do the teachers know? Teacher's Retirement Fund $500 mil to Carlyle

[donsu]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0508100130aug10,1,7823785.story?ctrack=1&cset=true


U.S. scours pension deals

Fees paid to GOP treasurer are among subpoenaed records


Federal authorities investigating the state teacher pension fund have subpoenaed the records of investment deals that netted the national Republican Party's treasurer $4.5 million, according to sources familiar with the investigation.

-snip-

Last week, federal prosecutors charged former pension board member Stuart Levine with extorting money from investment firms that were seeking board business.

Kjellander, Illinois' longtime national Republican committeeman and a friend of President Bush's political strategist Karl Rove, has received $3.1 million representing The Carlyle Group, a Washington-based investment firm that focuses on private equities.

-snip-

The Teachers' Retirement System committed $500 million to Carlyle in six investment deals with Kjellander serving as the firm's lobbyist.

Board officials, however, say Kjellander's $4.5 million in fees were among the highest they had ever seen and higher than they had realized, prompting them to ask Carlyle to make a special appearance before the board Thursday.
-snip-
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they sure don't mind using teacher's money for their own devices

[fooj]

1. WTF?

:wtf:

[Norquist Nemesis]

2. There's another lawyer they're looking at too

Conti or something like that. Unfortunately, he's a Democrat so this is hitting both sides.

I saw in Sneed's gossip column that Biden had been looking to possibly hire this guy to run his campaign if he decides to throw his name in for POTUS. But word got out about the investigation and Conti's about to be in deep shit along with Kjeelander.

The thing that stood out for me on all of this though was, "Kjellander, Illinois' longtime national Republican committeeman and a friend of President Bush's political strategist Karl Rove". Once again, Rove's network rears it's ugly head.

[JDPriestly]

3. Republicans are raping state insurance funds

from the Workers' Compensation Fund in Ohio to the teachers' retirement system in Illinois. I wonder how many other states have been robbed in this manner.

And this is what Bush is doing to the whole nation. Start a war. Put borrowed money into the defense budget and then transfer that money to his friends who own private construction, security and military support and supplies companies on the pretext of funding the war. Send a few troops into a country that has been weakened by a trade embargo and pay your friends fat sums of money to "rebuild" and "secure" the country in the chaos that follows. Then don't oversee your friends' performance; don't penalize them for cheating or failing to perform; take your cut in the form of campaign contributions and return on the investments you set up in your blind trust before you took office. It's a new version of an old pest -- white collar crime. Big time white collar crime. There has always been corruption in government, but this time it's gone way to far.

I say throw the bums out. Throw them all out -- Republicans and Democrats alike. Get rid of anyone in the government who is taking or tolerating these kickbacks, this corruption. Don't let our congressmen go on trips paid by lobbyists or private corporations or foundations or their friends. Force them to live on what we the people pay them or leave office. No book deals until they leave office. No trips paid out of anyone's pocket but their own. No contributions over $2000 per year to any politician from anyone. No corporate or foundation funding of conventions, etc. And don't let a one of those monkeys that takes money or favors in violation of those strict rules back into power ever.

We need to send these crooks an ultimatum. We need to get our own candidates out there. Let's get pledges from candidates that they will spend less than 25% of their with corporate, trade organization or foundation lobbyists. Let's require every lobbyist to file a detailed statement of every expense they have -- even personal expenses. Let's run the lobbyists and the politicians who take money and favors from them regardless of their cause or political point of view out of town.