Who Is Ron Burkle and Why Is He Paying Bill Clinton $20 Million?

[Stephanie]

I don't understand this. Clinton is broke. She's already loaned her campaign $5 million from her personal wealth in January, the same month Obama raised a record $32 million. Ben Smith reports the Billary personal fortune at around $40 million, PLUS an expected "payout" of $20 million to Bill from Ron Burkle, ALL of which she's free to spend on her own campaign. What is the ethics of a billionaire paying a candidate's spouse $20 MILLION, money he raised from sources such as Dubai? Essentially at this point Mrs. Clinton's campaign is being financed by a sovereign wealth fund. Hello?

Ben Smith:

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0208/Clinton_loaned_her_campaign_5_million.html

Spokesman Howard Wolfson emailed with the news minutes earlier:

Late last month Senator Clinton loaned her campaign $5 million.The loan illustrates Sen. Clinton’s commitment to this effort and to ensuring that our campaign has the resources it needs to compete and win across this nation. We have had one of our best fundraising efforts ever on the web stoday and our Super Tuesday victories will only help in bringing more support for her candidacy.

As I reported earlier, she's drawing on a pool of personal wealth estimated to be as much as $41 million, as well as a reported payout to Bill Clinton of $20 million from the Los Angeles billionaire manager Ron Burkle.

http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2008/01/bill_clinton_and_ron_burkle_ha.html

Bill Clinton will get $20 million when he divorces Los Angeles supermarket magnate and (alleged) Radar owner Ron Burkle, his business partner of six years, The Wall Street Journal told us this morning. The reason for the split, it seems, is that Burkle's Yupaica company, for which Clinton was an adviser, can't seem to stay away from people who could harm Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign. For example? Italian developer Raffaello Follieri and Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai and one of the owners behind Xinhua Finance Media Ltd., a Beijing–based news company with close ties to the Communist government of China, which just gave Yucaipa a little cash infusion.

http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB120097424021905843.html?mod=blog

Former President Clinton stands to reap around $20 million -- and will sever a politically sensitive partnership tie to Dubai -- by ending his high-profile business relationship with the investment firm of billionaire friend Ron Burkle

***

Mr. Clinton is also one of three owners of the global fund's general partner. The others are Mr. Burkle, who is the managing member, and an entity connected to the ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum.


Severing the tie to Dubai, a U.S. ally, will remove a potentially tricky problem for Mrs. Clinton. Questions raised about the activities of sovereign wealth funds -- giant pools of money controlled by foreign governments -- have become a campaign issue, as the funds have made a spate of multibillion-dollar investments in such corporate giants as Citigroup Inc. and Merrill Lynch & Co. In a recent interview with The Wall Street Journal, Mrs. Clinton said such purchases are "a source of concern," partly because the foreign funds "lack transparency" and could be used by foreign governments as "instruments of foreign policy."

[ursi]

1. the Burkle - Clinton story even crosses into the NAFTA issue, there is so much crap in it

[Stephanie]

3. It's sketchy. Bill's payout will come from Yucaipa, Yucaipa was bailed out by Dubai.

So in effect Dubai money is financing Billary's campaign. That's sketchy.

[HeraldSquare212]

12. And $$ from speeches in Dubai, nt

[blm]

20. Shades of Harken Energy, eh?

.

[Stephanie]

23. It sure doesn't look good.

When they tried to buy the ports the country went crazy. Now they are effectively funnelling money to a candidate and nobody seems to know anything about it.

[blm]

26. Try telling that to DU - that the same Dubai $$ that started BCCI and owned the

company Bush was giving control of our ports, also has given millions of dollars to the Dem president that deep-sixed the BCCI report that was handed to him in 1993.

[AntiFascist]

129. Check this out...

http://www.newsmakingnews.com/hillary6,16,01.htm

and before they start screaming "right-wing propaganda," would a right-winger post this?

In the 1980s, some thirty or more savings and loan associations were secretly taken over by CIA, for use to funnel covert funds for bloody and dirty tricks. After the operation was concluded, the money was sucked out, and the particular S&L "collapsed". A highly skilled Texas journalist detailed the doings of some 26 of these CIA-S&L operations which went "bust" and the clean-up arranged supposedly by the federal deposit insurance authorities at the great damage and detriment of the taxpayers. One of the S&Ls was run by one of George Bush's sons. See: Pete Brewton's heavily documented work, "The Mafia, the CIA, and George Bush".

Three or more CIA-S&Ls, not mentioned in the book, were in Illinois, in the Chicago area.

[truedelphi]

147. Newsmakingnews is based I believe in Marin COunty

And they are often covering matters that the RW would never see fit to print.

They are left wing.

If they seem right wing, it is only on those issues that show us things we don't want to know - like the Clinton - Dubai link

[AntiFascist]

148. Very cool, repugs are really playing the Hillary supporters...

painting her as a commie leftist so that anyone who criticizes her can be made out to look like they are supporting right-wing propaganda.

[truedelphi]

170. Also the late great Skolnich had many articles about

The corrupted judicial system in Chicago.

he saw the Clintons as being corrupt,maybe not as bad as the Bush family, but hardly the paragons of justice that we are expected to view them as being.

[Baby Snooks]

133. And so the question is what will Hillary "deep six?"

She really is the Manchurian candidate. Pre-programmed and ready to roll. Roll over what's left of our Constitution and our democracy.

But she will become the nominee. And everyone will be told they "have" to vote for her. And then everyone will wonder, just as they do with Nancy Pelosi, who Hillary represents. They represent the Emperor and who he represents. Which is not the American people.

[mod mom]

93. MAY I ADD KAZAKHSTAN:

After Mining Deal, Financier Donated to Clinton

By JO BECKER and DON VAN NATTA Jr.
Published: January 31, 2008

Late on Sept. 6, 2005, a private plane carrying the Canadian mining financier Frank Giustra touched down in Almaty, a ruggedly picturesque city in southeast Kazakhstan. Several hundred miles to the west a fortune awaited: highly coveted deposits of uranium that could fuel nuclear reactors around the world. And Mr. Giustra was in hot pursuit of an exclusive deal to tap them.

Unlike more established competitors, Mr. Giustra was a newcomer to uranium mining in Kazakhstan, a former Soviet republic. But what his fledgling company lacked in experience, it made up for in connections. Accompanying Mr. Giustra on his luxuriously appointed MD-87 jet that day was a former president of the United States, Bill Clinton.

-snip

snip

"Kazakhstan’s president, Nursultan A. Nazarbayev, whose 19-year stranglehold on the country has all but quashed political dissent."

"Mr. Nazarbayev walked away from the table with a propaganda coup, after Mr. Clinton expressed enthusiastic support for the Kazakh leader’s bid to head an international organization that monitors elections and supports democracy."

-snip
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/31/us/politics/31donor.html

WTF WAS CLINTON THINKING IN LENDING SUPPORT TO THIS TYRANT TO HEAD AN ORGANIZATION THAT MONITORS ELECTIONS & SUPPORTS DEMOCRACY?

