Appointments and Disappointments
The Recount Gang
The Foreign Policy experts
Judicial Appointees
Public
Health
Environmental
Policies
Economic
Policies
Homeland
Security
Solicitor General of the United States
Ted Olson, of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher (a law firm that represented
Bush in the Florida election recount)
Solicitor for the Department of Labor
Eugene Scalia, son of Justice Scalia, of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher (a
law firm that represented Bush in the Florida election recount)
U.S. Customs Commissioner
Robert Bonnor, of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher (a law firm that represented
Bush in the Florida election recount)
Deputy Director of the Federal Trade Commission's
Bureau of Competition
M. Sean Royal, of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher (a law firm that represented
Bush in the Florida election recount)
(Failed) Nominee to the Federal D.C. Court of
Appeals
Miguel Estrada, of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher (a law firm that represented
Bush in the Florida election recount)
Deputy White House Counsel
Tim Flanigan, of White & Case (a law firm that represented Bush in
the Florida election recount)
U. S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida
Marcos Daniel Jiminez, of White & Case (a law firm that represented
Bush in the Florida election recount)
General Counsel of the Navy
Alberto Mora, of Greenberg Traurig (a law firm that represented Bush in
the Florida election recount)
General Counsel of the Air Force
Michael Socarras, of Greenberg Traurig (a law firm that represented Bush
in the Florida election recount)
General Counsel, Department of Transportation
Kirk Van Tine, of Baker Botts (a law firm that represented Bush in the
Florida election recount)
Deputy Secretary, Department of Health and Human
Services
Claude Allen, of Baker Botts (a law firm that represented Bush in the
Florida election recount)
Office of Federal Procurement Policy
Angela Styles, of Baker Botts (a law firm that represented Bush in the
Florida election recount)
Ambassador to Saudi Arabia
Robert Jordan, of Baker Botts (a law firm that represented Bush in the
Florida election recount)
Chairman, Federal Enegery Regulatory Commission
Patrick Wood, of Baker Botts (a law firm that represented Bush in the
Florida election recount)
Counselor to Justice Department, Criminal Dvision
John Elwood, of Baker Botts (a law firm that represented Bush in the Florida
election recount)
Deputy Secretary of State
Richard Armitage, former Vietnam-era covert operative and Contra-era
figure, previously been investigated by President Reagan's Commission
on Organized Crime (1984) for alleged links to gambling and prostitution,
was denied a 1989 appointment as Assistant Secretary of State because
of links to Iran-Contra and other scandals,
Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere
Affairs
Otto Reich. From 1983 to 1986, Reich led a State Department office
accused of a covert domestic-propaganda effort against Nicaragua's leftist
Sandinista government. Disseminated intelligence
leaks to journalists, trumped up a Nicaraguan "threat,"
aimed at influencing Congress to continue to fund the Contras. Was alleged
to have used his influence to try and get a US visa for a convicted terrorist,
Orlando Bosch, jailed in Venezuela in 1976 for the bombing of a Cubana
airliner with 73 people on board. Bosch had already been convicted of
a terrorist attack in Miami on a Polish merchant vessel bound for Cuba
and jailed in the US. Bosch was granted a pardon by George Bush senior
and is now in Florida.
Deputy Defense Secretary for Western Hemisphere
Affairs
Rogelio Pardo-Maurer, spent the 1980s working in Washington as the chief
spokesman for
the Nicaraguan contras.
Ambassador to the United Nations, and now Ambassador
to Iraq
John Negroponte. From 1981 to 1985 Negroponte was US ambassador to Honduras,
during which he oversaw the growth of military aid to Honduras from $4
million to $77.4 million a year, a country at that time ruled by a right-wing
military dictatorship. According to The New York Times, Negroponte was
responsible for "carrying out the covert strategy of the Reagan administration
to crush the Sandinistas government in Nicaragua." Critics say that
during his ambassadorship, human
rights violations in Honduras became systematic. Negroponte supervised
the construction of the El Aguacate air base, where the US trained Nicaraguan
Contras and which critics say was used as a secret detention and torture
center during the 1980s. In August 2001, excavations at the base discovered
185 corpses, including two Americans, who are thought to have been killed
and buried at the site. Records also show that a special intelligence
unit (commonly referred to as a "death squad") of the Honduran
armed forces, Battalion 3-16, trained by the CIA and Argentine military,
kidnapped, tortured and killed hundreds of people, including US missionaries.
Critics charge that Negroponte knew about these human rights violations
and yet continued to collaborate with the Honduran military while lying
to Congress.
