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Tag: Education
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AIPAC case: DC grapevine or espionage?
What’s a little information-swapping between friends?
America’s most powerful pro-Israel lobby says that’s the currency of everyday life in the nation’s capital. The Justice Department, however, is calling it espionage, and will finally get to make its case next month when two former officials of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), go on trial in federal court in Alexandria, Va., for allegedly passing classified information about Iran and Iraq to Israeli officials, colleagues and the media. (Story continues below interactive map.)
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Steven J. Rosen, former policy director for AIPAC, and Keith Weissman, the lobby’s former Iran specialist, are charged with violating a World War I-era espionage act for sharing what the government calls national defense information “with persons not entitled to receive it,” according to an August, 2005 indictment. The names of the recipients are not disclosed in the indictment, but media reports have identified them as Washington Post reporter Glenn Kessler and Naor Gilon, minister-counselor for political affairs in the Israeli Embassy in Washington.The trial is expected to produce embarrassing revelations about the tight relationships between influence peddlers and government officials. AIPAC, which fired the two officials in 2005, has a particularly close relationship with the Bush White House. The president himself addressed AIPAC members in Washington on May 18, 2004, and Vice President Dick Cheney spoke to the group last year.
But the group’s ties extend across party lines. A 2005 National Journal survey of lawmakers ranked it No. 2 in a list of the 25 most powerful lobbies in Washington – ahead of the AFL-CIO and the National Rifle Association, but behind the American Association of Retired Persons.
And the trial may be even more politically radioactive coming after publication of The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy, a book which argued that the pro-Israel lobby distorts the public debate about Middle East policy and which has stirred bitter debate.
There’s no denying the list of potential defense witnesses is a Who’s Who of administration officials. Over Justice Department objections, Judge T.S. Ellis III ruled the defense may call Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice; National Security Adviser Stephen J. Hadley, deputy National Security Adviser Elliot Abrams, former Deputy Secretary of State Richard L. Armitage, former Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz; and a dozen other Bush administration foreign policy officials.
The defense aim is to show that information-sharing is a routine part of Washington life, and that the material passed on by Rosen and Weissman was already known by Israeli officials.
It will argue that the two men simply listened to Franklin, and repeated information they heard, doing nothing more than “what members of the media, members of the Washington policy community, lobbyists and members of congressional staffs do perhaps hundreds of times every day,” according to a defense memorandum.
The prosecution plans on calling top and former intelligence officials, including Dale Watson, who headed the FBI’s investigation of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks; William McNair, the former information review officer for the CIA’s directorate of operations; and Brig. Gen. Paul A. Dettmer, assistant deputy chief of staff for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance in the U.S. Air Force, according to court filings.
The prosecution argues that Rosen and Weissman received sensitive information from a mid-level Defense Department analyst, Lawrence A. Franklin, a U.S. Air Force Reserve colonel, whom they met in a series of DC-area restaurants.
Franklin, a Catholic father of five who worked in the office of Douglas Feith, was a minor player in neocon circles who sought to build pressure for a more aggressive administration policy towards Iran, according to The New Yorker. His efforts included meetings with Rosen and Weissman, officials at the Israeli Embassy and efforts to reach out to Iranian dissidents.
In 2001, he and Michael Ledeen, a prominent figure in the Iran-contra scandals of the Reagan administration, met secretly with the Iranian arms dealer Manucher Ghorbanifar in Italy, the man who had brokered Israeli missile sales to Iran in exchange for efforts to free American hostages in Lebanon in the deal that came to be known as Iran-Contra.
Franklin had pleaded guilty to passing government secrets and was given more than 12 years in prison – a sentence likely to be reduced as a result of his cooperation after the upcoming trial. He is being represented by Plato Cacheris, the attorney who represented Fawn Hall, the former secretary to Oliver North, a key player in the hostages-for-arms deal, as well as CIA turncoat Aldrich Ames.
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A-list witnesses may skip Pellicano trial
Alas, the stars may not come out in number at the long-awaited trial of Anthony Pellicano, known throughout the media as “the private eye to the stars.”
