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Cursor.orgMediaTransparency.org sponsor More stories by Bill Berkowitz PERC receives Templeton Freedom Award for promoting 'enviropreneurs' Media Transparency writersAndrew J. Weaver FundometerEvaluate any page on the World Wide Web against our databases of people, recipients, and funders of the conservative movement. |
ORIGINAL RESEARCHBill Berkowitz Bush cronies continue to hurt countryWill the public's health and pocketbooks be "Brownied" by Stewart Simonson and Donald Powell?If you thought the Bush Administration, deservedly chastised for choosing the untested, inexperienced and, judging from recently released emails, the easily distracted Michael Brown to run the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), would have more qualified people running other critical programs, think again. Even as ongoing hearings reveal Brown's incompetence, cronyism reigns supreme. One recent appointment may compromise the public's health, and another may preside over the further picking of taxpayers' pockets. President Bush's experience of being bailed out at every turn by friends and family "may be why ... no administration has etched the principles of hackocracy into its governing philosophy as deeply as this one." Naming close friends, family members, political contributors, defeated comrades, or a college roommate of a pal to administration posts was not an unusual practice for White House occupants who preceded Bush. Usually, however, these appointees were assigned ambassadorships to faraway places, or given other positions where they wouldn't endanger the country. In addition to mastering hubris, venality, secrecy, and media manipulation, the Bush Administration has succeeded in becoming masters of political patronage. In a story titled "Welcome to the Hackocracy," The New Republic looks at 15 of the Bush administration's "biggest ... hacks," those with "waifish resumés padded like the Michelin man, whose political connections have won them important national responsibilities." The magazine maintains that: "The Bush era has taken government out of the hands of the hyper-qualified and given it back to the common man. This new breed may not have what the credentialists sneeringly call "relevant experience." Their alma maters may not always be 'accredited.' But they have something the intellectual snobs of yore never had: loyalty. If not loyalty to country, then at least loyalty to party and to the guy who got them the job. And their loyalty has been rewarded: Even if they fail, they know they can move up the chain until they find a job they can succeed in or until a major American city is destroyed, whichever comes first." Indeed, the magazine postulates, President Bush's experience of being bailed out at every turn by friends and family "may be why ... no administration has etched the principles of hackocracy into its governing philosophy as deeply as this one." 'Avian Bird Flu'Recently, surrounded by a number of cabinet officials, including Secretary of State Condi Rice, and the Secretaries of Homeland Security, Agriculture, Health & Human Services, Transportation and Veteran Affairs, President Bush warned, in a high-profile speech at the National Institutes of Health, that H5N1 (commonly known as "Avian Bird Flu") could, in time, reach our shores. "A pandemic is a lot like a fire -- a forest fire," Bush said "If caught early, it might be extinguished with limited damage. If allowed to smolder undetected, it can grow to an inferno that spreads quickly beyond our ability to control it." He asked Congress for $7.1 billion to prepare for a flu epidemic "that health experts believe," San Francisco Chronicle columnist David Lazarus noted, "would likely kill millions." You might believe the President and the many public health officials when they warn of the danger of Avian Bird Flu landing on our shores. Off the bat, you might instinctively think that the President's comments sounded like another anthrax-like scare aimed at taking the public's attention away from the many failures bedeviling his administration. Some may argue that whether the threat is real or not, it will surely be a boon for the already profit-stuffed pharmaceutical industry (for more on this see "Bird Flu: A Corporate Bonanza for the Biotech Industry"). Whatever your take, a pandemic of the kind currently discussed by public health officials could undoubtedly overwhelm an unprepared health care system, cost billions of dollars and cause an untold number of deaths. Having performed incompetently during Hurricane Katrina, one might expect the Bush Administration to seek out someone fully versed in public health matters to head up the team charged with responding to this potential public health catastrophe. Just who is in charge of handling this and other significant health care threats? Stewart Simonson, who, as Assistant Secretary for Public Health and Emergency Preparedness, Department of Health and Human Services turns up as number seven on The New Republic's list of 15 Bush Administration hacks. According to the magazine, Simonson's official biography notes that he is "the Health and Human Services Department's point man 'on matters related to bioterrorism and other public health emergencies.'" Before coming to HHS in 2001, TNR pointed out that Simonson was "a top official at the delay-plagued, money-hemorrhaging passenger rail company Amtrak." (Simonson also turned up on Rep. Henry Waxman's Fact Sheet titled "Cronyism in the Bush Administration," that the Democrat from California issued in late September.) Prior to