Ambassador to Spain
George Argyros, Southern California Real Estate, Ex-owner, Seattle Mariners,
"pioneer" (raised at least $100,000 for the Bush 2000 campaign)
Ambassador to Belgium
Stephen Brauer, Automotive Engineering, Part-owner, St. Louis Cardinels,
"pioneer" (raised at least $100,000 for the Bush 2000 campaign)
replaced by Jeffrey Marcus, Chairman, JEtN Ventures, Part owner, Texas Rangers,"pioneer" (raised at least $100,000 for the Bush 2000 campaign)
Ambassador to Hungary
Nancy Brinker, Brinker International Restaurants, "pioneer"
(raised at least $100,000 for the Bush 2000 campaign)
Ambassador to Austria
W. L. Brown. Jr., Retired CEO, Brown-Forman Corp. (Jack Daniels), "pioneer"
(raised at least $100,000 for the Bush 2000 campaign)
Ambassador to Belize
Russell Freeman, Corporate Lawyer, "pioneer" (raised at least
$100,000 for the Bush 2000 campaign)
Ambassador to Malta
Tony Gioia, Gioia Management (pizza), "pioneer" (raised at least
$100,000 for the Bush 2000 campaign)
Ambassador to Dominican Republic
Hans Hertell, Chair, American Builders Corp., "pioneer" (raised
at least $100,000 for the Bush 2000 campaign)
Ambassador to Saudi Arabia (listed above
also with the other election lawyers)
Partner, Baker & Botts Law Firm (a law firm that represented Bush
in the Florida election recount), "pioneer" (raised at least
$100,000 for the Bush 2000 campaign)
Ambassador to Singapore
Frank Levin, Vice President, Citibank, "pioneer" (raised at
least $100,000 for the Bush 2000 campaign)
Ambassador to France
Howard Leach, CEO, Leach Capital Corp President Cypress Farms, "pioneer"
(raised $429,610 for the Bush 2000 campaign)
Ambassador to Norway
John Ong, Retired Chair, B. F. Goodrich, Former President, Business Roundtable,
"pioneer" (raised at least $100,000 for the Bush 2000 campaign)
Ambassador to Portugal
Former Chair, SkyTel Communications, Venture Capitalist, "pioneer"
(raised at least $100,000 for the Bush 2000 campaign)
Ambassador to Mauritius
John Price, Commerical Real Estate, Shopping Mall Developer, "pioneer"
(raised at least $100,000 for the Bush 2000 campaign)
Ambassador to Switzerland
Mercer Reynolds III, Reynolds Plantation Golf Resort, Part owner, Texas
Rangers, "pioneer" (raised $605,082 for the Bush 2000 campaign)
Ambassador to Uruguay
Martin Silverstein, Attorney, "pioneer" (raised at least $100,000
for the Bush 2000 campaign)
Ambassador to the Netherlands
Clifford Sobel, Net2Phone, "pioneer" (raised at least $100,000
for the Bush 2000 campaign)
Ambassador to Czech Republic
Craig Stapleton, Marsh & McLennan Real Estate Investor, Texas Rangers,
"pioneer" (raised at least $100,000 for the Bush 2000 campaign)
Ambassador to New Zealand
Charles Swindells, U.S. Trust Co, "pioneer" (raised at least
$100,000 for the Bush 2000 campaign)
Ambassador to Luxembourg
Peter Terpeluk, Jr. American Continential D.C. Lobbyist, "pioneer"
(raised at least $100,000 for the Bush 2000 campaign)
Ambassador to Slovak Republic
Ronald Weiser, CEO, McKinley Associates, Real Estate, "pioneer"
(raised $588,309 for the Bush 2000 campaign)
Ambassador to Saudi Arabia (listed above
in the recount gang)
Robert Jordan, of Baker Botts (a law firm that represented Bush in the
Florida election recount)
Judge, 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
Charles Pickering (nominated, voted down, appointed during recess) referred
to a 1994 hate crime incident involving three men who burned an 8-foot
cross on the lawn of an interracial family while using racial epithets
as "a drunken prank." The family had been a frequent target
of harassment in their small rural town, including having bullets fired
into their home and "KKK" painted nearby on the street. Opposed
by the Human
Rights Campaign. Called the one
person/one vote decision “obtrusive,” and described it
as a legal principle that legislatures have reluctantly learned they "must
live with."
Judge, Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
Jeffrey Sutton, has argued that unnecessarily keeping people with disabilities
in institutions was not a form of discrimination. Argued that Medicaid
beneficiaries cannot sue to enforce their rights. Persuaded the Supreme
Court to rule against a nurse with breast cancer on the ground that the
Americans With Disabilities Act does not apply to state employers.
Judge, Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
Priscilla Owen, Enron's political action committee gave Owen $8,600 for
her successful Supreme Court bid in 1994. Two years later, Owen wrote
the majority opinion that reversed a lower court order and reduced Enron's
school taxes by $15 million. Since 1993, Enron contributed $134,058 —
more than any other corporation — to Owen and other members of the
Texas Supreme Court. A study by Texans for Public Justice found that the
court ruled in Enron's favor in five out of six cases involving the company
since 1993.
Judge,
Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
Deborah Cook, has authored well over 300
dissents, more than any other Justice in the eight years she has been
on the court, and a large majority are dissents against injured workers,
consumers, and other plaintiffs and in favor of big business interests.
Solicitor General of
the United States (listed above in the recount gang)
Ted
Olson, represented Jonathan Jay Pollard, the CIA analyst convicted
of espionage and sentenced to life in prison for providing a mass of secret
US intelligence information to the state of Israel. Was a key participant
in the activities surrounding the Ken Starr investigation
of Bill Clinton, representing David L. Hale, the Whitewater Independent
Counsel's chief witness against Bill Clinton. Hale himself had earlier
pled guilty to two felonies related to defrauding the Small Business Administration
of more than $3.2 million through a federally subsidized company that
he headed. Olson provided Hale counsel worth $140,000 without collecting
the fees.
