar operations in China, according to Schwartz. With the world's largest population and one of the fastest-growing economies, the deal reportedly will mean additional revenues of about $250 million annually for Loral. The telecommunications deal was the result of a meeting between Schwartz and top Chinese officials made possible by a trade mission coordinated by the late Commerce Secretary Ron Brown.The revelations of Loral's closer connections with the Chinese government are certain to interest congressional investigators who are demanding President Clinton answer questions about links between Schwartz, the single largest contributor to his successful 1996 re-election campaign, and White House decisions to share U.S. satellite technology with Beijing. In addition, a close Clinton friend, Johnny Chung, has admitted donating to the Democratic National Committee at least $100,000 of a fund he secured from Chinese military intelligence. The concern is that the satellite technology shared with the Chinese may have allowed them to improve their capability of launching intercontinental ballistic missiles. China currently targets 13 such nuclear-tipped missiles at the United States."
Washington Weekly 12/7/98 Robert Stowe England ".Dr. Paul Fick, a psychologist from Laguna Niguel, Calif., reported on his efforts to bring information on alleged cash bribes solicited and received by the President when he was running for governor in Arkansas. He said that while researching his book, The Dysfunctional President, he met Bert German Dickey, a Democratic fundraiser who worked for Clinton, who told him about these bribes. Fick says Dickey told him that Clinton sold state commission posts in return for cash for his gubernatorial campaigns. Clinton set specific prices for each commission position, Dickey told him. Arkansas has scores of state commissions that oversee the state's regulation and policies on everything from fishing to highways to banking to racing. "Mr. Dickey was subsequently threatened . . . for having provided me with that information," Fick said. Dickey told him that "a contract had been taken out on his life, and the life of his son." Dickey gave Fick some of the names of people who had purchased commission positions from Clinton for cash so that in the event he was killed, someone other than he would know about them, Fick said. At Dickey's request, Fick did not put the names in his book. Dickey also told Fick that he had laundered some of the commission cash bribes through his bank account by making legitimate contributions of $2,000 to Clinton's campaign. Dickey also told him he delivered bags of cash raised from commission sales to buy minority votes for Clinton. In January 1996 Fick says he received a call from the Independent Counsel's office inquiring about the commission bribes. Dickey and Fick appeared before an FBI agent in Little Rock to provide the Independent Counsel with information on them, Fick said. During that interview, the FBI agent let Dickey see copies of returned checks he had given Clinton that corroborated his story about laundering contributions, Fick said. Later Fick learned that Arkansas state trooper L. D. Brown had also provided similar information to an FBI agent working for the Independent Counsel in Little Rock. He reported additional sales of state commissions for cash and reported to the agent that he, too, had taken some of the cash to buy minority votes for the Clinton campaign. During the summer of 1996, Fick noted, President Clinton testified in the Arkansas trial of Herbert Branscum and Robert Hill-- accused of buying state commissions. When he was asked if he had ever been involved in selling state commission positions, he testified under oath "absolutely not," Fick said. Branscum and Hill were acquitted of all charges. Fick said he had recently provided the information on the commission sales to all the Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee. So far, he has not received a single response. He explained why he did not give the information to any of the committee's Democrats. "Any Democrat who wants this information is free to have it," Fick said, "as soon as they start defending the law of this land. Until they do so, they can not be trusted with it," he said.."
MSNBC/'Dateline NBC' http://www.msnbc.com/ 12/6/98 Josh Mankiewicz excerpts by Freeper A Whitewater Researcher ".EXCERPTS: "...A campaign pledge to the Democratic Party of $100,000 allowed Cheyenne-Arapaho leaders to have lunch with...Clinton at the White House....`It's one of the uglier pictures that came out of the last campaign.' - SENATOR FRED THOMPSON..."A real simple answer to what happened was...there was a shakedown. These people were led to believe that for...over a hundred thousand dollars, that their government would listen to them and they'd get what they wanted."...Surveyor...spoke to the president for at least 15 minutes about his tribe's fight to get back the Fort Reno lands. Surveyor describes the president as nodding his head in agreement..."And when it was over, the Democratic Party was still asking you for a hundred thousand dollars, weren't they?"...Surveyor: "Yes."...(Nathan) Landow suggested they hire Peter Knight, the former campaign manager for Clinton-Gore '96..."...Landow was...taking lobbying business to Mr. Knight."...Landow offered to help them recover their tribal lands, but only if he got a share of any oil and gas revenues...."."
Softwar Website 12/7/98 Charles Smith ".Neither big hearted Bill Clinton nor Al Bore have made a single comment on the arrest of defector Hua Di by communist China. Hua Di defected to America and became close friends with Clinton buddies, Stanford Professor John Lewis and former DoD Secretary William Perry. Hua's Clinton friends, in turn, enabled him and his Communist buddy, Lt. General Huai Guomo, to purchase a secure, nuclear hardened, fiber optic communication system for the People's Army. Hua returned to the homeland in January, 1998, under a PLA promise that all was forgiven. Hua has reportedly been charged with passing Chinese State secrets to America and now faces the death penalty. Hua's Stanford friends have appealed to Beijing to release him but the White House remains silent, hoping Beijing WON'T release the so- called "dissident". U.S. intelligence officials are concerned because of Hua's successful penetration of the White House for the fiber optic system export. Intell insiders are giving even money that Hua Di was another spy for Chinese mastermind General Ding. Hua's PLA friend, Lt. General Huai Guomo, who set up the fiber optic deal with the Chinese Army, also works for General Ding at the Chinese Commission of Science, Technology, and Industry for National Defense (COSTIND)."
National Review 12/9/98 Jonah Goldberg by Freeper Marcellus ".remember the "Historians in Defense of the Constitution"? ...who took out the $55,000 ad in the New York Times in order to "deplore the present drive to impeach the President." These eminent profs from Harvard, Yale, MIT ... that should really be running the country decried the ignorant masses who were distracting the President from the "public business." The tone and tenor of their open letter was that they were non-partisan experts on what the Constitution has to say and what history has to tell us....the effort was largely organized by People for the American Way....People for the American Way is a left-wing interest group that at the time was running ads across the country endorsing the President....eight days after the open letter appeared...three of its signatories personally received "national medals for arts and humanities" from the President. Isn't that special? ."
Capitol Hill Blue 12/16/98 ".House Republicans asked Attorney General Janet Reno Tuesday to consider naming an independent counsel to investigate the role of President Clinton's campaign manager in the government's Portals development in Southwest Washington. The House Commerce Committee has questioned whether lobbyist Peter Knight, who ran Clinton's 1996 campaign, received $1 million from Tennessee developer Franklin Haney to arrange the Federal Communications Commission's move to the Portals. The committee also has asked for a Justice Department investigation. ``The evidence developed by the committee over the past year strongly suggests that ... the $1 million payment to Mr. Knight was an unlawful contingency fee for his assistance,'' the Commerce subcommittee on oversight and investigations said in its report, which was obtained by The Associated Press.."
12/25/98 Tom Flocco ".While it is not quite so obvious to most Americans, those who are familiar with the modus operandi of the rogue president will not be surprised to hear that the financing of pornographer Larry Flynt's investigation of Clinton congressional enemies was possibly a disguised political contribution to encourage White House support and influence regarding the upcoming multiple-count interstate pornography indictments facing Flynt and his brother, Jimmy, in Cincinnati..Larry and Jimmy Flynt were indicted in April, 1998 on 15 counts of obscenity violations, including the pandering of the video, "Pam and Tommy Lee--Hard-core and Uncensored" to a 14 year old boy at their downtown Cincinnati store and the interstate transportation of obscenity via a common carrier (Federal Express), according to a November Washington Times piece. The United States Criminal Code forbids obscenity to be mailed, transported or sold. Coincidently, the Flynt brothers porn trial and the Clinton Senate trial BOTH begin in January, 1999.."
Washington Times 12/28/98 Jerry Seper ".Both sides got what they were after when top White House and Democratic Party officials met with leaders for three Midwestern Indian tribes on April 28, 1995, to discuss "generic" contributions to the cash-strapped Democratic National Committee. DNC Chairman Donald Fowler left the session confident the leaders of the St. Croix Chippewa and Oneida tribes of Wisconsin and the Shakopee Mdewakantan Sioux of Minnesota would prove loyal and generous supporters, a faith that the Indian leaders justified with some $270,000 in donations to the party. And within three months, the tribal leaders also saw their top priority addressed when Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt reversed a decision by his own department's regional office and denied a license application from a trio of rival Chippewa tribes proposing to open a gambling casino at a failed dog-racing track in Hudson, Wis. But the chain of events set in motion by that meeting has badly tarnished the Clinton administration, leaving Mr. Babbitt the target of an independent counsel's probe that he bowed to political pressure in denying the application and then lied about it to Congress."
Andrea Harter Arkansas Democrat-Gazette ".On a July night in 1995, a Clinton-Gore Re- Election Committee dinner at the lush Potomac, Md., home of cosmetics millionaire Rashid Chaudaryalmost drew America unwittingly into an international coup attempt against the Pakistan government. That dinner is the beginning of a tale of how pressure from Pakistan's prime minister, Benazir Bhutto, which was accompanied by hundreds of thousands of dollars in Democratic campaign contributions by Pakistani immigrants, changed American foreign policy. The tale ends with a plan to return to Pakistan $600 million it had paid for warplanes and to release some $368 million in Pakistani military equipment held in the United States. Investigations by Congress and the Justice Department into whether foreign money has influenced American foreign policy have centered on contributions by Asian-Americans linked to China and Indonesia. But no one has demonstrated that either nation gained anything as tangible as Pakistan did in 1995.."
Attorney General Janet Reno promoted Larry Potts (Waco and Ruby Ridge) to deputy director of the FBI
Clinton told PBS' Jim Lehrer he hasn't ruled out granting pardons for Jim Guy Tucker and Jim and Susan McDougal.