[OzarkDem]

127. Tell me you didn't just use the word "Billary"

:eyes:

[ursi]

138. isn't the Paul v Clinton case supposed to be heard in LA Supreme on 2-21?

anyone know?

[MyNameGoesHere]

103. Your OP would have been read up until i hit that

slur "Billary" If you want a discussion maybe you could put the words that a 3 year old would use away?

[frylock]

115. lalalalalalalalala

[MyNameGoesHere]

146. Here i thought it was fa la la la la n/t

[KittyWampus]

18. The Clintons haven't released their damned 2006 Tax Records. Why the FUCK Obama supporters

don't seize on that is beyond me.

McCain didn't release his either.

The Clintons has at least that one issue they will not be able to attack him with.

[Stephanie]

28. Nor have they released the donor list to the Clinton Foundation

The same list Hillary is tapping for campaign money is handing Bill millions for his library.

[KoKo]

46. Burkle and partner financed Al Gore's "Current TV" He's given

thousands and thousands to the DNC and DSCC plus every candidate we like...including Maxine Waters and Barbara Boxer. He holds fundraisers at his Greenacres Mansion for Democratic Party.

He also donated funds for the Burkle Institute for Foreign Policy at UCLA where Larry Johnson and Wes Clark have given seminars.


He also worked with Warren Buffett to start Berkshire Hathaway...

I don't know what this Dubai thing is...but Burkle is obsessed with Democrats and a self made millionaire who has been giving to Dems since the late 80's.

---------------------

Forbes.com


Special Feature
*The Rise Of Ron Burkle*
Matthew Miller 12.11.06

Why do so many people have so much scorn for Ronald Burkle? The
self-made billionaire's ex-wife accuses him of cheating her out of a
fortune and having her and her (ex-con) boyfriend followed. He has been
the target of two dreaded media figures: The infamous Hollywood
sleaze-digger and private eye Anthony Pellicano, whom Burkle feared was
investigating him; and a freelancer for the /New York Post/ who (says
Burkle) tried to extort $100,000 from him to keep Burkle out of the
tabloid's dreaded gossip column, Page Six. It has mentioned Burkle 22
times in five years, often unflatteringly.

Burkle also has been slapped around by the bitchy media blog
Gawker.com--53 citings since March. When one item unfavorably contrasted
him with a financier he detests, Burkle's lawyers launched a letter
demanding a retraction and an apology. Gawker editors jeered and posted
the letter for all to see; a day later apologized, acidly. The
mainstream business press beats up on him, essentially for buying access
and influence among politicians and leaders of the pension funds that
invest with him (FORBES included).

"I basically became the poster child for the ills of political donations
and business. It's preposterous!" he protests.

No wonder, then, that Ron Burkle might be tempted to buy a printing
press of his own. In November his investment firm, Yucaipa Cos., made an
audacious bid for turmoil-wracked Tribune Co., which owns the /Chicago
Tribune/ and the /Los Angeles Times/. He is joined by Eli Broad, who
made his fortune (larger than Burkle's) building homes and selling
insurance.

Burkle says he has no idea why he generates all the sniping, and he
dismisses it as unimportant, even as his $500-an-hour lawyers churn out
warning letters admonishing detractors and protesting his innocence. "I
wouldn't trade these past few years for anything," he says. "I wake up
every morning and only think about good things."

He would prefer that people see in him a classic American success story.
Ronald Wayne Burkle, 54, the California-born son of a grocery store
manager, worked for his dad as a box boy, dropped out of college and put
in 15 years at his dad's store and the company that owned it. In 1981 he
mounted a botched buyout attempt of the chain and was fired. And then he
got very serious about investing, parlaying a few lucky bets on regional
grocery chains into a controlling stake in giant Pathmark, management of
four private equity funds with $4 billion from investors, stakes in some
35 companies and a personal fortune that FORBES pegs at $2.5 billion.

Along the way he cultivated a do-gooder image for making peace with
recalcitrant unions and investing in low-income urban territories where
bigger players fear to tread. He made pals of young stars, pumping $50
million into the apparel company of rap producer Sean (Diddy) Combs and
rehabbing a New York City apartment as a crash pad with the actor
Leonardo DiCaprio, who is 22 years his junior. Above all Burkle made
some political connections. He raised millions for the Democratic Party
and befriended--and now employs--Bill Clinton as his irrepressible and
irresistible rainmaker.

http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2006/1211/104_print.html

[Tarheel_Dem]

48. be that as it may..Bill clearly felt the need to part ways for political

purposes. It just doesn't pass the smell test, especially the Dubai connection.

[KoKo]

59. It was a Hedge Fund and they aren't transparent...He cut his ties

with them...but didn't give back the money. Why should he? If he had an arrangement with Burkle and did the work, then he's owed the money. I wish Clintons hadn't cozyied up to Poppy Bush but I don't think Poppy and Burkle run in the same circles since Burkle loves any Dem he meets and gives money to UCLA to start a school to for international studies. He's doing some work on Unions and Labor Relations and about to start a foundation that sounds like it might do some good work in that area.

Everything I checked out about Burkle seemed the guy is a little eccentric but he hangs around with Dems. Maybe we need to clean our whole Party out. Put in rules about what PResidents can do when they leave office. We need to get the MONEY OUT of our Elections and the Lobbyists Money out, too. But, in this case...this seems a stretch to get all whacked out about. We are stuck with Hillary and Obama. We don't like it...but it's what it is. So we get them or we get eight more years of Repug Hell.


If Al Gore had run they would have used his relationship with Burkle to tar and feather him, too. Maybe Al has gotten some "Sovereign Wealth Funding." I heard that "Current" is available for overseas viewers. That would mean he'd have foreign investors. Maybe some of them unsavory characters.

:shrug:

[Stephanie]

65. We're talking about specific entities and specific transactions

This deal is fishy.

To Bill's left: Unspecified services, a company that required propping up by Dubai, a giant, timely payday.

To Bill's right: Hillary with her hand out.

[KoKo]

69. This stuff goes on every day on Wall St. Why is it fishy? n/t

[Stephanie]

72. The Wall Streeters' spouses aren't using the money to run for president.

They are taking in outrageous amounts of money in one hand from entities funded in large part by Dubai, and on the other spending it on her campaign.

[catgirl]

86. Because they were PARTNERS

Bill Clinton was directly involved with the shady dealings. Hillary herself
had shady dealings with foreign companies (Tata for example). The
Clintons are all about the Clintons, even at the expense of american
workers....

[lisainmilo]

112. exactly....n/t

[papau]

98. Don't confuse the issue - Clinton friends w/ money=evil, Obama friends w/ money=good -want "change"

[blm]

169. Bush&Clinton's friends also funded BCCI leading to 9-11. Obama's donor was a local clingon

to Chicago's political machine that predated Obama.

Gee - which association proved the most TRAGIC and dangerous for this nation?