Olson was summoned to testify under oath before a congressional committee in March 1983 about advice which the Justice Department had given the EPA on the withholding of documents, related to the Reagan administration's sabotage of the enforcement of anti-pollution laws by the Environmental Protection Administration. An investigation into the activities of the EPA led to the forced resignation of EPA Administrator Ann Gorsuch and of Rita Lavelle, who was in charge of toxic waste cleanup for the agency. In 1986 the Reagan administration was compelled to appoint an independent counsel, Alexia Morrison, to determine whether charges should be brought against Olson for his role in covering up the EPA scandal. Olsonwon a decision from the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia that the Independent Counsel Act was unconstitutional, a decision written by Laurence Silberman, who served in the Nixon Justice Department and is another prominent member of the right-wing legal fraternity in Washington. In the midst of the incident, he left the Department of Justice and returned to Gibson Dunn & Crutcher (a law firm that represented Bush in the Florida election recount).
(Failed) Nominee to the Federal D.C. Court of
Appeals (listed above in the recount gang)
Miguel Estrada, of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher (a law firm that represented
Bush in the Florida election recount), refuses to answer questions about
his legal positions.
Deputy White House Counsel (listed above
in the recount gang)
Tim Flanigan, of White & Case (a law firm that represented Bush in
the Florida election recount)
U. S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida
Marcos Daniel Jiminez, of White & Case (a law firm that represented
Bush in the Florida election recount)
Counselor to Justice Department, Criminal Dvision
John Elwood, of Baker Botts (a law firm that represented Bush in the Florida
election recount)
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District
of Arkansas
J. Leon Holmes. Holmes has said that concern for rape victims is a red
herring because conceptions from rape occur with approximately the same
frequency as snowfall in Miami. In an article he co-authored with his
wife, he said a wife has an obligation "to subordinate herself to
her husband" and "to place herself under the authority of the
man."
U.S. District Court for the District of Utah,
10th Circuit
Paul G. Cassell, an ardent advocate of capital punishment, testifed before
Congress that the risk of an innocent person being put to death is outweighed
by the benefits that capital punishment has in our society. Has argued
"in virtually all moral problems in which we sense a conflict between
justice and utility, we are prepared to concede that there is some point
at which utility will take precedence."
Court of Federal Claims
Larry Block, proponent of S.605,
described by several senators as "breath-taking" in its scope,
because it threatened, among other things: FDA bans on dangerous drugs;
ADA requirements that restaurant restrooms be wheelchair accessible; FCC
limits on "dial-a-porn" to protect children; EPA pollution control
laws; and Interior Department limits on coal mining.
Court of Appeals, 3rd Circuit
D. Brooks Smith. Dismissed
the claim of a man who had been repeatedly stabbed while handcuffed and
in the custody of police officers who looked on without defending him.
Dismissed a case involving a 15-month-old toddler who choked to death
after swallowing a Playskool toy, arguing that the risk was so obvious,
the toy company had no obligation to put a warning on it. Dismissed a
case against Warnaco, Inc. More than 150 former employees claimed that
the company had intentionally concealed changes in its severance policy
to keep employees working until the plant was shut down. After Warnaco
refused to provide severance payments, they sued, claiming violations
and demanding the originally-promised pay. At his hearing, senators focused
on his numerous corporate-funded junkets and his failure to recuse himself
promptly from a case involving a bank in which he had a financial interest.
Senators also questioned a speech he gave as a sitting judge in which
he strongly criticized Congress's passage of the Violence Against Women
Act. After the hearing, it was discovered that Judge Smith had failed
to withdraw in a timely way from the Spruce Creek Rod and Gun Club, which
denies membership to women.
Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit
John Roberts, a political appointee in both
the Reagan and Bush I administrations. The lead counsel for a case in
which the he argued that private citizens could not sue the federal government
for violations of environmental regulations. Has represented the National
Mining Association in which the Fourth Circuit reversed a district court
ruling that had stopped the practice of "mountaintop removal"
in the state of West Virginia. Citizens of West Virginia who were adversely
affected by the practice had sued the state, claiming damage to both their
homes and the surrounding area generally. Three Republican appointees
- Judges Niemeyer, Luttig, and Williams - held that West Virginia's issuance
of permits to mining companies to extract coal by blasting the tops off
of mountains and depositing the debris in nearby valleys and streams did
not violate the 1977 Federal Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act.
In another case, Roberts represented one of several interveners in a case
challenging the EPAÂ’s promulgation of rules to reduce nitrogen
oxide emissions.
U.S. Court of Appeals, 6th Circuit
Richard
Allen Griffin (failed nominee), requested Congressional invalidation
of a unanimous Supreme Court decision holding that the ADA applies to
state prisoners and prisons.
U.S. Court of Appeals, 4th Circuit
William
Haynes (failed nominee). The "enemy combatant" doctrine
was developed on Mr. Haynes's watch, and it is one of the most dangerous
legal developments in years. American citizens designated enemy combatants
by the president can be held indefinitely without access to a lawyer.
Court of Appeals, 9th Circuit
Carolyn
Kuhl (failed nominee), persuaded the Attorney General to reverse an
11-year Internal Revenue Service policy and reinstate the tax-exempt status
of Bob Jones University and other racially discriminatory schools. Dismissed
a breast cancer patient’s claim of invasion of privacy, after her
doctor brought a drug company representative into the room during a breast
exam. The unidentified man who came in with her doctor was "introduced
as 'a person' who was looking at Dr. Polonsky's work." The doctor
took Ms. Sanchez's fan from her hand during the exam and asked the man
to fan her, after which they both laughed and refused when she asked to
have it back.