The Washington Times: FBI estimated 100,000 immigrants with criminal histories had become citizens since August 1995, when the administration pushed the INS to naturalize more than 1 million new citizens (before the elections.)
Washington Post 2/21/99 "...Less than 12 hours after President Clinton asked the NAACP to support his domestic policy agenda, the group's chairman replied Saturday with a sharp attack on the Republican congressional leadership, saying "they have become the running dogs of the wacky radical right." NAACP Chairman Julian Bond cited what he said is GOP resistance to civil rights legislation and told his organization's annual meeting that it faced as important a challenge in Washington as it has confronted in its 90 years.... Mr. Bond's attack on the GOP came hours after Mr. Clinton went before the NAACP to warn against complacency because of good economic times...."
AFP 1/29/99 Freeper Jolly ".Privately-run PT Bank Lippo will get as much as 87.5 percent of the first injection of Indonesian government funds under a banking recapitalisation program, an official document showed here Friday A government decree dated January 18 obtained here showed the publicly listed bank, controlled by the Riady family, will be alloted 3.75 trillion rupiah (417 million dollars).. The decree said that the 4.5 trillion rupiah will come "from state assets that are separate from the budget," and the finance minister will arrange the implementation and procedures for the state money's investment and divestment.."
National Wilderness Institute 12/23/98 ".Another scandal is about to break at Babbitt's Interior Department. This one starts with abusive personnel practices, missing funds, and misuse of funds derived from the excise taxes on hunting and fishing equipment. But whistleblowers at Interior report that the wrongdoing goes much further to include shady land deals possibly tied to campaign fundraising and may involve the highest levels of government. FWS sources say a cover-up is going on that includes giving false information to investigators, destruction of documents, and retaliation against whistleblowers. One employee says she was told not to give information to the FBI or her career could be in jeopardy. Although conclusive proof of every charge has not been provided, the whistleblowers have compelling evidence that warrants investigation..Kline depends on her job to support herself and her children. The repeated references to her job being in jeopardy were profoundly threatening to her. She retained the law firm of Robinson & Associates. The morning after her attorneys notified Service officials that she was represented by counsel she received an unmarked internal mail envelope containing a grim and to her threatening parody of the Serenity Prayer. She contacted the Inspector General's office and was told that if she felt unsafe, to leave the building. When ordered back to work she found she e-mail access codes and the combination to the safe where e-mail codes are kept was changed and her position description had been changed. She was reprimanded recently for following her attorney's advice to have a witness present when meeting with a superior and has been threatened that they are moving her desk into the hall. .Why would this Administration treat career civil service employees in such an outrageous manner? It seems unlikely that simple personal or policy disputes are the explanation. Apparently federal investigators agree. Interior is already suspected of giving special treatment to large donors during the Clinton-Gore Administration, with one obvious example being gambling licenses and Native Americans. There are, however, other events currently under investigation by the FBI which are even closer in nature. They involve a prominent Clinton- Gore supporter whose property was purchased shortly after he made a substantial political contribution. The GAO is also looking into DOI Florida activities at the request of Committee chairmen. Where this all leads is unclear but Kline recounts, she was warned to "stay out of it" because of "how high it goes." Just how high remains to be seen."
http://www.papersourceonline.com/deaths.htm "."There are only two choices: You can either believe in the conspiracy theory of government or the coincidence theory." -- former Congressman Larry P. McDonald (D., Georgia).."
Cleveland Live 1/11/99 AP ".Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt, who has been waiting more than 20 years to face Ohio prosecutors again in court, asked Monday to delay his second obscenity trial. Flynt filed a motion to put off the Jan. 19 trial because his physician has recommended that he undergo unspecified surgery, prosecutors said..Flynt, 55, and his brother, Jimmy, 49, were indicted April 7 on charges of pandering obscenity, disseminating material harmful to a juvenile, conspiracy and engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity. If convicted on all charges, each could face 24 years in prison and $65,000 in fines. The charges stem from the sale of sexually explicit videotapes at the downtown Hustler Magazine & Gifts store that Jimmy Flynt manages..."
American Spectator by Freeper JimL ".After Watergate, Ruff moved to the Carter Justice Department, serving in several high-ranking positions before becoming U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia. He joined Covington & Burling in 1982. In the mid-eighties he worked for tobacco industry clients and also developed a reputation as a top white-collar-crime lawyer. Especially when defending a political official accused of wrongdoing, Ruff had the connections to intervene in investigations and head them off before they reached the indictment stage. "I represent my clients by handling the political as well as the legal ramifications of their case,"he once told an interviewer. It was an insider's strategy, and Ruff displayed his mastery of the game in the case of Virginia Democratic Senator Charles Robb,a politician facing a scandal that seemed sure to wreck his career... Ruff's strategy was to prevail on high-ranking officials in the Justice Department to undermine the actions of the lower-ranking Justice Department prosecutors who were building the case against Robb. When it became clear that lead prosecutor Robert Wiechering had gathered damaging evidence against Robb, Ruff responded by launching an effort to discredit Wiechering. He alleged that Wiechering was a right-wing partisan out to get Robb.. In the end, Robb got off. It was nothing short of a miracle--and a bipartisan one at that, since Ruff had done it with a Republican Justice Department. And, because it happened in late 1992 and early 1993, Ruff's handling of the Robb case caught the eye of the incoming Democratic administration. "The Clinton people loved him for that," Mundy says of Ruff's handiwork. Then-counsel Bernard Nussbaum "went on and on about the wonderfulness of Charles Ruff," Mundy adds. "For them, if Ruff said the moon is made of blue cheese, the only question was, 'what brand?'" ."
ATR US Newswire 1/18/99 "."Taxpayers should fully expect Bill Clinton to attempt to bribe his jury at the State of the Union speech tomorrow night," said Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform. "Two years ago, when he was facing re-election and stealing every conservative idea in sight, Bill Clinton declared that the 'era of big government is over.' This year's State of the Union Address will be given while he is facing possible removal from office. Because of that, Bill Clinton will forget his claim from two years ago and put forward a large number of new government spending programs and tax increases. "These new tax-and-spend proposals are nothing but a blatant attempt to persuade liberal Democrats to vote to keep Clinton in office. If any other person on trial did similar things they would be thrown in jail for bribing the jury.."
NY Post 1/20/99 Deborah Orin ".Powerful Federal Reserve chief Alan Greenspan yesterday threw cold water on a key part of President Clinton's Social Security plan - Uncle Sam's investing on Wall Street. "I do not believe it is politically feasible to insulate such huge funds" from political interference, the Fed boss told the House Ways and Means Committee.."
The Progressive 2/15/99 Sam Smith ".Twenty scientists from around the world have come to the defense of a British researcher forced out of his government funded post for reporting that lab rats suffered a reduction in brain size, liver damage, and a weakening of their immune system after being fed genetically modified potatoes for only 10 days. The development of the animals' kidney, thymus, spleen and gut were also affected.. And the BBC quoted another scientist as saying "We simply do not have sufficient understanding of the principles of physiological regulation to enable us to categorize these genetic modifications that will pose a risk and those that do not." ..Prime Minister Tony Blair has rejected altered food protests from consumers, scientists and environmental groups. The London Independent reports that "Bill Clinton has personally intervened with Tony Blair to stop Britain from halting the controversial production of genetically engineered foods. The US President telephoned the Prime Minister during the summer to try to persuade him that genetically modified crops--worth millions of pounds ($$$$) to the U.S. economy --would not be bad for Britain... The Clinton Administration has close links with Monsanto, (note: Tippers brother is head of Monsanto) --the powerful biotechnology conglomerate which develops the seeds for GM crops.. "
Judicial Watch Press Release 2/16/99 Judicial Watch ".How did Senator Arlen Specter become an expert in Scottish law, leading to his bizarre reasoning justifying his vote to acquit President Clinton in the impeachment proceedings? Just ask Joan Specter, his wife, who on May 22, 1998 -- at the height of the Lewinsky controversy -- received a Presidential appointment as a member the National Council on the Arts. See enclosed notice. As the French would say, "Quelle coincidence!" Compounding the likely payoff, Specter has a close history of working with mob-related Teamsters and other unions, and a quick review of his contributions from crime-related figures shows that he should be included in the on-going Congressional and independent counsel investigations. Did union money also influence Mr. Specter's strange conduct?."
WorldNet Daily 2/25/99 Joseph Farah "…One of the secrets of the Clinton administration's success at staying in power has been to plot such dastardly deeds that few Americans could even grasp their evil intent. Right at the top of the list of such conspiracies -- now well documented, thanks to the extraordinary efforts of WorldNetDaily columnist Charles Smith -- is the Clipper Chip project. It involves all of the following: a treasonous relationship with China, a plan to tap every phone in America, drug money and, of course, the usual intrigue of administration figures such as Webster Hubbell, Al Gore, Ron Brown, Janet Reno and Clinton himself…The story starts in 1992 when AT&T developed secure telephones untappable by the federal government. The company planned to make them available to the American public. Instead, the Clinton administration interceded and bought up all the phones with a secret slush fund…. By 1994, White House aide John Podesta had been called into the inner circle of the Clipper project. Meanwhile, Podesta's brother, Tony, a lobbyist and fund-raiser was representing AT&T. His donors and clients, including AT&T, were invited to participate in trade trips to China and obtain valuable export deals with Beijing…By 1996, Reno was urging the all-out federal takeover of the computer industry and the banning of any encryption technology that doesn't let the government in the back door. Interestingly, the first target of the government's wiretap plan was its own Drug Enforcement Administration. Hmmm. The Chinese sought information obtained from such taps -- which may explain why Chinese drug lord Ng Lapseng gave as much money to the Democratic National Committee as he did. It's no wonder Reno didn't want to investigate the penetration of the DEA by the Chinese. After all, Ng was photographed with her bosses, Bill and Hillary Clinton at a DNC fund-raiser…."