Pellicano, 63, goes on trial Wednesday in Los Angeles. He’s accused of racketeering, illegal wiretapping and other charges.
He supposedly worked as a sleuth for Chris Rock and Stephen Seagal, among others. (Story continues below interactive map.)
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He and his associates also allegedly dug up dirt on lots of celebs, including Garry Shandling, Kevin Nealon and Sylvester Stallone.There’s always a chance that these and other household names could be called to testify at Pellicano’s trial.
However, David M. Halbfinger of The New York Times reported Saturday that the key witnesses may come from the board room rather than the big screen.
He drew his information from a 129-page brief filed by prosecutors Thursday. It omits many names that had appeared on a 244-person witness list obtained by Fox News earlier in the month.
The first witness list included Shandling, Nealon and Stallone. Bert Fields, the “lawyer to the stars” who frequently employed Pellicano as an investigator, was also on that list, as was Michael Ovitz, former president of the Walt Disney Company.
Halbfinger reports that hedge fund billionaire Alec E. Gores will be called on behalf of the prosecution.
Gores allegedly listened to Pellicano-obtained wiretaps of conversations between his then wife, Lisa Gores, and his brother Tom Gores. Alec Gores had hired Pellicano because he suspected the two were having an affair.
The founder and chairman of The Gores Group, Alec Gores had a net worth of $1.5 billion in 2007. That placed him at number 317 on the Forbes list of 400 Americans.
His brother Tom, the founder and chairman of another hedge fund, Platinum Equity, did even better in 2007. Setting his net worth at $2.2 billion, Forbes ranked him number 204 on the Forbes 400.
Halbfinger also reported that Adam D. Sender, the manager of Exis Capital Management, another hedge fund, will testify that he hired Pellicano. The private detective allegedly wiretapped a movie producer to gain information for Sender.
In addition to running his hedge fund, Sender is an art collector and investor. Recently, he has been quoted as saying that his investing in art is a better bet than investing in the markets.
The world of real estate could be represented at the trial by Susan Reddan Maguire, the former wife of Robert F. Maguire III. He’s the CEO and board chairman of Maguire Properties, a company that owns several skyscrapers and other properties in the Los Angeles area.
Susan Maguire is expected to testify that Pellicano wiretapped her husband while they were going through a divorce.
The Times reports that there will be at least one movie connection during the trial. Sandra Will Carradine is expected to testify that Pellicano wiretapped her then husband, actor Keith Carradine, during their divorce.
Sandra Carradine, who was also romantically involved with Pellicano, pleaded guilty in 2006 to perjury for testifying she didn’t know about the wiretaps.
In 2006, a grand jury indicted Pellicano and six other people on several charges relating to their information gathering.
Two of the defendants, Daniel Nicherie and Robert Pfeifer, subsequently pleaded guilty.
In addition to Pellicano, who will represent himself at trial, the other remaining defendants are:
Mark Arneson, a former Los Angeles police detective; Rayford Earl Turner, a phone company worker; Kevin Kachikian, a computer programmer; and Abner Nicherie, Daniel Nicherie’s brother.
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The Butt family, Texas grocery kings
Texas has Jerry Jones, Mark Cuban, Ross Perot, the Basses and the Hunts. And then there are the Butts.
Charles C. Butt, 70, chairman and CEO of H. E. Butt Grocery Company, runs one of the largest privately held companies in the U.S. It has been family owned and operated since 1905, when grandmother Florence opened the C.C. Butt Grocery Store in Kerrville, Texas, with a $60 investment.
More than 100 years later, that mom-and-pop store is now known as H-E-B, employs over 56,000 and has annual revenue of more than $12 billion. It has more than 300 stores in Texas and Mexico and is headquartered in San Antonio. (Story continues below interactive map.)
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But the Butts are not merely small-town, big-time grocers.
H-E-B founder Howard Edward Butt who died in 1991 at age 91, was named by John F. Kennedy to the Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity and helped to establish the University of Corpus Christi. He took his mother’s modest investment and expanded it around south Texas and Mexico.