U.S. Court of Appeals, 6th Circuit
David
W. McKeague (failed nominee), Denied DOJ access to a state prison
after receiving numerous reports of abuse of women prisoners by guards,
including systemic rape. Ruled against a parent whose 10 year old child
was placed in foster care sharing a bedroom with a sixteen-year old with
a history of sexually deviant behavior and assaults, who repeatedly sexually
assaulted him. Claimed the state was not liable for failing to properly
provide the child with the protective services to which he was entitled
under state law.
Court of Appeals, 4th Circuit
Terrence
William Boyle. Dismissed a case in which people eligible for handicapped
parking privileges sued their state on the grounds that the state was
charging excessive fees for parking in violation of Title II of the Americans
with Disabilities Act. Found that state prisons were not covered by the
Americans with Disabilities Act ("ADA") and dismissed a suit
by an inmate claiming an ADA violation. Held that North Carolina officials
could not be held liable for violating the Due Process clause of the U.S.
Constitution. Refused to accept a settlement, agreed to by both parties,
of a civil rights claim brought by the U.S. Justice Department (DOJ) against
the North Carolina Department of Corrections for discriminating against
women.
Court of Appeals, 11th Circuit
William
H. Pryor, Jr. (recess appointment). Under Pryor's leadership, Alabama
was the only state to challenge the constitutionality of a provision of
the Violence Against Women Act (United States v. Morrison). Pryor also
argued that the Supreme Court should cut back on the protections of the
Age Discrimination in Employment Act, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the
Americans with Disabilities Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act, and
the Clean Water Act. Defended the actions of the prison officials who
chained prisoners to hitching posts and denied access to water and the
bathroom.
Secretary of Health and Human Services
Tommy Thompson, led delegation to U.N. children's summit opposing special
rehabilitation for raped children (including birth control). Removed scientific
statistics from National Cancer Institute from HHS websites that showed
that breast cancer risk does not increase due to abortions. Also removed
fact sheets on condom effectiveness. On the Advisory Board of the Washington
Legal Foundation, a group which has litigated
a case with a potential recovery of $20 all the way to the Supreme
Court of the United States in order to, in its own words, “deal
a death blow” to groups that provide legal representation for the
poor. It tried to prevent financial punishment of Exxon for its catastrophic
Valdez oil spill, and it stood up for Brown & Williamson Tobacco Company
in a case against the FDA.
Inspector General Health and Human Services
Janet Rehnquist. Daughter of the Chief Justice, she is under
investigation
by Congress on several issues including the shredding
and destruction of documents by her office. "...The General Accounting
Office, an investigative arm of Congress, was already conducting a comprehensive
review of Ms. Rehnquist's office after complaints from employees who said
she had politicized the agency, which investigates fraud and abuse in
federal programs... The accounting office was investigating whether Ms.
Rehnquist kept a gun in her office without authorization, violated personnel
rules by ousting career employees and ordered delays in a federal audit
of the Florida state employees' pension fund to avoid embarrassing Gov.
Jeb Bush. In its inquiry, the accounting office learned of the destruction
of documents in the office of the inspector general, known as O.I.G. It
informed Ms. Rehnquist, who informed Congress..."
FDA's Advisory Committee for Reproductive Health
Drugs
W. David Hager.
Time magazine reported that "In his private practice, two sources
familiar with it say, Hager refuses to prescribe contraceptives to unmarried
women." Played a part in the campaign to get the FDA to withdraw
its approval of mifepristone (RU-486), the author of a number of books
in which he's advocated prayer and the reading of the Scriptures as cures
for medical ills.
FDA's Advisory Committee for Reproductive Health
Drugs
Joseph B. Stanford. Refuses to prescribe "contraceptives of any sort."
Advocates “natural family planning”, e.g. the rhythm method,
as the only acceptable form of contraception because “…medicine
is permeated with attitudes toward sexuality and fertility that are
incompatible with Christian values."
FDA's Advisory Committee for Reproductive Health
Drugs
Dr. Susan Crockett, co-author of the chapter “Using Hormone
Contraceptives Is a Decision Involving Science, Scripture, and Conscience”
in "The Reproduction Revolution (Horizons in Bioethics Series): A
Christian Appraisal of Sexuality, Reproductive Technologies, and the Family"
Co-Chair, Presidential Advisory Commission on
HIV/AIDS
Tom Coburn, Former Rep. Tom Coburn (R-OK) received a 0% Congressional
voting rating in all three of his terms from the Human Rights Campaign.
In addition to his poor record on issues of concern to the gay and lesbian
community, Coburn consistently voted against needed HIV/AIDS legislation.
Coburn also called for the firing of the Director of the Centers for Disease
Control because the CDC promotes condom use to prevent transmission of
the HIV virus. A
quote from Tom: "The gay community has infiltrated the very centers
of power in every area across this country, and they wield extreme power
... That agenda is the greatest threat to our freedom that we face today.
Why do you think we see the rationalization for abortion and multiple
sexual partners? That's a gay agenda."