AP 3/2/99 Cassandra Burrell "…A Texas congressman accused the Clinton administration of planning to grant amnesty to thousands of illegal immigrants without congressional approval. ``Stop before you break the law,'' Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, said Tuesday. ``Do not throw out 30 years of legal precedent for political gain.'' Smith expressed objections to a plan that would grant illegal immigrants from Central America eligibility for amnesty under a blanket ``presumption of hardship,'' instead of requiring each immigrant to prove hardship… But Smith said a blanket presumption would give as many as 240,000-plus illegal aliens a benefit that Congress declined to give them in 1997. He and 28 other House members signed a letter to President Clinton asking him to reject the idea. ``The White House is shamelessly bowing to special interests and thumbing its nose at Congress, the American people and every legal alien who played by the rules and waited his or her turn to come to America,'' Smith said. ``Obviously, when someone received an unexpected benefit, amnesty in this case, they feel indebted to those who provided the benefit. The White House is looking at long-term political support.'' …"
Judicial Watch Press Release 3/02/99 "…What do Democrat Senator Christopher Dodd and Republican Senator Mitch McConnell have in common? They both took money generated by Chinagate scandal figure John Huang. Recently, they both announced their opposition to the independent counsel law. Now, the Clinton Justice Department is "on board." What a surprise…."
The Manchester Union Leader 3/3/99 Richard Lessner "…Having stuffed his 1996 campaign war chest with money from suspect sources, including Red China's People's Liberation Army, Bill Clinton no longer has much need of his Chinese friends. So the President, through his secretary of state, has returned to the familiar themes employed in his 1992 campaign against the hapless George Bush, namely, attacking Beijing's dismal human rights record. It will be recalled that candidate Clinton battered President Bush for what he said was an amoral policy on China that put business relations ahead of human rights. Mr. Clinton was especially critical of the Bush administration's limp business-as-usual response to the Tiananmen Square massacre. No sooner had he been elected President, however, than such themes disappeared from the Clinton rhetoric. Mr. Clinton threw open the doors to trade with Beijing's butchers and greased the skids for American investment in China….. The shift in emphasis paid off for the President. Thankful American businesses poured money into the Clinton-Gore campaign coffers and the Chinese reciprocated by funneling dollars to the Democrats through shady intermediaries. Mr. Clinton made his China policy pay -- handsomely. Now that he is no longer running for reelection, however, and no longer in need of Beijing's money tree, Mr. Clinton has returned to inflated posturing about China's hideous suppression of human rights…."
New York Times 3/3/99 Charles Lewis "…In the darkest days of Watergate, when he was facing hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal bills, Richard Nixon did not establish a legal defense fund. Although he accepted some donations after he resigned from office, he paid the bulk of his legal debts himself. Benefiting from cash gifts while in the White House apparently was unthinkable even to our most disgraced President. Bill Clinton is the first sitting President to have a legal defense fund, which sent 600,000 solicitation letters and received more than $4.5 million last year to help pay the First Family's unprecedented legal debts. He and Hillary Rodham Clinton are also the only First Couple to be investigated by an independent counsel for nearly their entire time in the White House.The Clintons owe almost $9 million to their private lawyers for their work on the Whitewater and Lewinsky investigations and the impeachment fight…But to me the Clinton Legal Expense Trust is the latest ignominious manifestation of our "anything goes" mercenary political culture. Though such funds are accepted as inevitable today, they are virtually unregulated. …"
Scripps Howard News Service 3/6/99 Michael Hedges "…Finding and deporting the 5 million illegal immigrants in America will no longer be a priority under a controversial new federal immigration strategy that critics say is a first step toward amnesty for aliens…. After reviewing a copy of the strategy obtained by Scripps Howard, Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, who chairs the House subcommittee on immigration said, ``The INS, by their actions, is telling would-be illegal aliens that if you don't get caught entering the U.S., we'll look the other way so you can stay.'' ``Even as INS tells Congress that deporting illegal aliens is one of their priorities, they admit they're doing little to remove the more than 5 million illegal aliens who live in the U.S. permanently,'' Smith said. Officials at INS declined requests to discuss the new strategy on Thursday and Friday…."
Associated Press 3/7/99 William Mann "…Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott predicted Congress would be ``very aggressive'' in dealing with the administration. ``I think Congress is going to have to toughen up in dealing with this administration, particularly when it comes to China and the violations that have occurred there,'' he said on ``Fox News Sunday.'' The New York Times and Newsweek magazine reported over the weekend that China had obtained from U.S. nuclear laboratories knowledge of America's top-secret W-88 miniaturized warhead. Republicans contend the administration allows dangerous transactions so as not to disturb always-touchy relations with one of the largest U.S. trading partners. Lott, R-Miss., said the case is ``just another example of where the administration apparently is more interested in engagement (with China) than they are what's happening in that engagement.'' ``The administration continues to resist really getting into what caused the problem and solving the problem,'' Lott said. ``China is getting to be more and more of a problem, both in their human rights conduct and the way we deal with it, but also a continuation of their efforts to get technology improperly and then use it improperly.'' …"
Washington Post 3/8/99 Roberto Suro "…Allegations of espionage by China are delicate for the White House because of a still-pending Justice Department investigation into whether the Chinese government attempted to influence U.S. elections by making illegal contributions to a number of campaigns, including the 1996 Clinton-Gore reelection effort. A separate probe is examining whether business executives and corporations that made major donations to the Clinton-Gore campaign were later given help in acquiring technology export licenses and other measures to facilitate trade with China. Lott said yesterday that he would work for the release of declassified version of a congressional report on the alleged link between 1996 campaign contributions and licenses permitting technology transfers, and that he might ask the Senate to consider contempt of Congress actions against administration officials who have allegedly failed to cooperate with the congressional inquiries…."
Reuters 3/10/99 Steve Holland "…President Clinton said Wednesday he would enforce U.S. polices against illegal immigration despite an outcry in Central America. ``Most illegal immigrants are not by nature lawbreakers. Most are looking for the chance to live in dignity,'' Clinton said in a speech to the El Salvador Legislative Assembly. ``Nevertheless we must continue to discourage illegal immigration for it undermines control of our borders ... and even more punishes hard-working people who play by the rules and who wait for their turn to come to the United States. ``Therefore we must enforce our laws, but we will do so with justice and fairness,'' he said…."
WorldNetDaily 3/16/99 Charles Smith "… In August 1994, Mr. Wu accompanied Ron Brown to China and Hong Kong. Mr. Wu traveled with several major donors to the DNC, including Bernard Schwartz CEO of Loral, Sanford Robertson CEO of Robertson & Stephens and Edwin Lupenberger, CEO of Entergy Corp. Wu was invited to various special events, including a post Hong Kong dinner and Democratic fund-raiser. K.S. Wu, according to his official Commerce Dept. information sheet, was a very busy man. Wu, according to the Commerce profile, was a graduate of Illinois Wesleyan University and did graduate work at Yale. In 1994, Wu was chairman of Pacific Century Group, a member of the Board of Directors of the Singapore Fund, the Japan Equity Fund, the China Direct Fund and the Sinung Corporation. Wu was also a board member of the Georgetown University Asian Law Program and the Enprotech Corporation. Wu traveled to China in August of 1994 with a self-described "close" friend, West Virginia Governor Gaston Caperton. In 1996, Caperton described K.S. Wu as a "close friend" and a "trusted advisor to Senator Rockefeller". Today, none dare speak of Mr. Wu. Former Governor Caperton, Democrat Senator Rockefeller both refused to comment on the late K.S. Wu. All questions to the Senator's office on K.S. Wu have been greeted by with the same answer, a short and angry "no comment"…. Lupenberger and Wu were given White House information sheets on every major member of the communist Chinese leadership. The White House bios included data on the most important Chinese communist citizens from President Jiang Zemin to the Mayor of Shanghai. The only civilian included by the White House was Li Ka-Shing, Director of CITIC. Li Ka-Shing owns the vast shipping enterprise, Hutchison Whampoa, Ltd. Li works closely with the official PRC shipping carrier, COSCO. Li and COSCO own both ends of the Panama canal. Li and COSCO tried to buy the former Navy port at Long Beach. Li financed several satellite deals between Hughes and China Hong Kong Satellite (CHINASAT), a company half owned by the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA). Li Ka-Shing and the Chinese Navy nearly obtained four huge roll-on/roll-off container ships, financed by the American taxpayers…. Wu, according to the official Commerce Department information sheet, was chairman of Pacific Century Group, an investment firm working to finance electric power plants inside China with U.S. money…. Pacific Century, according to sources on Capitol Hill, is actually a front company part owned by Li Ka-Shing and Macau prostitution drug-lord Ng Lapseng. The U.S. based business run by Wu was actually then owned by Chinese billionaire Li Ka-Shing and a major organized crime boss. The Ng family dominance of far east heroin, and oriental female love slaves in California, Oregon and Washington is well known to law enforcement at both the state and Federal levels. In fact, the CEO of Pacific Century, K.S. "Wu" was related to Ng. Ng, also a major donor to the DNC, often introduced himself as "Mister Wu". K.S. Wu was a cousin of Ng Lapseng. Crimelord Ng actually entered the inner-Clinton circle by introducing large amounts of cash to the DNC. Proof of this can be seen in a wonderful photograph of Mr. Ng with Mr. and Mrs. Clinton at a DNC fundraising event….. The 1994 trade trip to China included a Lippo backed power project in China with an Arkansas-based company called Entergy Corp. Former DNC fund-raisers Ira Sockowitz and John Huang worked at the Commerce Department and were charged by Brown to "vet" or check out the Entergy project in China…. Lupenberger and Wu attended the trade mission to China on the personal authority of President Clinton. Lupenberger also personally donated over $80,000 to Democratic candidates prior to the flight. Wu brought investors eager to finance the operation, including money laundered from his family holdings in Macau. Commerce documents show Edwin Lupenberger, Maria Haley, then head of the Export Import Bank, K.S. Wu, and Li Ka-Shing all met Madam Wu Yi. Madam Wu was then the Minister of China's Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation (MOFTEC). The investments made through Pacific Century were to back a joint Lippo/Chinese "soft coal" power plant. John Huang, Ron Brown, Edwin Lupenberger, Senator Rockefeller and K.S. Wu all helped to obtain the financing from U.S. citizens and taxpayers to build "soft" coal fired plants in the far east. Coal fired plants that cannot burn American coal. The sole source of U.S. soft coal is the state of Utah. Utah also happens to be the number one state competing with West Virginia on the coal export market. President Clinton declared most of Utah to be off-limits to coal mining without legislation, using a Presidential Executive order. With this single act, Clinton enhanced the standing of Democratic West Virginia and punished Republican dominated Utah…."