[Infinite Hope]

110. How? I remember reading it, but have forgotten.

[blm]

2. Dubai got Bill's protection on BCCI - the same Dubai figures Bush was giving our ports

also started BCCI. And remember, Bill Clinton ADVOCATED that Bush give Dubai that ports deal.

Any wonder that Jackson Stephens, MarcRich, Dubai and Saudi royals love Bill Clinton? Deep-sixing BCCI report and all its outstanding matters protected BFEE. And who in Dubai and SA doesn't understand the benefit of having BFEE in control of America - the richest nation on earth?

[Stephanie]

7. Burkle Used Clinton to Get the Teamsters to Accept a Pay Cut >>>

THIS is how they're going to finance their campaign? With money from Katrina profiteers and corporate union-busting?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2007/12/12/protecting-hillary-bill-_n_76529.html

But it was how the funds earned their money - or, on occasion, lost it - that reportedly made Clinton skittish.

The crucial development, sources said, was the September 26 publication of a front page Wall Street Journal article detailing some of Yucaipa's questionable dealings. The story, which broke on the same day that heads of state and business leaders convened to discuss the Clinton Global Initiative, detailed how a young Italian businessman had convinced Burkle and a Clinton aide to invest millions of dollars in a poorly run church-property buying venture.

Clinton, according to sources, considered the piece a major embarrassment and decided to withdraw from Yucaipa.

***

Prior to the failed church-property buying scheme, Yucapia found itself on the receiving end of a lawsuit. In April 2007, investors of Hawk Opportunity Fund sued Burkle over charges that Yucaipa's acquisition of Allied Holdings, Inc., North America's largest car-hauling company, gave it an unfair share of the market. The suit was dismissed.

But the transaction, not the lawsuit, forced Clinton to get involved. According to reports, the former president was brought on board to help persuade the International Brotherhood of Teamsters to take a 15 percent wage cut at Allied in exchange for bringing the company out of bankruptcy. The Teamsters agreed to accept the reduction.

Finally, according to USA Today, former Clinton aides helped secure a multi-million dollar federal contract for a Georgia-based company in which Yucaipa had 20% ownership. AmeriCold, one of the nation's largest cold-storage companies, was paid up to $85 million, to help with Katrina recovery efforts after James Lee Witt, who headed Federal Emergency Management Agency in the Clinton administration, lobbied on the company's behalf.

AmeriCold's job performance became the subject of controversy and bad publicity. As USA Today wrote: "truckers who were paid $800 a day hauled ice from state to state without unloading, then delivered their cargoes to AmeriCold and other storage facilities as far away from the Gulf Coast as Maine."

[blm]

8. Clintons are becoming to the Dem party what Bushes have become to the Republicans.

They ran it like a 'machine' for their own purposes and power while sacrificing the honest lawmakers and destroying the integrity of the party.

[bigtree]

40. Can any of your buddy Kerry's investments and associations be strung out

to appear to have direct ties to something pernicious done by someone or some entity also connected to those individuals? I think they can. I believe it's been done. Is Skull and Bones still open for debate?

[AtomicKitten]

43. Well, we can trace the Clintons' oily slush fund without breaking a sweat.

No need to dip into the bitterness well. John Kerry has done more to promote sunlight in government than just about anyone else. The Clintons? Not so much.

[blm]

92. Kerry worked to EXPOSE the crooks and Bill PROTECTED the very same people he's now

getting MILLIONS of dollars from. And it's NOT tenuous associations, bigtree, as you NEED to hide behind to keep your faith.

[mrreowwr_kittty]

4. BUT BUT OBAMA KNOWZ A SLUMLORD!!11!!! WHY DO YOU HATE AMERICA???!!11ELEVEN

Fuck!

[mrreowwr_kittty]

5. So much for the "There's nothing new that can be dug up on the Clintons!" line

Imagine how this will play in the general. K and R

[adabfree]

6. Make no mistake the Repubs will use it big time

[geek tragedy]

13. We have to vet her. n/t

[Cha]

51. Yeah, like anyone believed

that..there's so much more to vet with the clintons.

[Maribelle]

80. First, this is old. Second, the Clintons would welcome any discussion.

Ron Burkle is a champion of unions, the poor, those suffering from natural disasters, and a long long list of issues that most Democrats have at the top of their list.

[blm]

95. You have GOT to be kidding. DUBAI $$ are the EXACT SAME $$ that started BCCI

and it was PRESIDENT Bill Clinton who DEEP-SIXED the BCCI report which protected Dubai and Saudi royals, GHWBush, Jackson Stephens, Marc Rich, AQ Khan and scores of others.

That led DIRECTLY to Bush return to WH and to 9-11 and is leading to war with Iran..

But that's small potatoes to you, eh?

[rucognizant]

116. So much for.......

Clintons cleaning up after Bushes, huh!
It was a shame they were so busy bashing Kerry's record as a war hero, his 1991 actions in the Senate, closing down of the BCCI went virtually unnoticed! AND I was screaming it at the top of my lungs, I have printed out articles saved in the attic, We wrote a monthly newsletter called More Common Sense
and featured that story in 2004!
In case you missed it; the thread where I posted it is gone...........

http://carolynbaker.net/site/index2.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=310&pop=1&page=0

You have connections to Monsanto through the Rose Law Firm where you
worked and through Bill who hired Monsanto people for central food-
related roles. Your Orwellian-named "Rural Americans for Hillary" was
planned with Troutman Sanders, Monsanto's lobbyists.

Genetic engineering and industrialized food and animal production all
come together at the Rose Law Firm, which represents the world's
largest GE corporation (Monsanto), GE's most controversial project
(DP&L's - now Monsanto's - terminator genes), the world's largest
meat producer (Tyson), the world's largest retailer and a dominant
food retailer (Walmart).

The inbred-ness of Rose's legal representation of corporations which
own controlling interests in other corporations there and of
corporate boards sharing members who are also shareholders of each
other's corporations there, is so thorough that it is hard to
capture. Jon Jacoby, senior executive of the Stephens Group - one of
the largest institutional shareholders of Tyson Foods, Walmart, DP&L -
is also Chairman of the Board of DP&L and arranged the Wal-Mart
deal. Jackson Stephens' Stephens Group staked Sam Walton and financed
Tyson Foods. Monsanto bought DP&L. All represented at Rose.

You didn't just work there, you made friends. That shows in the flow
of favors then and since. You were invited onto Walmart's board, you
were helped by a Tyson executive to make commodity trades (3 days
before Bill became governor), netting you $100,000, Jackson Stephens
strongly backed Bill for Governor, and then for President (donating
$100,000).

[frylock]

117. *crickets*

[mrreowwr_kittty]

144. And BCCI and Dubai port deals. nt

[blm]

174. Come back and share with us all about what YOU know about these deals, Mar.

Please - tell us how ETHICAL Clintons are - for the record.

[TwilightGardener]

47. LOL! Well, that scandal was much bigger--a lot next door. Bigger yard for Malia and Sasha.

Shocking!!!

