For example, Funeralgate:
SCI CEO Robert Waltrip
is the world's highest paid undertaker.
photograph by F. Carter Smith
Led by Governor Bush, the Funeralgate cast includes Sen. John Whitmire, SCI CEO Robert Waltrip (in hat), Bush aide Joe Allbaugh, Rep. Kyle Janek, Sen. Kenneth Armbrister, and Attorney General John Cornyn.
illustration by Doug Potter
source:
http://www.austinchronicle.com/issues/vol18/issue45/pols.sci.html<snip>
On April 15, 1998, funeral magnate Robert Waltrip talked with Gov. George W. Bush in the Texas Capitol. That much is not in dispute. However, the content of their discussion is the subject of considerable dispute. And the actions taken by the governor's staff members, a half-dozen legislators, and Texas Attorney General John Cornyn after that April 15 meeting are part of what may be the biggest influence-buying scandal in recent memory.
The politicos and the funeral company are at the heart of a whistleblower lawsuit filed March 23 against the state, funeral home giant Service Corporation International (SCI), and Waltrip, the company's chairman and CEO. The suit alleges that Bush and other politicos worked to thwart an investigation by the Texas Funeral Service Commission (TFSC) into improperly licensed embalmers working out of SCI funeral homes in Dallas.
What began as a citizen's complaint against SCI in January 1998 has since grown into a scandal revolving around campaign contributions, and the influence they may buy. All of the politicos who intervened on SCI's behalf received major contributions from SCI's political action committee, or PAC. Did that money convince them to help SCI -- the world's largest death care company -- and to punish the agency that investigated SCI? Whether that was the reason or not, the state officials took positions that may hurt consumers. SCI's prices are routinely among the highest in the funeral business. One consumer advocate, Lamar Hankins, the president of the Funeral & Memorial Societies of America, says the company routinely engages in "price gouging." But campaign cash, not consumers, is at the heart of this scandal. And the scandal promises to grow as the lawsuit -- filed by former TFSC director Eliza May -- works through the discovery process. The suit alleges that May was fired because she "repeatedly and in good faith reported violations of the law and conduct that she reasonably believed to constitute violations of the law."
As May's suit goes forward, Bush and the other politicos who helped SCI are scrambling for cover. May's lawyers want to depose Bush. But the governor missed a requested July 1 deposition date because he was busy campaigning for the presidency in California. Sen. John Whitmire, a Houston Democrat who appears to have gone out of his way to help SCI in its battle with the TFSC, is ducking May's deposition request by claiming legislative privilege, a law that protects legislators from revealing communications they have had with citizens
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You are right, Mr. Radical. It's just the tip of the iceberg.