GEORGE W. BUSH's FUNDING SCANDALS

"There ought to be limits
to freedom..."

— George W. Bush,
commenting on the website
www.gwbush.com

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QUOTES OF THE MONTH:

"If you don't think it's a gamble to put a man in the White House who believes we should have guns in church, who thinks the Taliban is a rock band, who was such a failure as a businessman that his company was nicknamed "El-Busto," who wants to turn our Social Security system into a Wall Street boiler room, who can't name a single thing he disagrees with Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson on, who smeared a bona fide hero named John McCain, and whose principle policy proposal is to give America's surplus to the idle rich in the form of a $1.3 trillion tax cut, you're either nuts or a Republican."

... Equal Time co-host Paul Begala, shooting the bull.

****************************

"Based on Gov. Bush's speech and behavior, his hyperactivity and impulsivity, you can say there is a possibility of some sort of disorder. If he were in a New York City school, they would pick up on this and say let's check out this person."

...Dr. Irwin Rosenthal, of the New York Association for the Learning Disabled

WHERE DOES GEORGE W. GET HIS CAMPAIGN FUNDS?

George W. Bush's top campaign contributors enjoy some hifalutin' perks from the Texas gubner, including appointments to state posts, sleep-overs at the governor's mansion, and lots of corporate welfare, according to a new report from TEXANS FOR PUBLIC JUSTICE.

The 212 leading fundraisers -- affectionately known as "Pioneers" -- have delivered at least 24 percent of Bush's $90 million war chest.  "Thanks to this small group of business tycoons and lobbyists, Bush has raised more money than any other political candidate in history, twice as much as any presidential candidate before him," said TEXANS FOR PUBLIC JUSTICE Director Craig L. McDonald. "If you can judge a candidate by his big donors, a Bush presidency will bring more corporate welfare, more pollution, less consumer regulation, and more business lobbyists to the White House."

The leading Pioneers, according to the report, include Charles J. Wyly, Jr. (brother of Sam Wyly, founder of Green Mountain Energy), $210,273; businessman Dennis R. Berman, $175,000; investment banker Louis A. Beecherl, Jr., $154,000; and cosmetics tycoon Richard Heath, $124,449. Profiles of all 212 Pioneers are available on the TPJ site.  See a summary of their findings below.

At crucial moments in the presidential campaign, George W. Bush has also benefited from millions of dollars in advertising paid for by mysterious groups and secret donors.

It's a new form of political warfare that's quickly becoming the tool of choice for people looking to influence Election 2000, made possible by a once-obscure provision in the tax code that lets anyone form a group and spend money on campaign-style ads without saying who's paying for them.

``I think it's the most dangerous loophole that's ever come along, period,'' said Larry Makinson of the Center for Responsive Politics, which advocates tighter campaign finance laws. ``It offers the ability, for the first time, for groups to have complete anonymity.''

Until this year, advocates like Makinson were mostly disturbed by ``soft money,'' the unlimited, unregulated donations to political parties, the details of which are publicly available.

Other nonprofits face restrictions on their political activities; these new groups do not.

The Federal Election Commission is considering a proposal to require the new groups, known as 527s, to disclose their contributors. Democrats on the panel welcomed the potential change, while their Republican counterparts ranged from skeptical to outright opposed.

The groups were named after section 527 of the tax code, created in 1974 for political groups to enjoy certain tax advantages without publicly disclosing anything about themselves. These groups fall outside the purview of the FEC by declaring that they engage in issues, not politics.

To operate legally, they cannot coordinate their activities with candidates who benefit from their ads, and all sides insist there is no communication between them.

``There is no connection between us and the Bush campaign -- none, zero, nada,'' said Diana Banister, a spokeswoman for the Coalition to Protect Americans Now, which is funded by a wealthy conservative activist, Helen Krieble.

Banister said it was a coincidence that a day before Bush gave a major speech promoting a missile defense system her group began running $200,000 worth of ads with the same message and criticizing Gore for not supporting the program.

Democrats don't buy the denials.

``Clearly there's been such advertising on the other side,'' Gore said Monday when asked about sniping over which party was taking advantage of ad loopholes, such as 527s. ``That's a loophole that they've been exploiting that we have not.''

So far for Gore, the Sierra Club, an environmental group and one of the first to create a 527 spin-off, is in the midst of an $8 million ad campaign aiding Democrats running for Congress and attacking Bush on the environment.

The National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League, another well-established group, also has run anti-Bush ads and plans more.

For Bush, the missile defense ads weren't the only ones to come at a convenient time.

Early in the Republican primary contest, Bush backers braced for a barrage of negative ads from Steve Forbes, who had used his personal fortune in a similar fashion against Bob Dole in 1996.

In a pre-emptive attack, the moderate Republican Leadership Council aired $100,000 of ads warning Forbes not to go negative and followed with another $100,000 buy later on.