AP 3/18/99 "…In contacts under federal investigation, Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott's brother-in-law received thousands of dollars from an associate of accused war criminal Radovan Karadzic around the time he tried to arrange the Bosnian fugitive's surrender, according to lawyers and government officials. Talbott's brother-in-law, Cody P. Shearer, is now telling authorities he has received mail threats from Bosnian figures who claim he took the money in 1997 with promises to win leniency for Karadzic on the war crimes charges, and demand that he pay Karadzic's family $1 million or risk ``tragedy.'' Shearer's lawyer denies those claims and says the money his client received was reimbursement for expenses he incurred while helping the Karadzic associate. Even before Shearer reported the threats, the State Department inspector general and the FBI had begun investigating whether he misrepresented his ties to the Clinton administration in his dealings with the Bosnian figures, several government officials told The Associated Press…."
Scripps Howard News Service 4/2/99 John Lang "...President Clinton's pollster is a foreign agent. This is not illegal. But the disclosure that presidential opinion-sampler Mark Penn has become a registered foreign agent for Central American countries is drawing protests from ethics watchdog groups that say it is a conflict of interest and potentially a springboard to scandal. ``This is another example of ethically challenged Washington,'' said Charles Lewis of the Center for Public Integrity. Gary Ruskin of the Congressional Accountability Project said, ``This once again reflects the low ethical standards of the Clinton team. ``If you're the presidential pollster, you have a lot of access to the president and his staff. It's not illegal -- but presidential pollsters are supposed to advocate for the interests of Americans, not Central American banks, when they are talking to the president behind closed doors,'' Ruskin said...."
World Net Daily through Softwar.net 4/13/99 through E-Mail Alert "...Starting in 1994, Russian and Chinese military units began to purchase U.S. made super-computers for nuclear weapons research....In 1995, Tony Podesta, a powerful D.C. based lobbyist and brother of John Podesta - the White House advisor, had a consortium of top U.S. computer CEOs attend secret meetings inside the White House. The meetings were on computer hardware and software exports to China and Russia. The meetings occurred just before Clinton changed super-computer policy. Within weeks, the Russian and Chinese were buying computer power that now surpasses the U.S. Defense Dept.
In 1995, the Computer Systems Policy Project (CSPP) - according to documents from the Commerce Dept. - was represented by Tony Podesta, brother of White House official John Podesta. The CSPP is a group of computer companies, that in 1995 included Apple, AT&T, Compaq, Cray, Data General, Digital Equipment, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Silicon Graphics, Stratus Computer, Sun Microsystems, Tandem and Unisys. Officials working for Apple, and Silicon Graphics are documented by the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to be very large Clinton donors.
One 1995 secret meeting in the White House was attended by Podesta Associates employee, Ken Kay, the Director of the CSPP. The meeting with Tony Podesta's employee took place while John Podesta was also employed at the White House. John Podesta left the employ of the White House and went directly to work for his brother, Tony Podesta, in July 1995...."
World Net Daily through Softwar.net 4/13/99 through E-Mail Alert "...Former NSA (National Security Agency) Director Admiral McConnell stated that "John Podesta" was the Clinton advisor in charge of computer encryption policy. Various documents from the National Security Council (NSC) and the Commerce Dept. prove that John Podesta was charged with computer policy such as export restrictions. In fact, a December 1993 letter to Secretary Ron Brown from the United States Council for International Business was "cc'd" to John Podesta. White House advisors are prohibited from working on matters in which they have a direct financial interest. This law also prohibits them from lobbying on matters they worked on while in government and prohibits them from lobbying for a period of one year after they have left service. John Podesta and Tony Podesta were engaged in activities that may constitute conflict of interest under USC title 18, sections 203 through 208. John Podesta was employed at the White House and charged with the very same policy that his brother, Tony Podesta, was engaged in lobbying the Government...."
World Net Daily through Softwar.net 4/13/99 through E-Mail Alert "...In 1996, two of the Podesta companies, IBM and Silicon Graphics, sold super-computers directly to Russian nuclear weapons labs Arzamas-16 and Chelyabinsk-70 under so-called "commercial" contracts. IBM has since settled for a fine of $8 million on the $7.5 million dollar sale to Arzamas-16. Silicon Graphics, however, has not been charged. The 1996 CSPP computer exports took place under the guise of "commercial" sales. Those exports took place during the period of time when the both companies were represented by Tony Podesta. In 1996, John Podesta was also working for his brother Tony as a lobbyist for Podesta Assocates. Thus, John certainly had a large paycheck tied to his brother's success for IBM and Silicon Graphics.
World Net Daily through Softwar.net 4/13/99 through E-Mail Alert "...The 1996 sales to Russia were not the first exports to foreign military units during Tony Podesta's work for the CSPP. In 1994, CSPP member Tandem Corp. exported computers to China Great Wall Corp., a company owned by the Chinese Army, during a Ron Brown trade trip. A Commerce Dept. 1994 Presidential trade trip document on James Treybig states "Tandem and China Great Wall Industry will announce in August their joint venture". Another document found in the files of former Commerce Secretary Ron Brown states that Treybig "negotiated a $100 million dollar joint venture for Tandem Computers while in China". The Commerce Dept. does not have the authority to authorize export of super-computers to foreign military units such as Russian nuclear weapons labs and PLA owned Great Wall Industries. Transfers of any equipment for the development of nuclear weapons to military units constitutes a "defense service" as per the United States Munitions List (USML) and the International Trade in Arms Regulations ITAR 22 C.F.R. Part 120.9 and is strictly under the authority of the State Dept. and the Defense Dept. Yet, the CSPP and Tony Podesta sought out the Commerce Dept. for access to the White House...."
World Net Daily through Softwar.net 4/13/99 through E-Mail Alert "... According to a May 1995 CSPP document sent to Ron Brown, "controls on computer exports to Russia and China for commercial, civil end-users should be eliminated; controls on exports for actual military end-uses may be appropriate until there is greater certainty that neither country poses a threat to U.S. national security." ...According to the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) the Commerce Dept. was required to make public disclosure if a government agency consults advisors who are not government employees. FACA was established to force Federal officials to hold formal policy meetings in public, instead of meeting with special interests, lobbyists and industry behind closed doors. The Commerce Dept. was legally obliged to offer open access to the public, media and other qualified individuals the same access as the members of the CSPP - who are NOT members of the Federal Government. Instead, the Commerce Dept. engaged in a cover-up of the secret meetings with the CSPP and Podesta Associates employees at the White House. No notification was issued for the secret meetings, nor the classified materials offered to any other company...."
RNC.org 4/99 "...Furthermore, several of the DNC's largest campaign donors, solicited by DNC vice chairman fund-raiser John Huang, funneled nearly a half-million dollars into at least six state Democrat parties in 1996, according to state and party records. Totaling at least $482,500, the donations showed even broader involvement by a handful of fat-cat dollar party donors in financing the 1996 elections. Donations solicited by Huang ended up in Michigan, Ohio, California, Pennsylvania, Florida and Illinois. (Source: The Washington Post, 1/26/97) ....Thai businesswoman Pauline Kanchanalak and her sister-in-law Duangnet Kronenberg were indicted by a U.S. District Court. Kanchanalak's husband Jeb and mother-in-law Praitun Kanchanalak were named as unindicted co-conspirators. They were charged with funneling money to the DNC and Democrat state parties in California, Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. (Source: The Chattanooga Times, 7/14/98) ....A review by the Los Angeles Times of state campaign finance records showed that many of the same people connected to improper contributions to national campaign funds - along with their business associates and relatives - funneled money to California state figures. Among the largest state contributions to the California State Democrat Party from figures involved in the federal campaign finance controversy was $54,500 in checks from Duagnet Kronenberg ($30,000) and P. Kanchanalak ($24,500), both of McLean, Virginia. In both instances, the DNC directed the money to California. (Source: Los Angeles Times, 4/2/97) .... Pennsylvania Four prominent Asian-Americans, at the center of the political money scandal, funneled $895,000 into the Pennsylvania State Democrat Party. At the urging of John Huang, one of the largest donations, $25,000, came from Pauline Kanchanalak. Kanchanalak's sister-in-law, Duagnet Kronenberg also, gave $25,000. Sen Jong Hsui contributed $20,000, and C. Joseph Giroir Jr. from Little Rock Arkansas gave another $25,000. (Source: Philadelphia Daily News, 1/29/97) ..."
http://www.investors.com 4/15/99 Brian Mitchell "..... ''There's an increasing corruption in Washington in foreign policy, where commercial interests are taking the higher priority, and where people go in and out of government and into the K Street lobbies,'' said a senior foreign policy official in the Reagan administration. ''The problem is that so many of these business interests don't give a darn about U.S. national security,'' he said. The Clinton administration, with bipartisan support from ex-officials and American businesses, has forged a formidable consensus on granting China favorable trade relations. But it's recently been challenged by revelations of Chinese espionage..... Still, some fans of free trade worry. ''We shouldn't lose sight of the fact that trade is mutually beneficial to the U.S. and China,'' said Dan Griswold, associate director of the Center for Trade Policy at the Cato Institute. ''But the bottom line is, we shouldn't be selling technology to China that it can turn around and apply to direct military use against our interests,'' Griswold said. The boom in trade has coincided with a crackdown on dissidents by Chinese authorities. The State Department's 1998 report on human rights in China cited ''widespread'' abuses, including ''extrajudicial killings, torture and mistreatment of prisoners, forced confessions, arbitrary arrests and detention.'' The report also faults China for slave labor, forced abortion, forced sterilization, trafficking in women and children, restrictions on religion and oppression of ethnic minorities in Tibet and Xinjiang provinces. The State Department's 1998 report on human rights in Yugoslavia accuses it of many of the same abuses. Not included, though, are slave labor, forced abortion, forced sterilization and trafficking in women and children. ''Otherwise, it would be hard without a label to tell which country was which if you just read the reports,'' said William Hawkins, an aide to Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif...."