his service at Amtrak, Simonson "was an adviser to Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson, specializing in crime and prison policy." In 2001, when Thompson became Bush's first HHS secretary, "he hired Simonson as a legal adviser and promoted him to his current post shortly before leaving the Department last year." Simonson replaced Jerome Hauer, whose resume -- provided by Hollis-Eden Pharmaceuticals, for whom he serves as a member of its Board of Directors -- states that he "is recognized as one of the nation's leading experts on bioterrorism and emergency preparedness." Simonson's biography boasts that he "'supervised policy development for Project BioShield,' a program designed to speed the manufacture of crucial vaccines and antidotes." According to a recent report in the Washington Post, the program "has by most accounts bogged down and shown few results." In early October, the New York Times reported that "A plan developed by the Bush administration to deal with any possible outbreak of pandemic flu shows that the United States is woefully unprepared for what could become the worst disaster in the nation's history." Is the man that Beth Quinn, a columnist with the Middletown, NY-based Times Herald-Record, recently dubbed "the Michael Brown of the killer flu," the right person to guide the country through a massive health crisis? SourceWatch, a project of the Center for Media & Democracy noted that in April 2004, HHS Director Tommy Thompson said that Simonson "has focused on public health preparedness issues and been a key member of the HHS team since before the September 11, 2001 attacks and the anthrax attacks a month later. His understanding of the HHS role in homeland security and familiarity with the challenges we face make him an ideal choice to lead our Public Health Emergency Preparedness Office at this important time." The Washington Drug Letter published an article in its December 2004 issue in which Hauer was harshly critical of Simonson: Speaking as part of a biodefense panel in Washington, D.C. Dec. 15, Jerome Hauer ... said the $877 million contract awarded to VaxGen to produce a new anthrax vaccine was insufficient. He also insinuated poor policymaking has left the country vulnerable to terrorist attacks using weapons of mass destruction. Hauer faulted the current management at the ASPHEP Office, including acting secretary Stewart Simonson, for not being better prepared to handle its duties. He called for the creation of a new federal office to coordinate U.S. biodefense activities... "The decisions being made do not appear to have a sound basis," said Hauer. In an April 28, 2005 article, Fresia Rodriguez Cadavid of the National Journal pointed out that at a Homeland Security Subcommittee hearing "Senate Republicans expressed concern ... that despite the government's ongoing efforts, the nation remains susceptible to a bioterrorist threat": Noting that the flu can be lethal to some populations such as the elderly, Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, said the country was unprepared to deal with a possible flu pandemic. Simonson...stopped short of agreeing with Craig's assessment, but said "it would pose an enormous challenge." Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, and [Chairman Sen. Judd] Gregg [R-N.J.] also questioned if the process used by Simonson's office to award vaccine development contracts ensured open competition and delivery to prevent a vaccine shortfall. "Are we creating the same situation with anthrax?" Gregg asked, referring to the flu vaccine shortfall last winter. Simonson responded that the agency has negotiated a contract with California's VaxGen for 75 million doses of an anthrax vaccine and also has ordered 5 million additional doses from other suppliers to satisfy immediate needs. Although Simonson said the different agreements show that they are "seeking not to put all our eggs in one basket," he added that he remains unsure if the contract award process is being done right. "We're learning as we go," he said. (For more on the VaxGen deal see here at Transparent Grid.) After reading through Simonson's bio, the author of The Lonewacko blog acerbically pointed out that Simonson is "obviously qualified if we have an outbreak of litigation." Douglas Drenkow, a researcher, writer, and political commentator, summed it up in a recent column posted at OpEdNews.com: "The person in charge of our country's public health ... in the event of any sort of bio-emergency is a lawyer, not a doctor or anyone else with an iota of formal training in the field." 'Katrina Czar'In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, news reports had Karl Rove, the President's closest political advisor, heading-up the team working on issues related to the recovery of the Gulf Coast and New Orleans. Now, however, Rove is in legal limbo, as he is still under investigation by Special Counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald. According to senior Republican officials cited by the Washington Post, Rove is pondering whether he should issue an apology for "misleading colleagues and the public about his role in conversations that led to the unmasking of CIA operative Valerie Wilson."At the same time, he is likely devising a strategy to rescue a flagging Bush presidency. Given those weighty tasks, President Bush has turned to someone else to run the Gulf Coast reconstruction project. Straight from the well-appointed offices of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) comes its Chairman, Donald Powell, who will assume the position of "Katrina Czar" when