Executive Director, Presidential Advisory Council
on HIV/AIDS
Pat Ware, opposed to condom use. Has worked with Americans for
a Sound HIV/AIDS Policy (ASAP), which has since changed its name to the
Children’s AIDS Fund. ASAP was an abstinence-only organization opposed
to most HIV/AIDS education and prevention measures. ASAP also lobbied
against including HIV and AIDS in the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Presidential Advisory Commission on HIV and AIDS
Jerry Thacker, a Pennsylvania marketing consultant who has characterized
AIDS as the "gay
plague" and called homosexuality a "deathstyle". Thacker
had argued that religious faith could cure homosexuals, that condoms do
not stop the spread of HIV and that people choose to be gay.
Presidential Advisory Commission on HIV/AIDS
Joseph Jennings, promotes among other issues, religious conversion as
a cure for homosexuality and sexual abstinence until marriage.
Presidential Advisory Commission on HIV/AIDS
Anita Smith, believes abstinence is the only true prevention."
(Family Voice, July/August 2001). Smith’s organization lobbied against
including HIV/AIDS status in the Americans With Disabilities Act.
Presidential Advisory Commission on HIV/AIDS
Dandrick Moton, a man whose background in HIV/AIDS policy consists
of traveling with his mother as dual motivational speakers to promote
abstinence for youth until marriage.
Presidential Advisory Commission on HIV/AIDS
Joe McIlaney, founder and director of the Medical Institute for Sexual
Health (MISH) in Austin, Texas. MISH is an abstinence and anti safe-sex
organization. Dr. McIlaney is most noted for his repeated attacks against
the idea of using condoms to prevent HIV and other sexually transmitted
diseases.
CDC Advisory Committee on HIV and STD Prevention
Dr. Freda McKissic Bush is a member of the advisory council of the Medical
Institute — an anti-condom “research” group —
and the director of Virginity Rules, an “abstinence-only”
program.
Asst. Secretary of State, Bureau of Population,
Refugees and Migration
John Klink, (name withdrawn after protests) a former "Holy See"
diplomat who, according to the CFFC, has opposed the use of condoms as
way of limiting the spread of AIDS. In one document issued by the CFFC,
Klink is quoted as saying contraception is, “morally unacceptable”
and in another document, Klink is quoted as saying the, “Holy See
in no way endorses contraception or the use of condoms, either as a family
planning measure or in HIV/AIDS prevention programs...” (Klink was
against emergency contraception being provided to raped women)
Deputy Secretary, Department of Health and Human
Services (listed above in the recount gang)
Claude
Allen, of Baker Botts (a law firm that represented Bush in the Florida
election recount), opposed giving students any information about birth
control or using condoms to reduce the transmission of sexually transmitted
diseases. While working on Senator Jesse Helm's 1984 re-election campaign
against then-Governor James Hunt, Allen called Hunt vulnerable for links
"with the queers."
Council on Bioethics
Peter Lawler. Lawler has written that if the United States does not soon
"become clear as a nation that abortion is wrong," then women
will eventually be forced to abort genetically defective babies.
White House Office of Women's Initiatives and
Outreach
None. This office was shut down in March 2001.
EPA Administrator
Mike Leavitt, Governor of Utah - worst environmental record of fifty governors
Deputy
Adminsitrator of the EPA
Linda J. Fisher, former Monsanto Chemical Company lobbyist
Agricultural Undersecretary for Natural Resources
and Environment
Mark
Rey, former timber industry lobbyist, Extensive history of anti-environmental
and pro-timber-industry positions and jobs. Opposes the National Forest
Roadless Conservation Policy, which would protect the last 1/3 of our
nation’s wild places from logging, mining, and other destructive
activities. Fought the creation of the Northwest Forest Plan.
Energy Secretary
Spencer
Abraham, on the Advisory Board of the Washington Legal Foundation,
a group which has litigated
a case with a potential recovery of $20 all the way to the Supreme
Court of the United States in order to, in its own words, “deal
a death blow” to groups that provide legal representation for the
poor. It tried to prevent financial punishment of Exxon for its catastrophic
Valdez oil spill, and it stood up for Brown & Williamson Tobacco Company
in a case against the FDA.
Energy Department Transition Team
Ken Lay, Chairman, Enron, "pioneer" (raised at least $100,000
for the Bush 2000 campaign)
Energy Department Transition Team
Thomas Kuhn, president of EEI, "pioneer" (raised at least $100,000
for the Bush 2000 campaign)
Energy Department Transition Team
Anthony Alexander, FirstEnergy President, his company was hit with an
EPA-related lawsuit in 1999; "pioneer" (raised at least $100,000
for the Bush 2000 campaign)
Chair, Whitehouse Council on Environmental Quality
James Connaughton, lobbyist for ARCO, Alcoa and General Electric
Interior Secretary
Gale
Norton, cofounder of Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy,
underwritten by the chemical and mining industries. Before becoming Interior
Secretary, she espoused the "right to pollute" and other extreme
positions, including support of laws allowing
polluters to police themselves. As Colorado attorney general, she was
hostile to environmental protection and took a head-in-the-sand approach
to polluters. She stood by, for instance, as cyanide leaks from the Summitville
gold mine killed wildlife in 17 miles of the Alamosa River.On the Advisory
Board of the Washington Legal Foundation, a group which has litigated
a case with a potential recovery of $20 all the way to the Supreme
Court of the United States in order to, in its own words, “deal
a death blow” to groups that provide legal representation for the
poor. It tried to prevent financial punishment of Exxon for its catastrophic
Valdez oil spill, and it stood up for Brown & Williamson Tobacco Company
in a case against the FDA.
