A fox would be embarrassed to ask for the kind of access Toomey got to Perry’s henhouse, but Texans have become so numb to this kind of corruption that no one has the good manners to pretend to be surprised anymore
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BehindFrenemyLines | by Jason Sanford
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Matteson Ellis is an international man of mystery, literally. An international anti-corruption lawyer based in Austin and DC, Ellis has spent years looking for what he called “the red flags of corruption” in some of the riskiest parts of the world. He used to help an international development bank ensure that the billions it loaned to rickety governments actually ended up building bridges, schools and roads.
“We pursued companies for paying bribes to corrupt officials in developing countries,” said Ellis. “These cases almost never involved bags of cash. Unusually, they involved manipulation of high-dollar procurement processes. For example, contracts are steered to friends and relatives. Normal processes are bypassed. And the government officials receive benefits in return.”
What about a hypothetical of a governor steering a billion-dollar contract to his best friend who recently donated $100,000 to his super PAC?
“That’s an obvious example,” said Ellis. “That’s the essence of corruption.”
Under Rick Perry, the kind of corruption that Ellis rooted out in places like Tajikistan is just a slow news day in Texas.
Even if you read every newspaper in Texas, you probably didn’t know that shortly after lobbyist Mike Toomey gave $100,000 to a pro-Perry super PAC, Toomey’s client, United Healthcare, landed a $1 billion contract to provide health insurance for around 440,000 retired state employees.
A political consultant, writer and family man, Jason Stanford is a Texas resident. He is the co-author of "Adios Mofo: Why Rick Perry will make America miss George W. Bush," writes a syndicated column for Cagle Cartoons and blogs for The Huffington Post.
7 comments:
Besides Mike Toomey, former Perry advisors and staffers Chris Cronn, Laura Keel, Louis Saenz, and Victoria Ford also stand to cash in on the UnitedHealthCare deal.
This is just another example of the crony capitalism that is standard operating procedure in the Perry era, where his "management style" consists of making his position available to the pet causes of his big donors.
When Perry was still on the Presidential campaign trail (remember?) he was asked directly by an interviewer about the charges of crony capitalism in his administration. Perry's only reply was that he was looking out for Texas and whatever worked for Texas -- we need more of it.
Dump Perry in 2014!
The silence concerning this story is awesome. Thank you for this story. Buyer's remorse must be setting in...... Now maybe some one will look at the governor's sweetheart deal fund - the one where he gives state funds to his new friends to locate in the state.
How has this affected the people of Texas in any negative way? The answer is it hasn't. It has caused the liberals to step up their attack on Perry that they think will run in 2014. The left gets real stupid when they are losing. They can't defend Obama and his minions so they go after anyone they feel vulnerable; Perry is not.
Does any serious and intelligent person really think Perry will run in 2014? Give it up people, he's there for the next two years, lean to accept the fact.
What about the not-so-hypothetical of a local "non-profit" paying $80,000/year to a (now former) HTGCD board member to deny permit applicants by hook or crook?
What about the not-so-hypothetical of a county commissioner steering millions of dollars of taxpayer monies to the same "non-profit"?
Where do you think the "non-profit" obtained the money to pay its paid agent on the HTGCD board to thwart permit applicants by hook or crook?
I have several friends and family that are retired and current state employees. They have discovered first hand how United is going to save money for the state...United refuses to pay for anything. Some of these people have been receiving life sustaining treatments that are very expensive but there is no other treatment available that can treat their disease. Blue Cross has been paying for these necessary treatments for several years. United said that they would continue the treatments if they got the contract. But when my relative transferred over to United they refused to pay even though stopping the treatments would cost my relative her eyesight. She could not afford to pay over $2000 every 6-8 weeks to continue to see. What would you do? She transferred back to Blue Cross. Blue Cross in paying for her treatments again.
I guess that we know who United cares about.
forgive me please, I now see the light Mr Anonymous Conservative - Of course he'd have to pay his friends to move to a state that's number 1 in uninsured citizens and fighting for last place in education.. Thanks for the reminder - sure we all benefit from Gov Good Hair-do (and with the results of his efforts we will maintain our rankings).
Right wingers, of course, love corruption.
They will bend over and smile while the politician - big business wealth accumulation machine inserts its law flaunting values into our national moral value system.
Some self-hating Anonymouse says:
"How has this affected the people of Texas in any negative way? The answer is it hasn't."
This comment is the epitome of ignorance and moral decay in our society. He/she actually defends corruption against himself.
Sick!
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