WorldNetDaily.com 4/20/99 Charles Smith Softwar "...More alarming for the White House is another 1994 computer security document found in the files of former Deputy Attorney General Webster Hubbell. The Hubbell document describes a secret 1994 White House meeting where "Podesta legislation" was one of several computer industry topics. The Hubbell document clearly links the former Whitewater partner and John Podesta in secret computer export policy. Al Gore, Webster Hubbell, John Podesta, FBI Director Louis Freeh and Ron Brown attended the 1994 White House meeting. Secret meetings that include a convicted felon and the former member of the Rose office law firm of Hillary Clinton. Computer-Gate involves serving officials inside the Clinton administration other than John Podesta and Webster Hubbell. Other Clinton officials such as Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, and Commerce undersecretary for Export Administration, William Reinsch, were both involved in CSPP meetings that are now classified. Computer-Gate also includes some of the most rich and powerful in the U.S. computer industry DNC donor lists. The 1995 secret meeting included James Unruh of Unisys, Michael Spindler of Apple, Robert Allen of AT&T, Eckhard Pfeiffer of Compaq, John Carlson of Cray, Ronald Skates of Data General, Robert Palmer of Digital Equipment, Lewis Platt of Hewlett-Packard, Edward McCraken of Silcon Graphics, William Foster of Straus Computer, and Scott McNeally of Sun..."
NewsMax 4/23/99 Carl Limbacher "...What the Vice President and the reporters who covered his refugee announcement failed to mention is this: the 20,000 Albanian Kosovars would be just the latest Balkan influx to hit American shores since the U.S. became embroiled in that European conflict. In fact, since the mid-90's, America has resettled over 80,000 displaced persons from the region, mainly Bosnian Muslims, primarily to the American mid-west. Moreover, America's largest meat processing company, which just happens to have a curious link to Clinton-friendly Tyson Foods, has done very well by the deluge of hardworking Balkan refugees willing to take their dangerous non-union jobs....In fact, the U.S. meat-packing industry has a history of recruiting workers on-site in Yugoslavia going back to the 1920's; though, thanks to America's recent Bosnia entanglement, IBP generally has to look no further than Chicago for eager refugee labor.... And what about IBP's Clinton-Tyson connection? The link is through Hudson Foods. In August 1997 Arkansas' Hudson Foods was pretty much run out of business after the Clinton Dept. of Agriculture determined that e-coli contamination of its ground beef had sickened 16 people in Colorado. Though no one died, within days the USDA ordered millions of pounds of beef recalled. The alarm caused Hudson's major beef buyer Burger King to cancel its contract. Meat industry executives were stunned at the USDA's heavy-handed tactics. Hudson was primarily a chicken processing operation that had branched out into beef and pork, with plants outside Arkansas like the one where the e-coli problem was discovered. And Tyson Foods, notorious as a longtime Clinton backer with a history of winning favorable treatment from his state and federal administrations, had long been interested in acquiring Hudson. But Hudson was never interested in selling out until the Clinton USDA struck. Then the Tyson deal became an offer Hudson couldn't refuse. Still, Tyson didn't want Hudson's beef processing plant, the one where the USDA first found the e-coli contamination. For that another buyer had to be located. That buyer? Iowa Beef Processors, the same company which made out so handsomely when Bill Clinton's Balkan refugees began streaming into America...."
USA TODAY http://www.usatoday.com/ 5/3/99 Tom Lowry Freeper A Whitewater Researcher "...Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, who was Goldman Sachs' chairman when the firm first approached the estate about an investment, disclosed several years ago that he entered into a business agreement with the estate. He pays the trust more than $100,000 a year, and in return, the estate guarantees that when Rubin leaves government office, the value of his partnership stake in Goldman will not be any less than when he joined the Clinton administration in 1993....When asked about the estate's latest troubles, spokesman Howard Schloss said Rubin would have no comment...Rubin's "arrangement with the estate creates a perception of conflict," says Beadie Kanehele Dawson, a lawyer representing Kamehameha...students and alumni. "Why not get insurance with Lloyd's of London?"..."
New York Times 5/19/98 William Saffire "...A president hungry for money to finance his re-election overruled the Pentagon; he sold to a Chinese millitary intelligence front the technology that defense experts argued would give Beijing the capacity to blind our spy satellites and launch a sneak attack. How soon we have forgotten Pearl Harbor. October 1996 must have been some tense month for Democratic fund-raisers. The New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Los Angeles Times had begun to expose "the Asian Connection" of John Huang and Indonesia's Riady family to the Clinton campaign. The fix was already in to sell the satellite technology to China. Bill Clinton had switched the licensing over to Ron Brown's anything-goes Commerce Department. Johnny Chung had paid up. Commerce's Huang had delivered his illegal money big time (though one of his illegal foreign sources had already been spotted). The boss of the satellite's builder had come through as President Clinton's largest contributor...."
NY TIMES 5/12/99 TIM GOLDEN and JEFF GERTH "…In his letter to the Banking Committee, Shelby warned that he was especially concerned about accusations that the former comptroller of the currency, Eugene Ludwig, had blocked an investigation of Far East National. Both Ludwig and a spokesman for the comptroller's office strongly denied that. Interviews with two people who participated in the investigation also suggested that there was no evidence to support those claims, which were made in an Aug. 27, 1996 memorandum from a Federal Reserve examiner. While the comptroller's office expressed pride about their inquiry, other officials said the investigation was slow to get underway and might never have taken place had it not been for prodding by the Federal Reserve. The comptroller's office began its investigation in mid-July 1996. On Aug. 5, Hwang, a lifelong Republican, gave $10,000 to the Democratic Party, records show. He said his contribution was prompted by President Clinton's sympathy and support for ethnic minorities in America. A week later, the examiners began a second, more specific inquiry. But according to officials and internal documents, Federal Reserve officials came away dissatisfied with both the bank's forthrightness and the resolve of the comptroller's office to force its disclosure of key documents.
Opening Statement Chairman Dan Burton Committee on Government Reform 5/11/99 "...Mr. Chung has told us that he was told other people were also given money to "do good things for China." One of the people who was mentioned was Mark Middleton, a former high-level White House aide. He was told that Mark Middleton got half-a-million dollars from a source that remains unclear. Mr. Middleton has taken the Fifth with this committee. He refused to talk to us. Johnny Chung has also told us that he was told that a Boeing representative from Hong Kong -- a "Mr. Young" -- was also working with the Chinese government. We still haven't resolved who this is...."
Opening Statement Chairman Dan Burton Committee on Government Reform 5/11/99 "...Johnny Chung has informed us that he was told by another source that Charlie Trie asked the Chinese government for $1 million to help the President. He will testify that he saw the head of the U.S. consulate in Beijing take cash in exchange for visas. This is just outrageous...."
Opening Statement Chairman Dan Burton Committee on Government Reform 5/11/99 "...Johnny Chung told us that in the fall of 1995, the DNC was pressuring him to contribute $70,000. We found an internal DNC memo from that time period to Chairman Fowler. He was being asked to call Mr. Chung and tell him that "bad things will happen" if he didn't come up with the money...."
Judicial Watch 5/13/99 "...Chung also testified that he told the FBI to investigate "their own people" at the Reno Justice Department, as he was made to understand that the "Number 3" at the Reno Justice Department was going to "fix" the investigation into his fundraising activities. Chung testified that, given his recent experiences, he was not happy to have received such solicitations from Gore, that "this [is] not the kind of mail" that he liked to receive, considering what he's gone through in the past two years. Chung said that shortly after his first contribution in 1994, he realized he and other Asian-Americans were being targeted for fundraising by the Democrats, and "that it never stopped." Chung also understood that his political contributions to Democratic causes helped buy him access to and favors from the President, Vice President, and First Lady and that he expected (and received) something back from government officials in return for his political contributions. Chung testified that a letter sent to him by Mrs. Clinton was very helpful in opening doors for his fax broadcast business and that he used the letter to solicit business from the U.S. Commerce Department for his business. Mr. Chung's deposition is set to be continued at a later date...."
Koenig's International News 5/18/99 Charles Smith "...Another Commerce Dept. document shows that in 1996, Loral Defense Systems (then an arm of Loral Aerospace) actively solicited Commerce Secretary Brown to intervene in getting approval from the White House to sell advanced radar technology to China. Loral wanted very badly to sell Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) to China. SAR is a sophisticated ground-looking radar essential to the newly deployed Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (JSTARS) used by the U.S. military to track ground-based vehicular movement on the battlefield. SAR radars also equip the USAF F-15 Strike Eagle and the Predator unmanned aerial reconnaissance vehicle. A letter discovered in the previously unreleased files of Ron Brown shows that Loral Defense Systems President, Jerald A. Lindfelt, wrote Brown in March of 1996. Lindfelt sought Brown's help in the export of SAR technology to the Beijing Institute of Remote Sensing. According to the Defense Department, the Chinese "Institute of Remote Sensing" is actually a front for the Chinese Army missile guidance design laboratories. The Institute of Remote Sensing is "a developer of precision guidance systems for surface-to-air missiles." Loral's 1996 appeal also included a direct request for Ron Brown to over rule the Department of Defense, the State Department and even Brown's own Commerce Department, which had all previously denied SAR radar exports to China. "We've worked hard trying to resolve these problems with the Department of State, the Department of Commerce and the Defense Technology Security Administration (DTSA)," Loral's Lindfelt wrote to Brown. "But someone in these organizations always manages to block our participation... Over the years we have found that this type of obstacle often comes from lower levels of management rather than by people willing to look at the bigger picture. Could you help us by identifying someone in the Commerce Department high enough in the organization to help us resolve these issues and open this marketplace..."