[Bitwit1234]

9. I don't think that's any of your business...but then if you

want to flame Hillary and you do, you'll drag up any kind of crap you can.

[Stephanie]

10. None of my business?

This Is What Democracy Looks Like. I absolutely have a right to know where Hillary Clinton is getting the money to fund her campaign.

[mrreowwr_kittty]

14. Fuckin' A! I have the putz you responded to on ignore, thankfully.

So I guess every other candidate gets to have their finances and associations gone through with a finetooth comb and bullshit accusations aired via debate gotcha statements but not Hillary Clinton. Her dealings are private. Yeah right. :eyes:

[Stephanie]

15. Isn't it astounding?

:hi:

[Milly]

149. This Is What Democracy Looks Like.

This Is What Democracy Looks Like. I absolutely have a right to know where " all who are running For both parties are getting the Money to fund the campaigns "

[tammywammy]

32. If this was Michelle Obama getting $20 million

You'd be screaming about it. :eyes:

[blm]

118. Was it OUR BUSINESS that Bush was turning over our ports to Dubai? The deal Bill ADVOCATED

for?

He and Blair have probably worked on an endaround to get that port deal for Dubai. Maybe THAT is why it is OUR business.

Your UNQUESTIONING NATURE is not responsible CITIZENSHIP.

[Forkboy]

123. What's it like living in outer space?

[TexasObserver]

11. Get used to it. They'll bank a billion if they get back in the WH.

I wish I were being extreme, but I'm not. They love the smell of money, and can't get enough of it. The audacity of them asking every day citizens to make sacrifices so they can run for the WH, meanwhile they're banking millions every year.

[K Gardner]

19. Yup.

[AZBlue]

39. She's learned from the best: GWB.

:wtf:

[jakem]

16. kick.

:wtf:

[Stephanie]

29. TY!

WTF indeed!

[mrreowwr_kittty]

17. This thread needs more Clinton apologists on it so I'm kicking it again.

Come on guys! Defend your candidate!

[blm]

21. They tend to STFU whenever BCCI comes up. They need to pretend there is no link.

.

[mrreowwr_kittty]

22. Well lets just keep kicking this thread and get it to the top of the greatest page, shall we? nt

[KoKo]

57. How is Clinton's relationship with Ron Burkle and his Fund related to BCCI?

:shrug:

[blm]

90. Burkle's deal financed by Dubai. Same Dubai $$ that staked BCCI in 70s.

And the same Dubai $$ that owned the port company who Bush tried to give control of our ports just a couple years ago - a deal that Bill Clinton advocated for at the time.

Gee - you think these same Dubai royals BENEFITED from Clinton's deep-sixing of BCCIs outstanding matters in the 90s?

[Stephanie]

27. crickets

how weird is that? when it's over an imaginary handshake they are spamming like crazy. where are they now?

[mrreowwr_kittty]

24. Only 11 recs? Come on people!

Fucking whiny Handshake Snub snits were getting more recs than this!

[Stephanie]

36. Weird, isn't it?

Nobody seems interested in the fact that the Clintons are taking money with one hand from the Sultan of Dubai, and spending it with the other on her campaign. And all this with no oversight whatsoever. How can this be legal?

[bonito]

25. Ronald Burkle, winkipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Burkle

[blm]

30. Please keep this kicked.

.

[tammywammy]

31. Interesting

recommended. :)

[joeprogressive]

33. K/R where's the MSM on this story? n/t

[blm]

34. Sheesh - even many on DU think this is OK. DUBAI MILLIONS? If this was Bush or Cheney

the board would be on fire calling for their heads - so would I. But I am not a hypocrite and think BOTH Bushes and Clintons need their finances examined and the books on BCCI opened at long last.

[KittyWampus]

37. the Clintons have been vetted, dontcha know.

[Stephanie]

42. oh yeah i forgot

and they've done nothing at all since 2001.

[jakem]

35. kick.

:kick:

[FrenchieCat]

38. Nothing to see here....

back to discussion of Cults.

That is so much more fact based! :sarcasm:

[Stephanie]

41. Please move along.

Seriously, this can't be legal...

[Tarheel_Dem]

44. Wow, the Clintonistas haven't even shown up to discredit the author?

Just Wow....

Chirp Chirp

[TwilightGardener]

45. This is rather...unsavory. Oh my. Why would anyone donate to their campaign?

I don't get it. Let them self-finance through dirty deals.

[blm]

172. They have duped Dem faithful the same way Bushes duped GOP faithful for decades.

.

[pauldp]

49. Kick . nt

[Radical Activist]

50. Bill is looking more like George H. W. Bush all the time.

[blm]

135. The Yucaipa deal sounds exactly like GWBush and Harken.

.

[FrenchieCat]

52. So she's not really broke!

Somebody's getting hosed!

[mckeown1128]

53. A MUST rec and kick nt

[milkyway]

54. It's amazing how the Hillary supporters clam up when confronted with something substantive.

What's also curious is how the number of pro-Hillary posts in GD-P seems to have dropped off a lot from the volume during the run-up to Super Tuesday. What happened?

[Stephanie]

55. They got laid off.

[Usrename]

60. lol

Their paychecks are late again.

[Kittycat]

119. *snort*

[KoKo]

56. Stephanie the source for this is Wall St. Journal...and they've been taken over

by Hillary's friend Ruppert Murdoch...but still the article is written in a very slanted way. The other two links are to the same Wall St. Journal article with some gossip thrown in.

Ron Burkle is in thick with the Dem Party ...so if we condemn Clinton for his activities with Burkle's Global Fund ...should we condemn Al Gore for having an arrangement with Burkle to fund "Current TV?" It's made a lot of money for Gore. Plus the Burkle Institute at UCLA probably pays Wes Clarke and Larry Johnson and others nice fees for coming and holding seminars there.

Burkle used Clinton for Contacts...but there's no proof that it's any different from Jimmy Carter using influence with people he met as President to start his Carter Center.

This is Globilization. I don't like it...but it's a strech to assume that Clinton was part of BCCI and connect it to Burkle and his Dubai friends. :shrug:

[Stephanie]

58. I'm questioning the arrangement.

How is it ethical for a businessman, whose company is propped up by funding from Dubai, to pay out $20 million to former President Clinton for unspecified services, $20 million which is now available to his wife's campaign with no restrictions and no oversight. That's a cozy arrangement. Is it legal?

[KoKo]

63. where in the article does it say that Clinton got the money from Dubai?

Burkle has several enterprises and one is a Global Investment Fund that Clinton was part of. Dubai wasn't the only investor and the money Clinton is getting is from profits the funds made that he was contracted with. It was his salary...from the agreement. I don't see where anyone says that Clinton took the money so he could put it into Hillary's campaign. We don't know where she got the Five Million from...but it's not like she doesn't have money of her own from investments, anyway. And she probably had a couple of Global Funds that were invested overseas. None of this is illegal. Should it be?

[Stephanie]

64. Dubai infused cash into an entity he co-owns w/ Burkle. If they hadn't, would it be worth anything?

And he is ownership partners with Burkle and Dubai on another company, just the three of them.