Deputy Interior Secretary
J. Steven
Griles, lobbyist for coal, natural gas and oil industries. history
of (a) destroying environmental
laws, (b) playing openly for oil, gas, energy and mining companies, and
(c) flagrant conflicts of interest/ethics violations.
Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Lands
and Minerals Management
Rebecca Watson, former lawyer for the mining and timber industries
Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Policy,
Management, and Budget.
P. Lynn Scarlett, former president of the Reason Foundation, funded by
chemical and munitions industries.
Assistant Attorney General for Environment and
Natural Resources
Thomas Sansonette, former coal industry lobbyist
Special Assistant for Alaska in the Department
of Interior
Camden Toohey, former lobbyist for oil exploration in the Arctic National
Wildlife Refuge
Solicitor
of the Department of the Interior (nominated for Court of Appeals for
the Ninth Circuit)
William
G. Myers. Myers has referred to the California Desert Protection Act,
which set aside 7.5 million acres of wilderness and 5.5 million acres
that helped create the Joshua Tree National Park, the Death Valley National
Park, and the Mojave National Preserve, as "an example of legislative
hubris." He also called environmental regulation "outright,
top down coercion". As the top guy at the National Cattlemen's Beef
Association, he represented
the grazing interests in lawsuits against the policies he will now be
enforcing.
Agriculture Secretary
Ann Veneman, board member of Calgene, biotech company specializing in
genetically engineered foods
Chairman, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
Curtis
Herbert, did not believe in intervening in the markets even during
power crisis in California and other states, that was significantly due
to market manipulation by energy companies like Enron. Enron was lobbying
FERC extensively during this time. The facts are in dispute whether Hebert
asked Ken Lay of Enron to support his continued chairmanship or whether
Ken Lay essentially threatened Hebert that he would not support the latter
if Hebert did not support Enron.
(replaced by)
Patrick Wood, of Baker Botts (a law firm that represented Bush in the
Florida election recount)
Secretary of Labor
Elaine Chao, "pioneer" (raised at least $100,000 for the Bush
2000 campaign)
Director of the Office of Trade Relations
E. Keith Thomson, husband of Rep. Jennifer Dunn (R-Wash.), who was a "pioneer"
(raised at least $100,000 for the Bush 2000 campaign)
Commerce Secretary
Don Evans, CEO of Tom Brown, oil and gas company, "pioneer"
(raised at least $100,000 for the Bush 2000 campaign)
SEC Chief
William Donaldson, the target of a class-action
lawsuit filed in 2001 that alleges he made false statements about
the profits of an Aetna unit, denounced
the SEC rule that mandates fair disclosure of market-sensitive information
as "terrible" and "crazy." Yale classmate of Jonathan
Bush, who raised $3 million to launch Arbusto.
Treasury Secretary
John Snow, CEO of CSX Corp. - a railroad company. Citizens
for Tax Justice memo: "...In three of the past four years, Snow’s
company, CSX Corporation, paid no federal income tax at all..." "...In
fact, instead of paying taxes, CSX supplemented its $934 million in pretax
U.S. profits over the four years with a total of $164 million in tax rebate
checks from the federal government...."
Chief Counsel of the Internal Revenue Service
B. John Williams,
Jr,. According to The Wall Street Journal, Williams won a case that
could jeopardize the government's attempts to crack down on corporate
tax havens. The decision allows two companies to post the same loss when
one sells a money-losing unit to the other. tried to justify disputed
tax credits taken by his client, Shell Oil Co. He did so by hiring a private
investigator, who provided false information to destroy the credibility
of the government's expert witnesses. One witness later sued for defamation,
a case that was settled out of court, the settlement paid for by Shell.
SEC Chief
Harvey Pitt."...Pitt appointed former CIA Director and FBI Director
William Webster to head a new accounting oversight board, although Webster
headed the audit committee of a public company, U.S. Technologies, which
was facing investor lawsuits alleging fraud. Indulged in continued conflicts
of interest by meeting with individuals from companies being investigated
by the SEC - including KPMG which Pitt worked for previously.
Solicitor for the Department of Labor
(listed above in the recount gang)
Eugene Scalia, son of Justice Scalia, of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher (a
law firm that represented Bush in the Florida election recount)
U.S. Customs Commissioner (listed above
in the recount gang)
Robert Bonnor, of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher (a law firm that represented
Bush in the Florida election recount)
Deputy Director of the Federal Trade Commission's
Bureau of Competition (listed above in the recount gang)
M. Sean Royal, of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher (a law firm that represented
Bush in the Florida election recount)
Deputy Trade Representative
Jon Huntsman
Jr., resigned from the privately owned Huntsman Corporation, a familiar
name in Bush's hometown. Huntsman is famous in Midland-Odessa for its
``upsets,'' burn-offs of benzene, butadiene and other carcinogens. Has
paid millions to the plant's neighbors over ``upsets.'' A Huntsman spokesman
was quoted in Vanity Fair magazine: ``We fear that Huntsman is being held
up as the poster child'' for Bush's lousy environmental record in Texas.
General Counsel, Department of Transportation
(listed above in the recount gang)
Kirk Van Tine, of Baker Botts (a law firm that represented Bush in the
Florida election recount)
Office of Federal Procurement Policy (listed
above in the recount gang)
Angela Styles, of Baker Botts (a law firm that represented Bush in the
Florida election recount)
Director of the Office of Management and Budget
Mitch Daniels, Jr., former senior vice president for Eli Lilly, one of
the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies. Resigned amid allegations
of insider trading. "To the extent I bring anything … to this
job," he told the Wall Street Journal, "maybe it’s an
ability to think about how a product, whether it’s Prozac or a president’s
proposal, is marketed."