His namesake and oldest son, Howard Jr., 80, heeded longtime friend Billy Graham’s advice to become a full-time preacher but still retains the title of vice chairman of the company.
Howard Jr. once spoke at a prayer breakfast hosted by Dwight Eisenhower. He also organized the North American Congress of the Laity, whose honorary chairman was Gerald Ford. He has published numerous books, including one by Random House, Who Can You Trust?
He preaches, writes and serves as president of the H. E. Butt Foundation, established in 1933. It started out with the goal of eradicating tuberculosis in the Rio Grande Valley, but today mainly supports Laity Lodge Ministries, which offers non-denominational seminars, retreats and camping facilities in the Texas Hill Country.
The founder’s daughter, Eleanor Butt Crook, 74, is a former schoolteacher like grandmother Florence and mother Mary. She is a public education advocate, a world hunger activist and a director of the LBJ Museum in San Marcos.
She married William H. Crook, a friend of brother Howard from Baylor University. The late Mr. Crook was an ordained Baptist minister, an adviser to Lyndon B. Johnson and national director of Volunteers in Service to America. In 1968 he was named ambassador to Australia.
Eleanor’s daughter, Elizabeth Crook, is a novelist, whose first two books were published by Jackie Onassis for Doubleday. Longtime family friend Bill Moyers hosted a New York book party for Elizabeth and LBJ Press Secretary Liz Carpenter gave The Raven’s Bride its title and helped in its publicity.
Charles, Howard Sr.’s youngest son, is a modern art collector who in 2006 gave $1 million to the McNay Art Museum in San Antonio. Under his leadership, H-E-B contributes five percent of its pre-tax earnings to charity, a practice the family started in the 1930s.
As part of its community investment program, H-E-B spends almost $500,000 a year for Excellence in Education Awards to recognize Texas public school professionals. H-E-B supports 21 food banks that serve 8,000 organizations in Texas and Mexico.
Charles, like his sister Eleanor, is an advocate of Texas public education and medical research for which both have been recognized. The Mexican government awarded Charles in 2001 the prestigious Aguila Azteca award, the highest honor given to a foreigner.
The family’s next generation of grocers include Stephen W. Butt, 53, senior vice president for the upscale Central Market and Howard E. Butt III, 56, senior vice president and general manager of the Mexico division.
In addition to the usual grocery items, most H-E-B stores carry flowers (with the ability to ship worldwide), have in-house pharmacies (some with clinics), photo processing, mobile phone services and business centers. Help is only a click away for online meal planning and shopping tips, health advice, and life, home, auto and pet insurance. H-E-B also offers online defensive driving courses.
“Here Everything’s Better” is the company motto.
The Wharton — and Harvard — trained Charles Butt, head since 1971, carries on his family’s tradition of innovation. H-E-B introduced air conditioned stores in balmy south Texas in the 1940s, a frozen food section and its own brands. Later it opened “supermarkets” that brought together a fish market, butcher shop, pharmacy and bakery.
In the 1920s Howard Sr. persuaded his mother to sell tobacco and in the 1970s Charles persuaded his father, a Baptist deacon, to sell beer and wine and to remain open on Sundays.
H-E-B has stood firm on its south Texas ground against national chains like Albertson’s and Kroger and is in step with the Wal-Marts, Targets and Costcos in the “hypermarket” concept — where everything under the sun is sold under one roof. H-E-B Plus is a one-stop shopping destination for groceries, health and beauty products, grills, charcoal, diapers, greeting cards, lawn and garden equipment, music and electronics.
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Clinton’s Mark Penn still favors micro over macro
It may be too early for the post-mortems on the presidential campaign of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-NY.
But given her troubles of late, the pre-mortems are rolling in.
There’s enough blame to go around, but Mark Penn, Clinton’s chief strategist and pollster, is taking a lot of the hits. (Story continues below interactive map.)
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“No matter how much bad stuff happened, (Clinton) kept to her Bush playbook, stubbornly clinging to her own Rumsfeld, her chief strategist, Mark Penn,” wrote Frank Rich in Sunday’s The New York Times.In a sense, though, who could blame her?