Mr. Clinton is also one of three owners of the global fund's general partner. The others are Mr. Burkle, who is the managing member, and an entity connected to the ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum.

[KoKo]

68. What does that have to do with the five million Hillary put in?

Just because the ruler of Dubia is in an investment with Clinton and Burkle doesn't mean that that the money came from Dubai or the Ruler or that it's the money Clinton used. The money could have come from real estate investment or commodities or who knows what that they made money on. Maybe even "oil futures" if you want to think dark...but it's not illegal to invest and make money with foreigners. :shrug: I don't see the big deal here.

[bigtree]

81. now who isn't answering?

This is the worst of journalism. String the associations out so that it appears the Clinton's have something to do with some far removed connection to the principle. This entire line of attack is the real sleaze. These charges only get play on with these net journalists, no further.

[Stephanie]

99. Excuse me for sleeping instead of answering YOU

She is out of money. She's begun to dip into her own pockets. There is $40 million available (much of it probably tied up in their two houses) PLUS an expected $20 million from Burkle. That's the money that could possibly SAVE her candidacy. Bill is raking it in from his relationships with Burkle & Dubai on the one hand and stuffing it in Hillary's coffers with the other. Nothing to see here, folks. Move along.

[SaveAmerica]

114. Maybe that's why Al Gore couldn't run for president?

[Tarheel_Dem]

61. .....

:kick:

[Iktomiwicasa]

62. k&r

bunch of fucking crooks :mad:

[Hutzpa]

66. A big K&R n/t

[bigbrother05]

67. kick

[psychopomp]

70. Hmmm...

:kick:

[Diane R]

71. So is this why she pointedly said it was 'my money', as opposed to Bill's money?

[Stephanie]

73. They won't disclose their tax forms so how would we know?

:shrug:

[ursi]

141. Bingo! There must be more to Bill's $$ then meets the eye!

Did Burkle donate to her Senate campaign when that Paul dude was involved? You know the case that is supposed to be heard in an LA Supreme Court this month?

[Alexander]

74. k&r

This needs to be seen.

[bonito]

75. K&R

[JTFrog]

76. Greedy fuckers just like W. n/t

[OnceUponTimeOnTheNet]

77. k&r

Stephen Bing, left, with Ron Burkle and Bill Clinton

[FrenchieCat]

78. He's the guy who going to finance Hillary's campaign in an

about around way? :shrug:

[Maribelle]

79. Ron Burkle is the opposite of Rezko. Bill will never say his relationship with Burkle was a mistake

Burkle is a self-made billionaire, who helps the poor, supports unions and loves Democrats.

Above is a link to a Forbes article on him from 2006 which could enlighten you regarding any questions you have about this remarkable man.
Here is the link again in case you missed it. It is truly worth the read if you want to seem like you know what you are talking about regarding him
http://www.forbes.com/free_forbes/2006/1211/104.html

The Clintons, I would guess, would love the deep bashing you attempt to give them over their Burkle connection. I'm sure they'll be extremely happy to discuss this hard-working person down to the very last nitty-gritty detail.

Have at it.

[bigtree]

82. neither will Nobel Peace prize wimnner Al Gore.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

120. Yeah, that'll never happen

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2007/12/12/protecting-hillary-bill-_n_76529.html

:eyes:

[mod mom]

83. Great-it sounds like a new way to funnel vast sums into a campaign and toward influence

policy. The wealthy can simply pay candidates huge sums for speaking fees, or whatever then the candidates will place those sums directly into their campaigns.

Look for more Chinese, Saudi, and other influence. :mad:

BTW If you think the Clinton's are above allowing campaign contributions from effecting policy, read this about Bush/Clinton/BCCI financier Jackson Stephens:

EAST LIVERPOOL OH TOXIC WASTE INCINERATOR:

Here is a portion of activist/mother, Terri Swearingen's acceptance speech for the Goldman Environmental Prize, given April 14, 1997:



I am not a scientist or a Ph.D. I am a nurse and a housewife, but my most important credential is that I am a mother. In 1982, I was pregnant with our one and only child. That's when I first learned of plans to build one of the world's largest toxic waste incinerators in my community. When they began site preparation to begin building the incinerator in 1990, my life changed forever. I'd like to share with you some of the lessons I have learned from my experiences over the past seven years.

One of the main lessons I have learned from the WTI experience is that we are losing our democracy. How have I come to this sad realization? Democracy is defined by Merriam Webster as "government by the people, especially rule of the majority," and "the common people constituting the source of political authority." The definition of democracy no longer fits with the reality of what is happening in East Liverpool, Ohio. For one thing, it is on the record that the majority of people in the Ohio Valley do not want the WTI hazardous waste incinerator in their area, and they have been opposed to the project from its inception. Some of our elected officials have tried to help us, but the forces arrayed against us have been stronger than we or they had imagined. Public concerns and protests have been smothered with meaningless public hearings, voodoo risk assessment and slick legal maneuvering.

Government agencies that were set up to protect public health and the environment only do their job if it does not conflict with corporate interests. Our current reality is that we live in a "wealthocracy" big money simply gets what it wants. In this wealthocracy, we see three dynamics at play: corporations versus the planet, the government versus the people, and corporate consultants or "experts" versus common sense. In the case of WTI, we have seen all three.

The second lesson I have learned ties directly to the first, and that is that corporations can control the highest office in the land. When Bill Clinton and Al Gore came to the Ohio Valley, they called the siting of the WTI hazardous waste incinerator next door to a 400 student elementary school, in the middle of an impoverished Appalachian neighborhood, immediately on the bank of the Ohio River in a flood plain an "UNBELIEVABLE IDEA." They said we ought to have control over where these things are located. They even went so far as to say they would stop it. But then they didn't! What has been revealed in all this is that there are forces running this country that are far more powerful than the President and the Vice President. This country trumpets to the world how democratic it is, but it's funny that I come from a community that our President dare not visit because he cannot witness first hand the injustice which he has allowed in the interest of a multinational corporation, Von Roll of Switzerland. And the Union Bank of Switzerland. And Jackson Stephens, a private investment banker from Arkansas. These forces are far more relevant to our little town than the President of the United States! And he is the one who made it that way. He has chosen that path. We didn't choose it for him. We begged him to come to East Liverpool, but he refused. We begged the head of EPA to come, but she refused. She hides behind the clever maneuvering of lawyers and consultants who obscure the dangers of the reckless siting of this facility with theoretical risk assessments.

-snip

http://www.ohiocitizen.org/campaigns/wti/et0897s17.html




There has always been something incongruous about Stephens Inc. Despite the Little rock firm's attempts to portray itself as a small- city operation that closes for the duck season and got fabulously lucky on a couple of down-home deals like Wal-Mart, it was, at the incinerator's inception, the ninth-largest investment bank in the country. Since it is not headquartered in New York, its dealings are local news, little noticed by the national press, even when they have national implications. And, as a source close to the company once remarked, "The farther you get from Arkansas, the better it looks."

