Bushes used US $ to buy Jeb "green credentials" in 2002 re-elect bid

[BurtWorm]

And incidentally to line the pockets of a family of bigtime GOP donors.


http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000087&sid=aYXdjZxMorBQ#


U.S. Overvalued Florida Land Rights, Report Says (Update1)


June 8 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Interior Department's inspector general concluded that the Bush administration offered in 2002 to overpay a prominent Florida family for oil and gas rights on Everglades land, according to people familiar with the matter.

...

President George W. Bush announced in May 2002 that the federal government would pay $120 million in cash plus an undetermined amount in tax deductions to prevent the Collier family's privately held Collier Resources Co. from drilling for oil and gas on 400,000 acres of land it owns in what he called ``critical parts of the Everglades.'' Two previous government assessments valued the rights between $5 million and $68 million.

...



Looking Green'

Two weeks later, Republican Governor Jeb Bush, the president's brother, said he would run for re-election, leading critics to suggest he was seeking to burnish his environmental credentials through the Collier land transaction. ``They wanted to score some points for looking green before the election,'' Ashdown said.

Members of the Collier family contributed more than $121,000 to Republican candidates in the last election cycle, including at least $5,000 to Jeb Bush, according to the Washington-based Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks campaign donations.


...

[The_Casual_Observer]

1. Colliers made a hell of an investment with the 126K

[ComerPerro]

2. All the millions spent on Whitewater

And this draws nothing at all?

[BurtWorm]

6. Seriously!

It isn't a crime to us taxpayer money to pay back donors and help your brother get elected? :wtf:

[ComerPerro]

10. It ought to be

But I am just glad Bush restored integrity to the White House

[rzemanfl]

3. No, WE contibuted the $121,000, not them, nice huh? n/t

[marmar]

4. Jeb is...

a disgusting trough-feeder. This family has caused more harm to this country than any foreign enemy has.

[madrchsod]

5. 121,000+5,000=120,000,000

the new creationist math

[BurtWorm]

7. Unfuzzy math.

:eyes:

[htuttle]

8. Paying gov't $$ to someone who then gives some of it back to you

Didn't that used to be called racketeering?

How many cases do we see now where corporations get huge government welfare payouts, and then turn around and make huge campaign contributions to the same politicians who were responsible for giving them that money in the first place.

Didn't kickbacks used to be illegal?

Are there ANY law enforcement agents who are willing to take on these mobsters?

Huh, guess not.

We need a new Elliot Ness for the same reason they needed him the first time -- all the other cops are bought and paid for by the mob.

If it looks like the mob, and acts like mob -- it's the mob, even if they don't have Italian last names.

[BurtWorm]

9. I have zero hope that this story is going anywhere.

They've worn me down. I don't believe the Bushes will ever get their asses kicked for any of the shit they've pulled on this country.

[BurtWorm]

11. A Republican's idea of working for a living.

:grr:

[BurtWorm]

12. kick

[BurtWorm]

13. Any legs to this story?

No. Because our standards have been lowered. Way, way the fuck lowered.

[hatrack]

14. Ask Carl Hiassen

He's been writing only mildly fictionalized versions of these stories for years, and while the books sell well, it hasn't changed a damned thing in Florida.

[Supersedeas]

15. Cronyism ain't nothing but an dirty election away from the people