Washington Times 5/18/99 Bill Gertz "...The United States had imposed sanctions against China in 1993 for selling M-11 missile components but lifted them the next year at the urging of Mr. Brown and C. Michael Armstrong, chairman of Los Angeles-based satellite maker Hughes Electronics. Mr. Armstrong had written a terse letter to President Clinton on Oct. 29, 1993, first highlighting how he had done what the president requested by supporting his economic and trade policies and calls for looser export controls. "I am respectfully requesting your involvement to resolve the China sanctions," Mr. Armstrong wrote, noting that he had spoken to a Chinese official who informed him Beijing was "positive" about the idea. But when then-Secretary of State Warren Christopher told the Chinese that the United States needed to see "some sign of movement" by China on curbing weapons proliferation, a National Security Council memorandum reported, "The Chinese were not forthcoming." The memo said Mr. Armstrong and Hughes Electronics "lobbied aggressively" to be allowed to sell satellites to China. In 1995, the president named Mr. Armstrong to the influential Export Council, where he worked hard against trade controls designed to protect national security. The council produced a lengthy paper arguing against imposing sanctions on foreign trading partners that engaged in illicit weapons sales. Bernard L. Schwartz, chairman of Loral Space & Communications Ltd., also lobbied hard to ease restrictions on satellite sales to China. Mr. Schwartz denied that his large donations to the Democratic National Committee (DNC) were meant to influence Mr. Clinton's policies on satellite exports...."
Koenig's International News 5/19/99 Charles Smith "... As Lawrence DiRita, a scholar at the Heritage Foundation, reported three years ago, Galaxy officials approached several large U.S. telecommunications companies prior to 1994 in the hope of involving them in their partnership with SC&M Brooks. U.S. executives who spoke to the Galaxy representatives said that the Chinese side was counting on the influence SC&M brought to the partnership. Some of those U.S. executives, who declined to participate because of the obvious national security implications, asked out of curiosity how Galaxy intended to get U.S. government approval to transfer to China dual-use (civilian/military) technology. "In response, the Chinese spoke quite openly about the relationships they had already established with senior Democrats, mentioning Mr. Stevenson by name," DiRita explained....."
NewsMax.com 6/2/99 Inside Cover Kenneth Timmerman information "...The Rocky Flats security scandal may be the most damaging yet, since the cover-up is apparently still ongoing. ...According to Timmerman, "Richardson is now attempting to prevent a top DOE official in charge of safeguards and security from testifying before Congress. Why? Because that official, Edward J. McCallum, had made clear his intention to warn Congress and the public of devastating gaps in security procedures at nuclear storage sites such as Rocky Flats." Richardson already knows what McCallum has to say, since McCallum privately warned the Clinton administration last January about trouble at Rocky Flats. The consequences of the cover-up could be dramatic. "Terrorists could easily penetrate the facility and steal weapons grade plutonium, or construct and detonate a nuclear bomb on the site without DOE security teams being able to prevent it," reports the Spectator, based on what McCallum told Timmerman. It gets worse. McCallum was fired from his DOE post, or rather, "placed on adminstrative leave without pay" just last month. Bill Richardson personally gave the order to axe the whistleblower because he was "pissed off" at McCallum's attempts to inform Congress, according to what sources have told the Spectator. White House flaks may have a tough time spinning the Rocky Flats scandal for other reasons. Not only has the administration "repeatedly and obstinately" refused to correct the problem, but Mrs. O'Leary may be vulnerable to conflict of interest charges. Timmerman writes: "Under O'Leary's stewardship, Rocky Flats cut its security force by 40 percent, allowing prime contactor Kaiser-Hill LLC to improve its profit margin despite an overall reduction in the funds it received from DOE. Indeed, Kaiser Hill actually earned performance bonuses from DOE, because its cleanup operations were going ahead on schedule." Kaiser-Hill was apparently grateful for Mrs. O'Leary's indulgence, since she wound up on the board of ICF Kaiser, its parent company, upon her retirement from DOE. She remains on Kaiser's board today, while her husband does consulting work for the company....."
Washington Times 6/28/99 Greg Pierce / Inside Politics "..."Outraged at U.S. nuclear weapons labs' lax security, Congress is moving swiftly to change how the Energy Department handles nukes. But not without Energy Secretary Bill Richardson throwing himself on the tracks," Paul Bedard writes in U.S. News & World Report. "Richardson, several congressional sources say, has threatened Republican Reps. Floyd Spence of South Carolina and Mac Thornberry of Texas with retaliation if they pursued their reform proposals. Revenge was among the words the energy chief used, says a witness to one conversation. "The threats aren't idle. Spence's congressional district is home to the Savannah River nuclear site. Thornberry's is home to the Pantex plant, where nuclear weapons are disassembled. And both facilities are in the running for new DOE contracts," Mr. Bedard said...."
Chattanooga Times & Free Press 6/19/99 Andy Sher "...A Chattanooga man testified here Monday that Franklin Haney's administrative assistant told him in late 1995 to keep secret that the local real estate developer was the true source of money the witness would contribute to the 1996 Clinton/Gore re-election effort. Donald Condra also said under oath that the same Haney employee, Gloria Thurman, informed him in mid-1998 just how to characterize the $1,000 contribution in the context of a pending U.S. Justice Department probe into the campaign activities of Mr. Haney, a friend of Vice President Al Gore and a major national Democratic Party donor. ..."
The Daily Oklahoman 7\1\99 Penny Owen and Diana Baldwin "...The Oklahoman Former U.S. Agriculture Department Secretary Mike Espy was on the payroll of Feed The Children Inc. as one of its highest paid employees at the same time he was being investigated for illegally accepting gifts while in office. Feed The Children...Feed The Children and Espy refused to discuss his specific duties. "It is common for charities to utilize former government officials who possess experience in certain specialized areas to assist them in accomplishing their missions," Feed The Children attorney Larry Derryberry said in a faxed response to The Oklahoman. "While he resided in Washington, D.C., Mr. Espy assisted Feed The Children in our efforts to feed children in certain areas in which his experience and expertise was beneficial to our efforts," the statement said. Feed The Children has received federal government grants annually for years, including from the USDA...."
The American Spectator 6/99 Kenneth R. Timmerman "...In the latest episode of the Clinton administration's cover-up of its mind-boggling security lapses at our nuclear weapons labs, Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson is now attempting to prevent a top DOE official in charge of safeguards and security from testifying before Congress. Why? ....Because that official, Edward J. McCallum, had made clear his intention to warn Congress and the public of devastating gaps in the security procedures at nuclear storage sites such as Rocky Flats, Colorado, that the Clinton administration has repeatedly, and obstinately, refused to correct. Security at Rocky Flats was so bad, McCallum warned President Clinton in a January 27, 1997 report, that terrorists could easily penetrate the facility and steal weapons-grade plutonium, or construct and detonate a nuclear bomb on the site without DOE security teams being able to prevent it. Budget reductions and other "disturbing trends" had turned DOE security into a " hollow force that goes below the bottom line and makes it more difficult to fulfill National Security mandates," McCallum wrote... In a telephone conversation four months later, McCallum was more blunt. The risk was "extremely high," he told the recently dismissed head of the Rocky Flats security detail, that terrorists could successfully attack the plutonium storage site, unleashing "a little mushroom cloud" over nearby Denver. By all accounts, McCallum's reports angered Secretary of Energy Hazel O'Leary, who not only failed to act on his warnings but consistently reduced the budget for security at the nation's nuclear labs--far below what McCallum and other security officials warned was the danger level. Under O'Leary's stewardship, Rocky Flats cut its security force by 40 percent, allowing prime contractor Kaiser-Hill LLC to improve its profit margin despite an overall reduction in the funds it received from DOE. Indeed, by skimping on security, Kaiser-Hill actually earned performance bonuses from DOE, because its cleanup operations were going ahead on schedule. During the Cold War, Rocky Flats was used to machine highly toxic plutonium into nuclear weapons cores...."
The American Spectator 6/99 Kenneth R. Timmerman "...In a twist that should no longer shock observers of the Clinton administration, almost as soon as O'Leary resigned as secretary of energy in January 1997, she joined the board of ICF Kaiser, the parent of the company that McCallum had cited for poor management of Rocky Flats. O'Leary remains on the Kaiser board today, and her husband, John O'Leary, does consulting work for the group. Kaiser also hired Thomas Grumbley, a former aide to Al Gore who was put in charge of DOE's Office of Science and Technology. At DOE, Grumbley had "harpooned" Kaiser's performance at Rocky Flats, according to Mark Graf, the former security chief at Rocky Flats. Grumbley now works for Kaiser as president of its Environment & Facilities Management Group. In 1997, the House Commerce Committee discovered that Grumbley had funneled lucrative DOE contracts to Molten Metal Technology, after the company had hired Gore aide (and top DNC fundraiser) Peter Knight as its chief Washington lobbyist. MMT executives contributed $50,000 in 1994 to the University of Tennessee to establish a chair honoring the vice president's sister, and in 1995 told Knight they would raise $50,000 for the Clinton-Gore re-election campaign, according to Commerce Committee documents.
