Harriet Miers Asked About Role in Bush's '98 Campaign

[Marie26]

By Charles Babington and Amy Goldstein
Washington Post Staff Writers

Senators are asking Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers to provide more information about her role as a lawyer for President Bush's 1998 Texas gubernatorial campaign, for which her firm was paid $140,000.

In answering a Judiciary Committee questionnaire this week, Miers mentioned her legal roles in Bush's first gubernatorial campaign, in 1994, and in his 2000 campaign for president. But she did not mention the 1998 gubernatorial reelection campaign, for which her firm was paid far more than the $7,000 it received in 1994, according to a review of campaign records by the Associated Press.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/21/AR2005102101932.html

[Im with Rosey]

1. It amazes me that she thinks

she can avoid some of these "details". Just think what would have happened to a nominee of BigDog's if this had happened.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

2. What in the world did her firm do that ran up $140,000 in fees?

That's a heckuva lot of legal work, even at hoity-toity downtown law firm rates. Why did Shub's gubernatorial campaign need hundreds of hours of lawyers' time? Like just about everything else Bush is involved with, this has a stinky odor about it.

[IndianaGreen]

3. Perhaps, like the Mafia law firm in the movie "The Firm"

Miers' law firm was laundering campaign money for Bush.

[venable]

4. is this true

or does it just smell like it?

[madeline_con]

11. Dirt and more dirt....

:popcorn:

[TomInTib]

7. Especially when you consider that was only slightly less than...

the amount in legal fees paid in 2000 pres election (160K or somewhere thereabouts).

[leesa]

5. Now why didn't they ask Roberts about HIS role in the 2000 election?

[JoFerret]

16. Good point

and the reason is that eating-your-own was not the dish of the day at that point.

[democrat in Tallahassee]

6. she covered up his national guard service. sorry I don't have

a link but it is related to that. See Talking points memo (I think)

[Marie26]

9. Yep.

Bush faced a mini-scandal during his '98 campaign about his National Guard service. According to an article in Newsweek, Miers was hired by the campaign specifically to "handle" these allegations & paid $19,000. This still leaves about $100,000 unaccounted for. But what's stranger is that she ommitted the '98 payment completely while including all the others. Makes it look like they're hoping the Senate wouldn't ask about it. But I think it's a good sign that the Senate has sent it back for more info - it's possible they could even ask about this during the hearing.

http://alt-f4.org/img/newsweek-2000-07-17.html

[Carla in Ca]

8. I think it was more 'thank you' money

than campaign money. I think I heard that the guy running against him was down in the polls by 35%...no need to have a war chest.

[VegasWolf]

10. She probably kicked back half her fees (70,000) to Bush under the table. n

[Ignacio Upton]

12. "You're doing a heckuva job there Harriet!"

[Straight Shooter]

13. "... paid far more than the $7,000 it received in 1994."

I would like to give WaPo the Understatement of The Year Award. :eyes:

[Name removed]

14. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[JoFerret]

15. ...a walking bucket of avian flu....sycophants an exit strategy

Miers takes the heat as Bush's ratings fall (fun article)


<<This scandal is not just about snobbery and sexism, nor about the acrobatic reversal of former Bush groupies.

The president's philosophy on Supreme Court nominees, obscured by his unpopularity and ineptitude, is intellectually superior to that of his newly energized critics.

These right-wing critics, many intelligent and sophisticated, are guided by the French slogan "sauve qui peut," which might roughly be translated as "stab the wounded." If his reputation sinks, theirs might, too. Bush's former friends treat him as not only a lame duck, but as a walking bucket of avian flu.

A war poorly explained and badly run could not derail their devotion, nor could a shaky economy. As war and weather plague the president and perils lurk in Baghdad and a Washington grand jury room, the Miers nomination offers former sycophants an exit strategy.

<more>
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/10/23/INGPIFACKQ1.DTL