Forbes noted that the RLC included many Bush supporters and donors, and he complained to the FEC that it must have been a coordinated effort. The RLC maintains it was not.

Fast forward to March 7 and the Super Tuesday contests that would probably settle what had become a fierce fight between Bush and Arizona Sen. John McCain.

That's when Republicans for Clean Air surfaced with $2.5 million in ads in New York, Ohio and California supporting Bush and bashing McCain on the environment. The group, which had not previously existed, was funded by Texas entrepreneurs Sam and Charles Wyly -- brothers who had donated more than $200,000 to Bush and helped him raise even more.

Both sides said there was no coordination with Bush's campaign, but McCain complained to the FEC. He stands by the complaint, despite his recent endorsement of Bush.

``They should be ashamed,'' McCain said. Asked if he was sure the Bush camp had coordinated with these other groups, he said: ``I'm positive of it.''

McCain said he has not discussed the issue with Bush; they disagree on campaign finance reform. The FEC is still investigating the McCain and Forbes complaints.

Bush's outside support has continued beyond the primaries as well.

Soon after wrapping up the GOP nomination, a group of California Republicans calling themselves Shape the Debate began running TV ads accusing Gore of being a hypocrite. Led by former Gov. Pete Wilson, the group includes several Bush supporters.

McCain said. ``There will always be smart, unscrupulous people who will find ways around campaign finance laws.''

THE TEXAS FOR PUBLIC JUSTICE FINDINGS:

The 212 identified Pioneers have raised a minimum of $21.2 million in hard money for Bush’s presidential effort. These 212 individuals also contributed; $2.3 million to Bush’s gubernatorial campaigns, $7.1 million in hard money to federal candidates and PACs and $4.1 million in soft money contributions to federal political party committees since the ’96 election cycle.

The top 5 individual money movers among the Pioneers (total federal money since the ’96 election cycle plus money to Bush’s gubernatorial campaigns) are: Alex G. Spanos , $877,450; Sam Fox, $831,733; Kenneth Lay, $574,550; Tom Loeffler, $495,424; and, Louis A. Beecherl, Jr., $446,350.

Among the 212 Pioneers, the top overall contributors to Bush’s gubernatorial campaigns are: Charles J. Wyly, Jr., $210,273; Dennis R. Berman, $175,000; Louis A. Beecherl, Jr., $154,000; Tom Loeffler, $141,000; and, Richard Heath, $124,449. 

Eighty-four companies controlled by or employing these 212 individuals contributed an additional $21 million in soft money contributions to political party committees since the ’96 election cycle, $15.5 million to the Republicans, $5.5 million to the Democrats.  

Like their companies, 73 of the individual Pioneers also support candidates of both parties. These 73 Pioneers gave Democrats a total of $390,000 in hard and soft money since the ’96 election cycle. The biggest Pioneer givers to Democrats are: Robert Day, Jr., $45,420; Kenneth Lay, $39,000; Randall D. Hubbard, $20,000; Larry Ruvo, $15,000; and Joseph C. Canizaro, $14,750.

Lawyers and lobbyists lead the Pioneer pack when the 212 are identified by their primary economic interest or profession. Forty-four of the Pioneers are classified as Lawyers & Lobbyists, 38 represent the Financial sector, 28 are from the Energy & Natural Resources sector (dominated by oil and gas), 24 are from the Real Estate sector, and 23 represent Miscellaneous Businesses.

Sixty-six of the Pioneers hail from Texas. The other Bush state, Florida, claims the next largest batch with 21. California has produced 14 and Michigan 12. No other state is in the double-digits.

133 Pioneers are business executives, George Bush appointed 16 Pioneers to state government posts, 14 have spent the night at the Governor’s mansion in Austin, 13 represent polluter interests, 35 have benefited from corporate-welfare, 26 have been involved in one or more campaign finance-related scandals, and 20 Pioneers have kept the revolving door
between government and industry spinning.

“The Pioneer network is the embodiment of special interests,” said Andrew Wheat, author of the report. “Pioneers give big money to get special favors from government, usually at the expense of the rest of us.” 

The Bush Pioneers in all likelihood may have delivered much more than $100,000 each. But Bush’s campaign—which painstakingly tracks the amount of money raised by each Pioneer and even by each industry—refuses to make this information public. Similarly, the only Pioneers that the campaign has outed are those whom the campaign says already have delivered the requisite minimum of $100,000 apiece. Back in July 1999, Pioneer coordinator Jim Francis said that almost 400 individuals had taken the Pioneer pledge. Bush, who views disclosure as the cure to all that ails the campaign finance system, will not say how many individuals are being tracked and how much each has bundled for the campaign. 

NEXT SEE BUSH TEXAS RANKING IN CHRISTIAN VALUES

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