Stephens Inc. was founded by Witt Stephens, a state legislator's son who parlayed a Depression-era belt-buckle, Bible, and municipal-bond business into an immense personal fortune. After his retirement in 1973, the company was run by his shy younger brother, Jackson (a classmate of Jimmy Carter's at the Naval Academy). Witt Stephens and Stephens Inc. did much to create the economic paradox that is modern Arkansas: a desperately poor state with a scant 2.3 million inhabitants that is nonetheless home to a number of wealthy companies. Without the financial assistance of the Stephens brothers, Sam Walton might have ended his days as the most innovative merchant in Bentonville. Stephens money was also important to the fortunes of enterprises as various as Tyson Foods and Linda Bloodworth-Thomason, the television producer and reigning First Friend. Stephens Inc. is an important client of the Rose law firm, whose chairman, C. Joseph Giroir, made Hillary Rodham Clinton a partner. And back in 1977, Stephens assisted BCCI's infiltration of the American banking system by brokering the latter's purchase of National Bank of Georgia stock held by Bert Lance, former President Jimmy Carter's friend and disgraced budget director.

Jackson Stephens (who turned over the reins to his son, Warren, in the late eighties) and his firm were both substantial contributors to the campaigns of Presidents Reagan and Bush (to the tune of at least $100,000 in 1980 and 1989), but they have been closer still to Bill Clinton (whom Witt Stephens had been known to call "that boy").

On two occasions, once when Clinton was running for reelection in Arkansas in 1990 and again in March 1992, when his battered presidential campaign was broke, the Stephens family saved Clinton's bacon with an infusion of money. Indeed, it may not be too much to say that their Worthen Bank's emergency $3.5 million line of credit saved the presidential campaign from extinction. --L.J.D.

-snip

http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/1993/11/davis.html





Who is the octopussy that might be lurking in the Ohio River Valley? Perhaps we should start by asking shy Arkansas billionaire Jackson T. Stephens. After all, Stephens introduced BCCI from Pakistan to the United States and the WTI waste incinerator to East Liverpool, Ohio. Stephens would be a good sketch artist because he's seen some monstrous scandals in his day. Stephens' family firm is the largest privately owned investment bank outside Wall Street. In September 1977, President Jimmy Carter's Budget Director Burt Lance was forced to resign amid allegations about his bank dealings with Stephens (Stephens and Carter were classmates at the Naval Academy). In 1978, Stephens, Lance and BCCI were charged with violating U.S. security laws. The charges were dropped after the defendants promised not to violate security laws in the future, even though they admitted no guilt.

The New York Post reported in February 1992 that it was Stephens who enabled BCCI to gain a foothold in the U.S. and helped the fraud-plagued bank secretly acquire U.S. banks. In Peter Truell and Larry Gurwin's book, False Profits, perhaps the best account of the BCCI scandal, the authors outlined how opium revenue from Afghanistan Mujahedin fighting the Soviets ended up in the accounts of BCCI, founded by Agha Hasan Abedi. The Post reported that Stephens allegedly introduced Abedi to Lance shortly after Lance resigned.

In 1991, Lance testified that he urged Abedi to acquire a Washington bank holding company, but he denied any knowledge of BCCI's subsequent secret ownership of First American Bankshares. The Post reported that Securities and Exchange Commission documents from 1977 substantiate that the idea originated with Stephens.

During Bill Clinton's 1992 presidential run, Stephens and his son Warren boasted of raising more than $100,000 for the campaign. The Stephens family also owned a 38 percent share in Worthen National Bank that extended a crucial $2 million line of credit to Clinton in January 1992.

-snip

http://www.ohiocitizen.org/campaigns/wti/bob.html



Waste Technologies Industry, Inc. (WTI)


WTI has also gained significant political support, as one of the original partners in the corporation was Jackson Stephens. Stephens, an Arkansas investor, was known as a significant contributor to Reagan, Bush, and Clinton campaigns.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

The EPA has been accused of having bias in favor of WTI and carrying out decision-making activities without required public participation. The agency also violated rules established in RCRA during the WTI permit application process. EPA admitted such wrong-doing at a hearing before the House Judiciary Committee's subcommitteeon Administrative Law and Government Relations, as well as the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.

http://www.umich.edu/~snre492/mcormick.html#Key%20Actors



LEAGUE OF CONSERVATION VOTERS GIVES BILL CLINTON C- FOR 1ST YEAR IN OFFICE

Washington, D.C. - The League of Conservation Voters (LCV), the self-described political arm of the environmental movement, has given President Clinton a middling grade of "C-plus" overall for "not working up to potential" during his first year in office.

In particular, the League criticized the Clinton Administration for failing to halt Waste Technologies Industries' controversial hazardous waste incinerator in East Liverpool, Ohio.

-snip

http://wasteage.com/mag/waste_fewer_onsite_hazwaste/

[rucognizant]

121. Thanks modmom......

I had a gaping hole in my extensive network of connected dots. You have helped to fill it in here.

[Tarc]

84. One part innuendo, two part supposition, and a dash of absurdity

The :tinfoilhat: is strong with this one, Lord Vader.

[paparush]

85. 28 Straight Years of Bushs and Clintons in the White House is long enough.

I'm beginning to agree with this whole "change" mantra.

[Tarheel_Dem]

88. papa......i could not agree with you more (eom)

:toast:

[mopinko]

87. but hillary will make history!!!!!imseries!

and quit calling her billary, just because bill is giving her concession speeches for her, and oh yeah, laundering campaign contributions. it's history, god damn it.
and to the person upthread with the :tinfoilhat: crack, i can only say that we should all switch to the industrial strength wrap. i have never been sorry that i wore mine.
do i have to add :sarcasm:? prolly.

[Stephanie]

102. "laundering campaign contributions"

is that the phrase I've been looking for? might be! :hi:

[mopinko]

109. i really tried to stay away from that billary shit until

he came out and addressed the press after s. carolina, and she didn't. her performance that night was one of the saddest things i have ever seen. trying to sell herself as something new, when in fact she is following one of the oldest tricks in the book, i am losing it. "oh, it's not mine officer. it belongs to the wife." i fear for what actual history hillary could create. :hi: to you, too. man it is crazy around here. i want my du back.

[peacetalksforall]

89. Who am I, a mere Duer, but when you look at the big players and

their histories, I see two thing and I reassess one thing.

I can see why Pres Bill Clinton got so hyper - they deparately want this office again - and plenty of other people also want them to have it.

I can see that who they are dealing with and will continue to deal with (if elected) is way beyond the realms of we mere mortals.

I believe that when Sen. Clinton talks about children or performs her role in the Senate it is probably like taking a break from the behind the scenes dealings with billion-trillion dollar entities.