U.S. Coast Guard Vice Adm. Thad Allen steps down at the end of the year. Reuters reported that Powell "will coordinate with Congress, state and local governments, and private-sector efforts to get the region back on its feet, the Homeland Security Department said." A lifelong -- and extremely wealthy -- Texan, Powell was one of the "Pioneers" who raised at least $100,000 for Bush's 2000 presidential campaign. The watchdog group, Texans for Public Justice, pointed out that Powell was appointed head of the Board of Regents at Texas A&M University by then Governor Bush in the mid-nineties. According to his bio posted at the FDIC website, Powell, sworn in as the 18th Chairman of the FDIC in August 2001, was President and CEO of The First National Bank of Amarillo. With over "thirty years of experience in the financial services industry" Powell may recognize a financial fraud or hustle, but how is he on crisis management questions? According to some administration officials, Powell comes to the task with no previous experience in disaster or crisis management. Thus far, more than $60 billion has been set aside for Katrina relief and more is expected. Making sure the money is used on behalf of the victims and ensuring that bloated contracts with huge corporations do not absorb the lion's share of the funds is a monumental task for watchdog groups and congressional committees. "Officials responsible for doling out billions in relief contracts" told a House committee investigating the government's response to Hurricane Katrina that they did not "have answers to ... questions about why certain recovery efforts have stalled, whether money is being wasted and what's keeping Gulf Coast firms from getting a bigger share of the work." "Obligations are being made at a rate of $275 million a day, in an unstable environment and in an expedited manner," said Richard L. Skinner, the Department of Homeland Security's inspector general. "When you mix it all together, it is a potentially perfect recipe for fraud, waste and abuse." According to the Washington Post, "the Government Accountability Office is also monitoring reconstruction spending" and it found that "a $39 million sole-source deal the Corps signed for portable classrooms in Mississippi ... went to an Alaskan Native corporation headquartered in North Carolina, though a Mississippi firm claims it could have done the work for about half of what the government paid." At the conclusion of the New Republic's crony list (Harriet Miers was #1), the magazine notes: "In Federalist No. 76, Alexander Hamilton warned that, in presenting nominations to the Senate, a president 'would be both ashamed and afraid' to nominate cronies -- or, as Hamilton called them, 'obsequious instruments of his pleasure.' Maybe politics was different back in the 1780s, but we have watched Bush appoint many obsequious instruments of his pleasure. It may be his legacy: George W. Bush -- he took the shame and fear out of cronyism." sign in, or register to email stories or comment on them.
Reader CommentsJust when you thought this country could not possible go any further into trouble under Bush, here we go again. This mockery of a President reminds me of a former district manager I had with a retail store. When she made the move from one company to the next she was fulfilling old promises she owed people regardless of their qualification for the positions. She basically pushed any qualified person currently working with the company to the side to make room for old "friends" for lack of a better word. That is essentially what our current President is doing. The people who voted this cow-poke in should be slapped and have their right to vote stripped away. How no one is mentioning the word "impeachment" at this point I don't know. I'd rather have someone who cheats on their wife and runs the country right then someone who speaks about as well as an mentally challenged 2nd grader and will get us all nuked in his Holy Crusade to spread democracy. --- Jason | 11-14-2005 | 7:04 am
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MORE ORIGINAL RESEARCHBill Berkowitz PERC receives Templeton Freedom Award for promoting 'enviropreneurs'Right Wing foundation-funded anti-environmental think tank grabbing a wider audience for 'free market environmentalism' On the 15th anniversary of Terry Anderson and Donald Leal's book "Free Market Environmentalism" -- the seminal book on the subject -- Anderson, the Executive Director of the Bozeman, Montana-based Property and Environment Research Center (PERC - formerly known as the Political Economy Research Center) spoke in late-January at an event sponsored by Squaw Valley Institute at the Resort at Squaw Creek in California. While it may have been just another opportunity to speak on "free market environmentalism" and not the kickoff of a "victory tour," nevertheless it comes at a time when PERC's ideas are taking root.
Bill Berkowitz Neil Bush of Saudi ArabiaDuring recent visit, President’s brother describes the country as a 'kind of tribal democracy' In late February, only a few days after Saudi Arabia beheaded four Sri Lankan robbers and then left their headless bodies on public display in the capital of Riyadh, Neil Bush, for the fourth time in the past six years, showed up for the country's Jeddah Economic Forum. The Guardian reported that Human Rights Watch "said the four men had no lawyers during their trial and sentencing, and were denied other basic legal rights." In an interview with Arab News, the Saudi English language paper, Bush described the country as "a kind of tribal democracy."
