"With No Malice"©2012
A General Interest Opinion Column by an opinionated person.
Vic Topmiller Jr
10/22/12
Government, part 41
WORDS
'They sing. They hurt. They teach. They sanctify. They were man's first, immeasurable feat of magic.
They liberated us from ignorance and our barbarous past.' Leo Rosten.
Is It Really About Jobs? (or the economy?)
Much Deeper Than That.
"Where do we draw the line."
I hate to show partiality – let's pick on a Democrat today, we nailed a Republican the other day.
Jeff Bingaman is retiring after this term. He served long and well the state of New Mexico. Even though he seemed determined to support all of the things I oppose, such as Abortion rights, Planned Parenthood and pretty much down the line Democrat agenda. Including supporting Obama. This tells so much. However, he served New Mexico the way most politicians serve the electorate that put them in office. He made sure money was flowing back into the state in politically correct directions. Between Jeff and Tom, New Mexico receives much more in federal revenues than it pays out in federal taxes. Especially money into our national labs – Los Alamos and Sandia, not to mention Air Force bases and other military installations. So in terms of feeding the electorate Jeff has done the state a good service.
I never got to sit down and have coffee with Jeff at a local restaurant as I did with the previous Senator Harrison Schmitt who Jeff beat out for the Senate seat.
And, as far as I can tell Jeff has kept his nose pretty clean as far as Washington politics is concerned. At least I haven't heard of any hanky-panky that may have taken place in the shadows. Jeff certainly came from a good family. There is no reason to suspect shadows. Well, maybe, one. And in this one, I have my opinion-you must decide yours.
Anne Kovacovich Bingaman, Jeff's wife is an outstanding attorney in her own right. I don't know how many of you knew that while Jeff was senatoring, Anne was chief of the Antiturst Divison of the Department of Justice. Well, nothing wrong so far. She certainly had all of the same credentials that Jeff had and in current marital philosophies has all of the rights to pursue her career as Jeff had. Right? There'd be no conflict of interest there. Right?
Ever heard of Global Crossing? Global Crossing, Inc., a telecommunications company. I don't know what Global Crossing ever did to gain its notoriety other than take a dive with other people's money and reward politicians with excessive monetary payments and, oh yes, propose to place a communications cable across the ocean to Japan. Its actual accomplishments were completely obscured by its failures. Its stocks went off the charts at $60 and promptly dove to a few cents. All of this on the heels of the Enron scandal.
Global Crossing's apparent modus operandi was simple, pay as many strategic politicians as possible, using other peoples' money, and that should keep the federal wolf away from the door.
Are you ready? Terry McAuliffe, DNC, friend of Pres. Clinton invested $100,000 in Global Crossing soon turning it into $18,000,000. George Bush the former, made a talk in Tokyo on behalf of Global Crossing. In lieu of his $80,000 fee he took stock in Global Crossing and later took it out at $14,000,000. And who knows how much more went on that I wouldn't have knowledge of or access to. Winnick, founder of Global Crossing donated $1,000,000 to the Bill Clinton Library. And is said to have donated freely and lavishly to both the Dems and the Repubs.
But to me the height of hypocrisy was the stunt Anne pulled. In 1999, while Anne was Assistant Chief of the Justice Department, Global Crossing paid Anne a fee of $2,500,000 to lobby for Global Crossing in an attempt to block AT&T, MCI and Sprint from getting a license to install a cable to Japan. How convenient, a high government official and a Senator all in one package for $2.5M.
Whether Jeff had any influence over the outcome of the fraud or not, I don't know. One reading indicated that he might have had, but you have to know that having Jeff's wife on your team couldn't hurt.
Do these things tarnish Jeff's armor? To me it does, but in DC, this is business as usual, and by those standards, I guess you would say that he is a Senator of Great Renown.
All in all, you have to acknowledge that Jeff sure brought home the bacon.
"Politician; Men, who at one time or another have compromised with their honor, either by swallowing their convictions or by whooping for what they believe to be untrue." Mencken.
That's My Opinion.
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Where do we draw the line?
- Category: With No Malice
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