[hedda_foil]

142. Meanwhile ... Tony Blair is going after the EU Presidency.

Sarkozy (sp?) has already endorsed him. The people are fighting against the EU taking over. So the idea is that Billary runs the US while good friend Dirty Tony runs Europe -- all for the benefit of their corporate sponsors. We're fighting for more than the nomination, folks. We're also fighting for the soul of the party and the soul of America. It's repugnant to realize how far and how deep this goes. I was a huge Clinton supporter and stood up for him all through the Monica scandal and the impeachment. It's a bitter realization to acknowledge to myself what we're up against here. This is what Barack is fighting and why we need to continue donating and volunteering to walk precincts and phone bank as much as we possibly can. Thanks for this thread that puts it all together for us.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

91. Deluded.

[Stephanie]

105. I can't believe you're back with the SOS

I thought you'd had a sea change.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

107. Don't Fret.

I've decided to answer 'Deluded' to all new threads that I feel are unfairly trying to attack the character of one of the candidates, whichever they are.

I think this falls into that category. The article is much ado about nothing, but it is attempting to spin it as some huge "OMG!!! LOOK AT WHAT HILLARY's DOING!" slanderous meme.

I'm getting a bit tired of all the candidate slandering going on lately, and if something is overdramatized or completely off the mark in conclusion, I'm going to be responding with simply 'Deluded'.

[The Backlash Cometh]

94. So, why is he getting money?

How much of his own money did he put up to become a partner? What was the rate of investment profit?

[KoKo]

96. It's in the Forbes article linked here. He said he'd to speaking

for them and aid in contacts. For that he got a share in the funds.

It's sadly not illegal. Remember "DeRegulation?" Started with Reagan went through Poppy and the Gingrich Congress. There's almost nothing on Wall St. or in the Hedge Fund industry today that's "regulated." Clinton took advantage of an opportunity. He is a lawyer, he knows people all over the world. Ron Burkle does alot of good with his money...even if he's eccentric. The Forbes article about him is interesting...and Wiki and Google comes up with more about him. He funds Dems...Barbara Boxer, Maxine Waters and lots of others. Uses his estate Greenacres to hold fundraisers for Democrats. Founded an instituted at UCLA which features seminars with Wes Clarke, Larry Johnson and others. Co-Founded with partner and Al Gore to start "Current TV."


I thought that tying him into BCCI and make the connection with Dubai was unfair in the OP Post. And, I'm no lover of the Clintons..

[The Backlash Cometh]

97. When our leaders set this kind of example, it's no wonder the rest

of our country is fucked up. I do recall that George Bush Senior had an option to take cold cash or stock options in a company, just for giving a speech. I believe he took the options and made an astronomical amount of money. Now, when you stop and think about how a company improves its chances for success by giving a heavy hitter stock options, well, there's your bleeder. In fact, this particular company I'm thinking of, was considered an Abramoff type problem, and wouldn't you know it, it was a company that was associated with Democrats! Poppy Bush was the exception!

[Stephanie]

106. the OP makes no mention of BCCI and indeed I don't understand that connection, if there is one

HOWEVER, each of the articles I linked features Dubai so I think it's perfectly fair. The Clintons campaign funds are coming from Dubai via Burkle. That's clear.

[nolabels]

134. So what are we needing, a connection between BCCI, Clinton's, Dubai and Burkle?

They seem to also be getting some cash indirectly from the Chinese junta also. Like wow, paint me in as surprised :shrug:

Clinton to Burkle: It's Not You, It's Me
http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2007/12/clinton_and_burkle_2_good_2b_4.html

Yea, we know it's kind of right wing rag but that doesn't mean they don't have parts of it correct, just what parts?

There are troves of BCCI threads and info just in DU really. Sure won't be hard to make a lot more connections

[blm]

139. No mystery. Same Dubai royals staked major share of BCCI. BCCI report was deep-sixed by Bill

which protected ALL the figures named in that report - including Dubai and Saudi royals, Jackson Stephens - who brought BCCI into this country for GHWBush AND staked WalMart (China deals) AND bankrolled Clinton's political career and primary campaign, Marc Rich, AQ Khan..... many others.

Bill also advocated for the SAME Dubai company to be granted the ports deal from Bush a couple years ago.

[nolabels]

165. The visits and plane trips with poppy bush were no accident then?

Seems to me that Heckle and Jekyll have sold out six ways to Sunday but nobody wants or seems to notice

[blm]

168. Media is now OWNED by these people like Carlyle investors and Murdoch - allies of BushInc.

You will never see an indepth examination by today's corporate media of how Clintons are so intertwined with the Bushes and the powerful elite.

Clintons have been a GREAT DIVERSION and smokescreen - Whitewater WAS a penny ante deal - but by USING Whitewater as cover Bushies could get INTO Rose Law Firm and scrub all the files and documents of Rose's BIGGEST client - BCCI figure and bankroller of WalMart, GHWBush and Bill Clinton's political career - JACKSON STEPHENS.

[blm]

136. You're WRONG, KoKo - the Dubai money is the SAME Dubai money that started BCCI

and Dubai funding this Yucaipa deal means the very same people named in the BCCI report are getting MILLIONS Of dollars to a president who deep-sixed that report and its outstanding matters throughout his term.

THAT doesn't connect for you?

That's like saying Harken was an honest deal for GWBush.

[nolabels]

100. We would have never known for months and or maybe years without the internet

The crooks are really getting hard pressed hiding their shady deals. The internet is a major breakthrough, a whole new paradigm and people who are not hip on how the game has changed with it are doomed.

[blm]

150. we needed internet during IranContra. There would be no St. Ronnie and No Bushes or Clintons.

Jackson Stephens and Marc Rich and James Bath would all be jailed, too.

[KittyWampus]

167. what chaps my hide? this seems to get lost in the stupid crap on DU.

[nolabels]

171. Most probably could come up with all kinds of reasons for this being so

One of the reasons i would think would be information overload and the ever more complicating world we now live in. A nudge or two in a strategic place can get just about anybody off in a tangent.

There is this hope that enough people will stay focused and pay attention on what is important to also be one of those upcoming good things :-)

[Kokonoe]

101. republicans courts do not permit a spouses ketchup

money, in a general election. So any money & coattails from a spouse will surly be frowned upon.

[fenriswolf]

104. K&R

I'f people are gonna scream about obama beholding to interests because of campaign contributions how much do you think the clintons are gonna be beholding to this burke guy? 20 million for being a consultant? their is no one's advice in the world worth more then 20 million dollars this is a bribe pure and simple. Here is money Mr. Clinton ...........Hillary I got your dough.......NBC here is my new advertising money for the rest of the states so I can compete with barrack...........1 year later.......Hello Mr president remember me? Mr burke? jeeze get these guys out of here I am done with them.

[elehhhhna]

108. So the money's coming from Bill's offshore (Cayman) holdings? LOL

[karlrschneider]

111. Billary? Well of course Hussein Osama would never do anything like that.

:grr:

[Stephanie]

113. A little more info >

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/01/22/bill_clinton_severs_burkle_bus.html

Clinton's work for Burkle's firm dates back to 2002, but his precise role with the firm, and the amount of compensation he has received, has remained an open question. The firm has made wide ranging domestic investments, and it also has an international arm, Yucaipa Global Fund. Partners in that fund include Burkle, Clinton and the Dubai Investment Group, which has ties to top officials in the United Arab Emirates.