Bill Berkowitz Newt Gingrich's back door to the White HouseAmerican Enterprise Institute "Scholar" and former House Speaker blames media for poll showing 64 percent of the American people wouldn't vote for him under any circumstances Whatever it is that former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has come to represent in American politics, the guy is nothing less than fascinating. One day he's espousing populist rhetoric about the need to cut the costs of college tuition and the next day he's talking World War III. One day he's claiming that the "war on terror" may force the abridgement of fundamental first amendment rights and the next he's advancing a twenty-first century version of his Contract with America. At the same time he's publicly proclaiming how "stupid" it is that the race for the presidency has already started you know that he's trying to figure out how to out finesse Rudy, McCain and Romney for the nomination. And last week, when Fox News' Chris Wallace cited a poll showing that 64 percent of the public would never vote for him, he was quick to blame those results on how unfairly he was treated by the mainstream media back in the day.
Bill Berkowitz American Enterprise Institute takes lead in agitating against IranDespite wrongheaded predictions about the war on Iraq, neocons are on the frontlines advocating military conflict with Iran After doing such a bang up job with their advice and predictions about the outcome of the war on Iraq, would it surprise you to learn that America's neoconservatives are still in business? While at this time we are not yet seeing the same intense neocon invasion of our living rooms -- via cable television's news networks -- that we saw during the run-up to the invasion of Iraq, nevertheless, a host of policy analysts at conservative think tanks -- most notably the American Enterprise Institute -- are being heeded on Iran by those who count - folks inside the Bush Administration.
Bill Berkowitz After six years, opposition gaining on George W. Bush's Faith Based InitiativeUnmentioned in the president's State of the Union speech, the program nevertheless continues to recruit religious participants and hand out taxpayer money to religious groups With several domestic policy proposals unceremoniously folded into President Bush's recent State of the Union address, two pretty significant items failed to make the cut. Despite the president's egregiously tardy response to the event itself, it was nevertheless surprising that he didn't even mention Hurricane Katrina: He didn't offer up a progress report, words of hope to the victims, or come up with a proposal for moving the sluggish rebuilding effort forward. There were no "armies of compassion" ready to be unleashed, although it should be said that many in the religious community responded to the disaster much quicker than the Bush Administration. In the State of the Union address, however, there was no "compassionate conservatism" for the victims of Hurricane Katrina.
Bill Berkowitz Frank Luntz calls Republican leadership in Washington 'One giant whining windbag'On the outs with the GOP, legendary degrader of discourse is moving to California He doesn't make great art; nothing he does elevates the human spirit; he doesn't illuminate, he bamboozles. He has become expert in subterfuge, hidden meanings, word play and manipulation. Frank Luntz has been so good at what he does that those paying close attention gave it its own name: "Luntzspeak."
Bill Berkowitz Spooked by MoveOn.org, conservative movement seeks to emulate liberal powerhouseFueled with Silicon Valley money, TheVanguard.org will have Richard Poe, former editor of David Horowitz's FrontPage magazine as its editorial and creative director As Paul Weyrich, a founding father of the modern conservative movement and still a prominent actor in it, likes to say, he learned a great deal about movement building by closely observing what liberals were up to in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Bill Berkowitz Ward Connerly's anti-affirmative action jihadFounder and Chair of the American Civil Rights Institute scouting five to nine states for new anti-affirmative action initiatives Fresh from his most recent victory -- in Michigan this past November -- Ward Connerly, the Black California-based maven of anti-affirmative action initiatives, appears to be preparing to take his jihad on the road. According to a mid-December report in the San Francisco Chronicle, Connerly said that he was "exploring moves into nine other states."
Bill Berkowitz Tom Tancredo's missionThe Republican congressman from Colorado will try to woo GOP voters with anti-immigration rhetoric and a boatload of Christian right politics These days, probably the most recognizable name in anti-immigration politics is Colorado Republican Congressman Tom Tancredo. Over the past year, Tancredo has gone from a little known congressman to a highly visible anti-immigration spokesperson. "Tancredo has thoroughly enmeshed himself in the anti-immigration movement and with the help of CNN talk show host Lou Dobbs, he has been given a national megaphone," Devin Burghart, the program director of the Building Democracy Initiative at the Center for New Community, a Chicago-based civil rights group, told Media Transparency.
Bill Berkowitz Institute on Religion and Democracy slams 'Leftist' National Council of ChurchesNew report from conservative foundation-funded IRD charges the NCC with being a political surrogate for MoveOn.org, People for the American Way and other liberal organizations If you prefer your religious battles sprinkled with demagoguery, sanctimoniousness, and simplistic attacks, the Institute on Religion and Democracy's (IRD) latest broadside against the National Council of Churches (NCC) certainly fits the bill.
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