THE WASHINGTON TIMES 7/1/99 Jerry Seper "...Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt testified yesterday before a federal grand jury probing whether his 1995 denial of a casino license to three Wisconsin Indian tribes was based on promises by rival tribes to make campaign donations to President Clinton's 1996 re-election. His testimony came as independent counsel Carol Elder Bruce begins to wrap up a 14-month investigation into accusations that Mr. Babbitt's July 14, 1995, decision against three Chippewa tribes was the result of political influence. The Chippewas' application had been pending before the Interior Department for two years and had been approved by the department's regional Bureau of Indian Affairs. Mr. Babbitt's reversal set into motion a "campaign strategy" by anti-casino tribal leaders, who eventually gave $270,000 to the Democratic Party for the 1996 campaign. In a lawsuit filed after the license was denied, the Chippewas argued that the access of their rivals swayed Mr. Babbitt's decision, in particular because of promised campaign donations.....In a final draft of their report on campaign finance abuse, Republicans on the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee concluded that Mr. Babbitt was not truthful. The report said Mr. Babbitt "had both Harold Ickes and political contributions on his mind on the day of the decision." "From all the circumstances, there appears to be a direct relationship between the activities of the Department of the Interior and contributions received by the [Democratic National Committee] and [Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee] from the opposition tribes," the report said.....The grand jury has heard testimony from Loretta Avent, a White House specialist on Indian affairs, who counseled Mr. Ickes on the "legal and political implications of our involvement." She said in an April 1995 memo it would be "disastrous" for the White House to be involved in any decision by Mr. Babbitt on the license. Mrs. Avent wrote that the issue should stay within the Interior Department, adding: "The press is just waiting for this kind of story. We don't want to give it to them." On the same day Mr. Babbitt denied the license, Patrick J. O'Connor, a lobbyist for the rival tribes, wrote in a diary that the tribes had begun their donation strategy. He outlined plans to contact Mr. Ickes, Democratic National Committee Chairman Don Fowler and Terry McAuliffe, chief fund-raiser for the Clinton-Gore committee. In April 1995, Mr. O'Connor met Mr. Fowler and rival tribal leaders to discuss a "generic donation" to the DNC. The meeting occurred after Mr. O'Connor had spoken to Mr. Clinton about the license at a Minnesota fund-raiser....."
AP 7/7/99 "… Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt appeared a second day Wednesday before a grand jury investigating whether campaign gifts influenced the rejection of a proposed Indian casino in Wisconsin and whether he lied about the issue to Congress. ``I came here to answer all of their questions. I'm happy to do so,'' he told reporters as he left the federal courthouse. He called the proceedings ``very professional'' but would not comment further. Babbitt had also testified before the grand jury on June 30…..He also has denied intending to mislead senators during the sometimes contentious Senate hearing on the matter. But a longtime friend, Paul Eckstein, a lobbyist for the tribes seeking the casino, testified to the same Senate Governmental Affairs Committee that Babbitt - during a meeting the day the casino decision was made - alluded to Democratic campaign contributions and pressure from the White House to have the matter settled. Babbitt has said Eckstein misunderstood the conversation, and has denied misleading lawmakers about the events leading up to the casino decision. He also said he made one remark, referring to White House pressure, simply to get Eckstein out of the office, and that, in fact, there was no such pressure…."
Boston Globe 7/15/99 Anne Kornbluth "…WGBH-TV, Boston's publicly funded station, has been swapping names of contributors with the Democratic Party since 1994, a party official said yesterday, handing over a total of more than 32,000 names despite clear prohibitions against tax-exempt groups engaging in political acts …. Republican House members yesterday called for a criminal investigation of the station after learning of a single account of name-swapping between WGBH and Democrats this year. An official at WGBH initially downplayed the incident, saying it was a onetime mistake committed by new employees who did not understand the rules. But last night, Jenny Backus, spokeswoman for the Democratic National Committee, said the party has been sharing donor information with the public television station for years and to a much greater extent than WGBH officials had admitted….When the Democratic Party began compiling a mailing list last February, the official in charge of the procedure - known as the ''list broker'' - approached 123 organizations. Of those, 62 groups agreed to share lists. WGBH was among them - giving an additional 20,000 names in exchange for the names of 9,800 Democratic donors, plus the station received a financial payment for the equivalent of another 10,200 names. Backus did not know last night how much the DNC paid the station…."
THE WASHINGTON TIMES 7/16/99 Barbara Saffir "…The Democratic National Committee has swapped donor lists with Washington's television station WETA and other tax-funded public broadcasting television stations for many years, The Washington Times has learned. "Our policy has been in effect for at least 20 years," said WETA spokesman Mary Stewart. "It has not been a problem for us." But it may be one now. Swapping the lists may be against the law, and one prominent Republican congressman, who has been a friend of the Public Broadcasting Service, says if it isn't against the law it may be soon…."
New York Post 7/16/99 Editorial "…
Media Research Center 7/16/99 Brent Bozell "…PBS station executives aren't any more accurate in their statements than Bill Clinton, as the Boston Globe has discovered. Despite initial denials, it turns out that several top PBS stations have exchanged or rented Democratic Party donor lists in order to solicit funds. But that seemed to disappoint Globe reporter Anne Kornblut because it puts ever soaring PBS funding in
jeopardy…."
AP Melissa Robinson 7/16/99 "…More public television stations may have been sharing donor lists with political parties through list brokers, says a spokesman for a congressman who has called a hearing on the issue for next week. …. Johnson said documents indicate that public television stations KQED in San Francisco and KCET in Los Angeles and public radio station WNYC in New York have provided their donor lists to brokers who, in turn, may have provided them to the Democratic Party or other political organizations….Already, three other television stations, WGBH-TV in Boston, WNET in New York and WETA in Washington, D.C., are under scrutiny…."
Fort Worth Star-Telegram 7/17/99 Veronica Puente "…"We dont now and we won't in the future rent or exchange lists with a partisan or political campaign committees", said Sharon Philippart, vice president of corporate communications for PBS station KERA/Channel 13 in Dallas. Philippart said station officials adopted the new policy May 18 after WGBH-TV in Boston came under fire for swapping lists with the Democratic National Committee. "We determined at that time, from that day forward, we would not rent or exchange lists," she said. "However, in the past, we have exchanged and purchased lists with the Democratic National Committee."…"
LA Times 7/17/99 Alexis Chiu, AP "…The Corporation for Public Broadcasting has asked its inspector general to investigate whether WGBH-TV in Boston broke the law by swapping the names of donors with the Democratic Party. The CPB, which distributes federal funds for public broadcasting to stations and groups such as National Public Radio and PBS, also will begin asking stations it finances to certify that they are complying with IRS regulations, said Robert Coonrod, the corporation's president. Even though sharing membership lists is a legitimate business practice done on a daily basis by countless organizations, federal tax laws prohibit public stations from sharing their lists with political organizations or candidates unless they are "available to all other candidates."…"
Boston Globe 7/17/99 Henry P Becton, Jr. President of WGBH since 1984 "…For almost 50 years, WGBH has built a legacy of public trust with audiences here in New England and across the United States. Nothing is more important to us than that trust - and now, repairing the damage done to it by WGBH's own mistakes…. In 1994, WGBH put in place a donor list policy that prohibited us from sharing our donor names with political groups - a voluntary policy that exceeded industry standards. This spring, to our dismay, we learned that some names of our valued contributors had, in fact, been shared with the Democratic National Committee, in clear violation of our policy. As soon as we learned of this transgression, we checked our records of the last two years to be sure that it was a solitary action. We now know we did not check back far enough. And that led some press reports to assume we were being misleading, when in fact we were operating on incomplete information…."
Creators Syndicate 7/15/99 L. Brent Bozell III "..WGBH is not just Boston's PBS affiliate. It is a massive commercial enterprise, a flagship of the nation's public broadcasting system. Conservatives know them best for putting out "Frontline," a liberal-tilting documentary series. But they've always denied carrying water for liberal Democrats. So when reporters discovered that WGBH was swapping direct-mail fundraising lists with the Democratic National Committee, it shredded the veil of the station's nonpartisan stance….."
Newsmax.com 7/15/99 Carl Limbacher "…It suprises no one to learn that political sympathies at the taxpayer funded Corporation for Public Broadcasting lean heavily towards the Democrats. Fifteen minutes viewing PBS's "NewsHour with Jim Lehrer" makes that amply clear. But news that WGBH in Boston, one of PBS's flagship television outlets, has been sharing its donor lists with the Democratic party does more than confirm old stereotypes about journalism's liberal bias. In fact, this could be perhaps the biggest media scandal of all time. ….Think of it. We now know that at least some of those public TV beg-a-thons may have been little more than televised White House coffees…"
Newsmax.com 7/15/99 Carl Limbacher "…How did WGBH allow itself to become the Democrat's taxpayer funded boiler room operation? As Michael Dukakis, one of Boston's own, used to say--the fish stinks from the head down. In this case the fishhead in question may turn out to be Diane Blair. Diane Blair is a former political science professor at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. But the credential that won her a six year appointment to the board of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting is a friendship with both Clintons that goes back to the '70s. Diane Blair worked as a senior campaign researcher for Bill Clinton's 1992 presidential bid and became a senior advisor for the 1996 re-election effort. In September 1997 Blair herself was elected unanimously by CPB's nine member governing board to serve a one year term as its president….. Jim Blair was counsel to Tyson Foods during Clinton's governorship and as such he was in a unique position to guide Arkansas' first lady through the treacherous world of commodity investing. Blair hooked Hillary up with suspect commodities broker Red Bone and within months the miracle of the cattle futures began to unfold. In December 1992 Blair "loaned" a destitute Jim McDougal $1,000 so McDougal could pretend to buy the Clintons out of their Whitewater investment. McDougal would later tell reporters that the Tyson attorney used threats to keep him quiet about Clinton misdeeds. It was also Jim Blair who in 1994 warned the Clintons that Webb Hubbell's criminality would soon become apparent and that they should distance themselves from their old buddy before the cash their Chinese friends had been shoveling Hubbell's way began to look too much like hush money…"
Drudge Report 7/16/99 "…Just as the Corporation for Public Broadcasting is trying to determine how many public television stations had swapped donor lists with the Democratic National Committee, after reports that stations in Washington, New York and Boston had done so, congressional investigators have started to point suspicious fingers at the White House! ….The White House is now working to limit any damage that could come from the developing situation -- damage that could hit Hillary's oldest friends in Arkansas! On June 28, 1993, President Clinton nominated Diane Blair to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Blair, who was 'best person' at the Clintons' wedding and has been one of Hillary's oldest friends, was later nominated by the president, in 1998, to serve as a Member of the Board of Directors of the corporation. Blair was later elected vice chair of its board of directors. Blair is very close to the Clintons and is said to have spent more nights at the White House than just about anyone except the first family….. PBS station KQED-TV in San Francisco on Friday admitted to list-swapping not only the Democratic National Committee but also Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer, whose daughter, Nicole, married Hillary Rodham Clinton's brother, Anthony Rodham, in the White House Rose Garden in 1994…."