Penn, the CEO of a large and powerful public relations firm, Burson-Marsteller, knows campaigns, people and voting trends.
Drawn to Bill Clinton’s team by Dick Morris, he helped fashion President Clinton’s 1996 re-election. Penn was also a leader in Hillary Clinton’s successful senatorial campaign in 2000.
And he guided Britain’s Tony Blair to his third re-election as prime minister, just as he put Israel’s Menachem Begin in the win column.
But the question remains, how did Penn lose his touch this time around, if, in fact, he did?
For one thing, analysts suggest, he read his own book, Microtrends: The Forces Behind Tomorrow’s Big Changes.
In Microtrends, Penn and co-author E. Kinney Zalesne divide the American public into emerging demographic categories. (Stay-at-home workers, etc.)
“There is no One America any more, or Two or Three or Eight,” Penn writes. “In fact, there are hundreds of Americas, hundreds of new niches made up of people drawn together by common interests.”
Politicians and corporations like this kind of analysis, as it gives them groups to target.
However, Obama and his advisers have placed far more emphasis on the macro over the micro. Their message of unity and change essentially argues that there could be one America.
Penn may say that the numbers don’t back this up. At least for now, many voters are saying something different.
Confident in his numbers, and willing to go on the attack, Penn has not been shy about appearing before the cameras. But his take-no-prisoners style may not have played well this time around.
He drew flak in December for what seemed to be a clumsy attempt to tag Obama with youthful cocaine use.
And Penn didn’t win any points recently for saying that Obama’s primary wins, with the exception of his victory in Illinois, weren’t in “significant” states. (Take that, Wisconsin and South Carolina.)
In addition, given the attention last week paid to Sen. John McCain’s connections to lobbyists, it’s not surprising that Penn has become example A of Clinton’s connections to lobbyists.
Penn is such a Washington insider, in fact, that he’s the nominal boss of Charles R. Black Jr., a key McCain adviser and spokesman.
Black is the chairman of BKSH & Associates, a lobbying firm that is a subsidiary of Burson-Marsteller, the company Penn heads.
Another of Penn’s companies, the polling firm, Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates, has been paid at least $4 million by the Clinton campaign and is owed millions more. Some have suggested that this means Penn wins even if his candidate loses.
Despite Clinton’s recent run of defeats, Penn continues to argue that she can emerge as the ultimate winner.
In a Feb. 13 memo, he predicted that the demographics in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas, states that hold primaries on March 4, favor Clinton.
If Penn is right, and Clinton does well in those three, the media could then turn to blaming David Axelrod, Obama’s chief strategist. He’s a man who has been praised so far for being alert to macro-trends, the other side of the demographic coin.
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#1. Institute for Research 03.05.2008
It is difficult to believe that a trial, which is fair to the defendants, and thorough on the part of the prosecution team, will actually move forward next month.
1. AIPAC and founder Si Kenen came under extreme scrutiny by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for operating as unregistered foreign agents in the 1960s, but nothing happened.
2. AIPAC was found by the FBI to have negotiated the first ever US free trade agreement with purloined International Trade Organization documents; the agreement was signed anyway. FBI did not move forward.
3. AIPAC was found to be coordinating political action committees in violation of its tax exempt status. AIPAC was found to be acting as a PAC, without disclosing donors, the case made it to the Supreme Court, but no action was taken and even that decades old case is still in limbo.
4. Co-prosecutor Kevin DiGregory has just abandoned the case to take a job in the private sector (reminiscent of the golden parachute of Carol Lam in the US attorney firing scandal).
5. AG Mukasey has been lobbied publicly by the Wall Street Journal to toss this prosecution, and likely privately from many different sides. The case may already be hobbled and “damaged goods” in the DOJ, which, like the administration, would probably rather see this all go away.
History would indicate that this is the type of subject that doesn’t get a fair hearing in America. (data cited from the book “Foreign Agents: The American Israel Public Affairs Committee from the 1963 Fulbright Hearings to the 2005 Espionage Scandal”
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