Homeland Security and National Defense
Head of 9/11 Independent Panel
Thomas
Kean. Kean is a director of petroleum giant Amerada Hess, which in
1998 formed a joint venture, Delta Hess, with Delta Oil, a Saudi Arabian
company backed by Khalid bin Mahfouz, a Saudi married to one of Osama
bin Laden's sisters. Mahfouz, who is suspected of funding charities linked
to al Qaeda, is a defendant in a lawsuit filed by families of Sept. 11
victims. Mahfouz has shown up in dealings with, among others, the Carlyle
Group and BCCI, the lender toppled by fraud in 1992. Three weeks before
Kean's appointment as head of the panel, Hess severed its ties with Delta.
9/11 Commission Vice Chair
Lee Hamilton. Hamiltion was chairman of the House Select Committee investigating
the Iran-contra affair. Despite being shown ample evidence against Ronald
Reagan and George H. W. Bush, he did not probe their wrongdoing, explaining
later on PBS 'Frontline,' that he did not think it would have been 'good
for the country' to put the public through another impeachment trial.
9/11 Investigative Panel Member
John
Lehman, presided over one of the worst cover-ups in the Navy's entire
227-year history. The Navy's pedophilia scandal broke the Oregon town
of Coos Bay in 1982, when the commanding officer of the U.S. Naval Facility,
a classified submarine tracking station, was arrested by local police
for involvement in child pornography and lascivious acts with minors,
including sodomy. The arrest followed a 2-month-long investigation involving
the FBI and the Naval Investigative Service. At a general courts-martial
held later that year, the commanding officer, a U.S. Naval Academy graduate
and P-3 Orion pilot having both Critical Nuclear Weapons Design Information
and top-secret communications security clearances was found guilty of
16 counts of sodomy and lewd conduct. Immediately after the Coos Bay arrest,
Lehman's Navy Department bureaucracy went into cover-up mode. Reporters
were barred from both the naval base and the dependents' housing area.
Head of 9/11 Independent Panel
Henry
Kissinger (resigned). Has been accused
of engaging in war crimes of his own. Told the 9/11 families that he had
no conflicts of interest, yet resigned from the panel so his clients could
remain anonymous.
CIA Director
Porter Goss. On the morning of September 11, Porter Goss was
having breakfast with Pakistan's General Mahmoud Ahmad. Gen. Ahmad is
alleged to have been the individual who had $100,000 wired to alleged
hijacker Mohammed Atta.
http://baltimorechronicle.com/media3_oct02.html
http://globalresearch.ca/articles/CHO206A.html
http://www.citypaper.net/articles/122001/sl.slant.shtml
CIA Executive Director
Michael
V. Kostiw. In late 1981, after he had been a case officer for 10 years,
Kostiw was caught shoplifting in Langley, sources said. During a subsequent
CIA polygraph test, Kostiw's responses to questions about the incident
led agency officials to place him on administrative leave for several
weeks, While on leave, Kostiw told friends he decided to resign. Agency
officials at the time arranged for misdemeanor theft charges to be dropped
and the police record expunged in return for his resignation and his agreement
to get counseling, one former official said. After leaving the agency
in 1982, Kostiw was hired by Texaco Inc. for its Latin America/West Africa
division. He came to Washington in 1987 and rose to be ChevronTexaco's
vice president for international government affairs, managing offices
in the United States and abroad. He also served as vice chairman of the
International Republican Institute.
Chairman, Homeland Security Advisory Council
Joseph
Grano Jr., helping to guide America's security strategy at the same
time he was a top executive with an international banking firm that was
investigated and eventually fined more than $100 million for cash transfers
to rogue nations, including Iraq, Iran, Libya and Cuba, in violation of
U.S. economic sanctions, and for its "deception" in trying to
cover it up. (a major Bush-Cheney fund-raiser.)
Secretary of Homeland Security
Tom Ridge, "pioneer" (raised at least $100,000 for the Bush
2000 campaign)
Director of the Pentagon's Information Awareness
Office
John Poindexter, convicted in 1990 on five felony charges of conspiracy,
making false statements to Congress and obstructing congressional inquiries
related to Iran-Contra.
Attorney General
John Ashcroft, On the Advisory Board of the Washington Legal Foundation,
a group which has litigated
a case with a potential recovery of $20 all the way to the Supreme
Court of the United States in order to, in its own words, “deal
a death blow” to groups that provide legal representation for the
poor. It tried to prevent financial punishment of Exxon for its catastrophic
Valdez oil spill, and it stood up for Brown & Williamson Tobacco Company
in a case against the FDA.
National Security Advisor
Condoleezza Rice, board member of Chevron
General Counsel of the Navy (listed
above in the recount gang)
Alberto Mora, of Greenberg Traurig (a law firm that represented Bush in
the Florida election recount)
General Counsel of the Air Force (listed
above in the recount gang)
Michael Socarras, of Greenberg Traurig (a law firm that represented Bush
in the Florida election recount)
Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and
Intl. Security Affairs
John
Bolton, opposed many of the programs that fall under his jurisdiction,
including the Anti- Ballistic Missile Treaty, the Comprehensive Nuclear
Test Ban Treaty and the International Criminal Court. Claimed "there's
no such thing as the United Nations," and stated ''if the UN secretary
building in New York lost 10 stories, it wouldn't make a bit of difference.''