SF Chronicle 7/17/99 Jonathan Curiel "...KQED-TV found itself in the middle of a growing political storm yesterday when it revealed that its donor lists have been used by California Senator Barbara Boxer and the Democratic National Committee. The disclosure added to the anger of some Republican lawmakers who have been investigating the practice of ``list brokering'' by public television stations...."
7/20/99 Barbara J. Saffir THE WASHINGTON TIMES "...Public television and radio stations have swapped their membership lists with groups that support abortion, gun control and other politically charged causes.
Handgun Control Inc., Planned Parenthood and Zero Population Growth are among the many advocacy groups that traded lists with the stations, interviews with officials and documents obtained by The Washington Times show. Public broadcasting executives may be called upon to address the troubling topic today when they testify at an emergency meeting before a House Commerce subcommittee.... The records also indicate that several stations have traded donor lists with groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union, Southern Poverty Law Center, Legal Aid Society of San Mateo, the Sierra Club and the World Wildlife Fund...."
Reuters 7/20/99 "…"The idea of a public broadcasting stations cozying up to a political party — any political party — in America is outrageous,'' said subcommittee chairman Rep. Billy Tauzin, a Louisiana Republican. He said the scandal had undermined public faith in PBS, had tarnished the public broadcast system and was a "crime, a sin, a shame.'' "We're going to make this illegal before we are through,'' he added…."
THE WASHINGTON TIMES 7/21/99 Barbara Saffir "...The president of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting acknowledged yesterday that as many as 30 of the nation's 75 largest public television stations traded donor lists with the Democratic National Committee but said none will be punished for doing it. Robert Coonrod also told members at an emergency hearing of the House Commerce Committee's telecommunications, trade and consumer protection subcommittee that stations swapped lists with seven little-known Republican groups, which one lifelong GOP member said she had never heard of before..... "If a station makes donor lists available to a political party, that is wrong -- however, it is not illegal," Mr. Coonrod said, although he acknowledged that he is "neither an attorney nor an expert in the IRS code."....The independently owned stations set their own policies, but Mr. Coonrod said he plans to withhold funding from those that fail to comply with Internal Revenue Service regulations. The IRS generally bans the tax-exempt nonprofit stations from political activity except in extremely limited circumstances. Lawmakers have threatened to cut federal funding for public broadcasting if the CPB does not find a way to halt the political trades. They do not plan to block list swaps with groups such as Planned Parenthood and Handgun Control Inc. About 15 percent of public broadcasting funds come from the federal government, which the CPB distributes to the stations via the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and National Public Radio (NPR). ..."
AP 7/21/99 Melissa Robinson "...Testifying at a politically charged congressional hearing, Robert Coonrod, the corporation's president, said a recent survey found that 53 of 75 television stations in large markets used third-party brokers to exchange membership lists with other nonprofit organizations. Of those, he said, fewer than 30 stations appear to have exchanged names with political organizations aligned with either the Democratic or Republican parties..... In addition to the stations that exchanged membership information, about 30 also received lists from political organizations.. ."
The Union Leader. Manchester, NH 7/22/99 Angela Baggetta "...A report in yesterday's Boston Globe stating that New Hampshire Public Television swapped donor lists with those held by Republican party organizations is inaacurate, national and local public television officials said yesterday. .... On a national level, the CPB's Inspector General is undertaking an examination of the list policies of every public broadcasting station in the country, CPN Vice President for Television Operations Coug Weiss said yesterday. Approximately 1,000 stations across the country will be involved in the study, and a report on the Inspector General's findings should be back with the House Commerce subcommittee in 30 days, he said. According to Weiss, "there isn't any list-swapping going on. Stations do not call up a political organization and say 'hey, wanna swap lists?'"..... "
WorldNet Daily 7/22/99 Jeff Jacoby "...PRESS REPORTS AND THE TONGUE-LASHINGS of assorted politicians notwithstanding, WGBH didn't do anything wrong. Neither did WNET, WETA, or KQED. The public-television giants in Boston, New York, Washington, and San Francisco have been catching all kinds of hell in the wake of reports that they swapped direct-mail fund-raising lists with political organizations. All four stations have traded names with the Democratic National Committee; at WETA the practice has been going on for at least twenty years. More than just these stations are involved. On Tuesday, the chief of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting estimated that 30 others have obtained names from political groups. No one has compiled a definitive list of the ideological organizations with which the stations have exchanged donor information, but it seems safe to assume that it's a long one. KQED has acknowledged swapping data with Handgun Control Inc. and Planned Parenthood. In 1997 it leased its lists to the campaign of California Senator Barbara Boxer, a Democrat. Other politicians and other stations have made similar deals. New Hampshire public television, for example, shared names with Bob Dole's 1996 presidential campaign.... What Republicans-and Democrats-ought to be talking about is not whether sharing lists of contributors is incompatible with the subsidy that PBS gets from the government, but whether any justification exists to preserve that subsidy. Once a welfare recipient gets a job and can support herself, she goes off the dole. Taxpayers spend $350 million a year on what amounts to welfare for public broadcasting. If, after all these years, public TV has developed the savvy to raise the money it needs from willing donors, customers, and underwriters, shouldn't it, too, go off the dole? ..."
WorldNetDaily 7/28/99 Joseph Farah "...Deep Throat told Bob Woodward back in the Watergate days that to unravel the scandal he should "follow the money." Likewise, we will never fully comprehend the evil and betrayal being committed at the highest levels of the U.S. government today unless we figure out who's getting rich off a cozy relationship with the totalitarians ruling China..... The new company is called China Access Television, or CAC, and it is currently setting up joint ventures with U.S. media and Internet businesses to expand its reach and legitimacy as a "communication company devoted to objectively introducing China, its people, heritage and culture to American society." ....The force behind CAC is CITIC, China's largest commercial corporation and one fully owned by the government in Beijing..... In 1996, the U.S. Customs Service seized a shipment of 2,000 Poly Technologies Co. machine guns destined for agents posing as American drug gangsters aboard a COSCO ship at the port of Oakland, Calif. Wang Jun, head of Poly Tech, is an international arms dealer who had coffee with Bill Clinton and Charlie Trie. Wang Jun also sits on the board of CITIC. CITIC is the chief investment arm of the Chinese central government and the bank of the People's Liberation Army, providing financing for Chinese army weapons sales and for the purchase of Western technology. Wang Jun's fellow CITIC board member is Li Ka Shing, chairman of Hutchison Whampoa Ltd, which will soon control both ends of the strategic Panama Canal.... But here's the Chinese punch line to this practical joke on America's useful idiots. A prominent U.S. businessman involved in a strategic alliance with China Access Television told me the whole program to enrich the party apparatus in Beijing and indoctrinate Americans was dreamed up by -- you guessed it -- the U.S. government. Do you believe this? After Los Alamos? After Riady? After Charlie Trie and John Huang and Webb Hubbell and Loral and on and on it goes. ... Who's getting rich off China? Apparently many are making short-term profits. But in the long term, they're selling America down the drain...."
Arizona Republic 7/29/99 Jeff Barker "...A House committee today will unveil evidence of new favors provided to a former visa official at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing by a Chinese government-owned conglomerate, including a free stay at a luxury Scottsdale suite. Charles M. Parish Jr., the embassy's former visa section chief, accepted a number of previously undisclosed gifts from Elizabeth Mann, operator of a Phoenix real estate company called BNU Corp., which is owned by the conglomerate, according to House Government Reform Committee investigators.
The committee is holding a hearing today with Parish expected to be the lead witness. The Arizona Republic reported in March that Parish, in violation of State Department rules, accepted free lodging at corporate apartments in Las Vegas and Norwalk, Calif., in 1995 and 1996 from China National Cereals, Oils and Foodstuffs Import and Export Corp. The committee says Parish, who has denied any quid pro quo relationship, was providing visa assistance at the request of Mann and others so that officials of the conglomerate, known as COFCO, could travel frequently to Phoenix and other U.S. destinations. State Department rules forbid embassy officials from accepting gifts from anyone seeking visas or other official action..... The Republic has learned that the new information includes: Mann gave Parish "a number of gifts," a former COFCO vice president, Jay Ding, has told the committee staff. Ding has told the panel's investigators that he saw Mann pass several wrapped boxes and an envelope to Parish while he was dining with COFCO and BNU officials in Beijing and Phoenix. Ding told the committee he didn't know what the gifts were. He said Mann mentioned a gold Rolex watch and $2,000 in casino chips in connection with Parish, but Ding is not sure she gave either to Parish. The committee said Parish stayed free of charge at a COFCO luxury suite in Scottsdale. The address could not be obtained from either the committee or Mann's office. Several e-mails in Parish's office suggest that Parish, at Mann's request, helped Fuli Lin, vice chairman of BNU, obtain a visa, according to the committee..... "The U.S. Embassy in Beijing is one of our most sensitive diplomatic posts in the world," Burton said in a prepared statement. "It is unfathomable that these kinds of activities could go on right under the noses of top embassy officials for a year and a half."..."