Helped Sen. Helms' form Jefferson Marketing to avoid "having to worry
about the federal laws preventing PACs, like the Congressional Club, from
contributing more than $5,000 per election to any one candidate's campaign
committee" (Legal Times). He later defended the club against charges
from the FEC that led to a $10,000 fine in 1986. Headed the National Policy
Forum (NPF) which "reportedly pursued money from overseas" for
the RNC (Los Angeles Times). The NPF defaulted on a $1.3 billion loan
guaranteed by Hong Kong businessman Ambrous Young, who's lawyer claimed
his willingness to absorb the debt was "contingent upon Mr. Young
getting something in return," namely "business opportunities."
The Taiwanese government "served as an intermediary for a $25,000
contribution" to the NPF (Washington Post). At his confirmation hearing
Bolton acknowledged that he had received $30,000 from the Taiwanese government
for writing a series of papers..." Refused to provide information,
including his personal notes regarding the Iran-Contra scandal, and aided
congressional Republicans who attempted to stop investigations of Contra
drug smuggling. (represented Bush in the Florida election recount)
Others
Vice President
Dick Cheney, Chair of Halliburton, former Wyoming congressman.
Voted against the Equal Rights Amendment, abortion rights, funding for
programs meant to help schools desegregate, legislation that would instigate
collection of data about hate crimes, and funding for the Clean Water
Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act, and the Endangered Species Act. From
1985 to 1988 Cheney repeatedly opposed U.S. sanctions on the then-apartheid
state of South Africa. He voted against a House resolution to call on
the South African government to free Nelson Mandela from prison. He voted
against the Community Right to Know Act, an amendment that would require
oil, chemical, and other polluting facilities to report their toxic emissions.
On the same day, he voted against the Citizen's Right to Sue Polluters
Act, an amendment that would allow citizens to sue in federal court if
they were harmed by pollution from abandoned toxic-waste sites.
White House Assistant for Democracy and Human
Rights
Elliott Abrams, a former Iran-Contra defendant, Abrams pleaded guilty
to withholding information from Congress, then was pardoned by the first
President Bush.
White House Chief of Staff
Andrew Card, auto industry lobbyist
Chair of the FCC
Michael Powell, at his first press conference in this position, he said:
"Some say, 'Openness is always good. Why are you fighting?' You know
why? Because openness isn't always good." The AOL/Time Warner deal
showcased Powell's nonchalant approach to personal conflicts of interest;
he took part in the merger decision despite the fact that his father,
Secretary of State Colin Powell, was one of AOL's directors, with lucrative
stock options in the company.
White House Counsel
Alberto R. Gonzales—now the White House counsel, and widely regarded
as a likely future Supreme Court nominee—prepared fifty-seven confidential
death-penalty memoranda for Bush's review. Never before discussed publicly,
the memoranda suggest that Gonzales repeatedly failed to apprise Bush
of some of the most salient issues in the cases at hand.
On the morning of May 6, 1997, Governor George W. Bush signed his name to a confidential three-page memorandum from his legal counsel, Alberto R. Gonzales, and placed a bold black check mark next to a single word: DENY. It was the twenty-ninth time a death-row inmate's plea for clemency had been denied in the twenty-eight months since Bush had been sworn in. In this case Bush's signature led, shortly after 6:00 P.M. on the very same day, to the execution of Terry Washington, a mentally retarded thirty-three-year-old man with the communication skills of a seven-year-old.
President George Bush has repeatedly stated that military personnel dealing with Iraqis have been instructed to “stay within US law” and to abide by US “international treaty obligations”. However, on Aug. 1, 2002, his chief legal adviser, Alberto Gonzalez, who served on Bush's staff while he was governor of Texas, approved a memorandum which says otherwise. The memo argued that torturing Al Qaeda suspects held outside the US — at Bagram airbase in Afghanistan and at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba — “may be justified” and international conventions against torture “may be unconstitutional”. Since Gonzalez is Bush's senior legal adviser, the memo, which was passed onto the Justice Department, is seen as a binding document. The White House memo was the basis for a second, Pentagon, memo issued in March 2003 spelling out the rules for Iraq.
In 1996, Gonzales, as Bush's general counsel, managed to get the then-Texas governor excused from jury duty, thus saving Bush from having to disclose a 1976 arrest for drunk driving. Bush rewarded Gonzales' loyalty by subsequently appointing him Texas' secretary of state and then to a seat on the Texas Supreme Court. And today, Gonzales is still watching Bush's flank as White House counsel. But before Gonzales became a permanent fixture of Team W, he was a partner at the powerful Houston law firm Vinson & Elkins, and that's something congressional investigators are apparently taking a closer look at. Sources tell me that investigators are following up on tips that Vinson & Elkins may have briefed former partners in advance on the findings of a top- secret probe into Enron's shady business dealings. http://www.truthout.com/docs_02/04.17A.Conyers.Demands.htm http://observer.guardian.co.uk/magazine/story/0,11913,738196,00.html http://www.lib.utexas.edu/taro/tslac/40082/tsl-40082.html
http://www.eriposte.com/policy/appointees/bush_appointees.htm
Scandals