Clinton has been a frequent visitor to Dubai in his post-presidency, including being paid $575,000 for three separate speeches in the fast-developing city between 2002 and 2005.

http://www.pagesix.com/story/burkle+bond+s+hard+break

SO much for reports that Bill and Hillary Clinton were trying to distance themselves from Ron Burkle. The Beverly Hills billionaire has been named one of the five national finance chairs for Hillary's presidential campaign, sources say. Earlier this month, it was reported Bill Clinton was severing his partnerships in Burkle's Yucaipa Companies and walking away with $20 million.

The thinking was that Burkle's wheeling and dealing, with interests in Dubai and in real estate divested by the Vatican, could result in conflicts of interest and hand ammunition to Hillary's political opponents. Plus, there was concern over the bachelor Burkle's fondness for young women. "Maybe it's harder to get away from Burkle than they thought," laughed one Democrat. The other four Clinton finance chairs are said to be Alan Patricof, Maureen White, Hassan Nemazee and Chris Korge.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/105650/output/print

Even so, Bill Clinton seems to recognize that some of his relationships could become politically problematic. Aides to the former president recently told reporters Clinton would move to sever his business ties with billionaire Ron Burkle. An entrepreneur with a playboy reputation, Burkle signed up Clinton as a senior adviser to the Yucaipa Cos., Burkle's private investment firm. The arrangement included stakes in Yucaipa partnerships. Little was known about Clinton's profits from this arrangement until last week, when The Wall Street Journal reported that the former president was expected to reap about $20 million when the company bought back his shares. Clinton's spokesman tells NEWSWEEK the amount of his compensation has not yet been determined.

One possible issue that might have affected Clinton's decision to reconsider his business relationship with Burkle: the financier's ties to the Arab emirate of Dubai. One of Clinton's partners in a Yucaipa fund is the Dubai Investment Group, a company closely linked to Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, Dubai's ruler. Clinton and Maktoum have a warm relationship, and the sheik, along with other Middle Eastern leaders, was a major contributor to Clinton's presidential library.

Bill's Dubai connection is potentially problematic for Hillary. Two years ago, the New York senator denounced the Bush administration when it failed to block a deal that would have handed over operations of six major U.S. ports to Dubai Ports World, a firm owned by the government of the United Arab Emirates. (The company eventually withdrew its bid.) This month, Hillary criticized oil-rich foreign governments that use "huge pools of money" to buy up stakes in major U.S. financial institutions. That's a good applause line—but a tough one to deliver with a straight face while her husband has a business partnership with a similar foreign fund. Mark Saylor, a U.S. spokesman for Dubai, tells NEWSWEEK that neither Dubai nor Maktoum would comment on their dealings with Bill Clinton.

[AntiFascist]

132. More info here...

http://www.onebigdog.net/bill-clinton-the-20-million-dollar-man/


Not so long ago the President was trying to allow Dubai Ports permission to run six ports here in America. Hillary Clinton and Chuck Schumer were huge opponents and Clinton was very vocal in her opposition. At the time, Bill was advising the company on how to make things smoother and get the deal passed (which did not happen). It appears that in addition to Bill there were other Hillary advisers working with Dubai only in this case it was to take over two defense plants.

Bill is severing the ties with Yucaipa because he does not want the relationship to reflect negatively on Hillary and her campaign. He is ending the relationship to prevent potential conflicts of interest. The question is, were there not conflicts related to her position as a Senator? If there were, why has he waited until now to end this relationship? If the only problem arises with her as president then why did he not end the relationship when she announced? Surely he was aware of any potential conflict.

[Bread and Circus]

122. Nothing to see here folks...run along.

:yoiks:

[Stephanie]

124. I'd like to know how much Dubai kicked in on Yucaipa and how that affected Bill's profits

If they had to seek additional funding to keep Yucaipa afloat, then it must have been tanking, right? But now it's in good enough shape that Bill's going to take out $20M in profits from it. So how much did Dubai kick in?

[Bread and Circus]

125. I don't know but I've been told by Mark Penn there is nothing to see here...

and I must obey.

[Stephanie]

128. Well his services cost $5.8M, so you'd best obey.

Even if his candidate fails to secure the Democratic nomination, Mark Penn, the chief strategist for Sen. Hillary Clinton, has profited quite handsomely.

Through the course of the primary, Penn's consulting firm, Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates, has been paid more than $4.3 million by the Clinton campaign, according to a review of campaign finance filings.

That total, compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics, includes receipts for tasks ranging from polling and consulting to mail expenses and even photography. It does not include the $1.5 million the Clinton campaign is in debt to the firm.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/02/06/mark-penns-firm-paid-4_n_85192.html

[Bread and Circus]

131. Mark Penn is my hero....he stands for everything that is good about our party

[OzarkDem]

126. Billary? You just lost credibility

Pretty much negates the rest of what you post.

Same goes for anyone who drank the freep kool aid you posted.

[blm]

140. Doesn't change the facts that are there.

It might not be cool to use silly names but it's also not cool to ignore facts just BECAUSE of a throwaway word in the post.

[Stephanie]

151. Hey, his money is hers to spend.

And they're a two for one deal. No apologies for the name. I won't apologize to Brangelina either.

[blm]

152. heh....I guess it IS a trend now. Who knew freepers c1992 would start a trend?

.

[kma3346]

130. K&R!!!

:kick:

[marlakay]

137. kick nt

[mrreowwr_kittty]

143. Kickety kick nt

[Whisp]

145. kick

[Tarheel_Dem]

153. .....

:kick:

[mrreowwr_kittty]

154. A swift kick for the evening. nt

[Whisp]

155. to the front page. nt

[Patsy Stone]

156. He's the one degree of separation

between Hillary and Michael Jackson for one thing.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8149929/

Michael Jackson also sought financial advice from longtime friend and Los Angeles billionaire Ron Burkle, who suggested he hold on to the catalog, according to a source close to the situation who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Burkle was in New York and couldn't be immediately reached for comment, his spokesman said.

In April, the pop star faced the possibility of losing the catalog to foreclosure when he was a day late making a full $3 million payment to Bank of America, said the Rev. Jackson, who met with the president of the bank on behalf of the singer.

The move, combined with efforts by Burkle, "worked out well and Michael no longer has a cash flow problem," the Rev. Jackson said. "It was really unnecessary for any kind of a foreclosure. But if the foreclosure had taken place, it would have had an impact on Michael's catalog. His whole financial empire would come crumbling down."

[Stephanie]

157. ok now THAT's a scary connection

Coincidentally, isn't Michael Jackson moving to Dubai? I believe I heard that.

[Patsy Stone]

158. I thought it was Bahrain

or maybe it was that he already lived in Dubai but moved? I don't remember. Who the hell knows what he up to these days.

[KoKo]

159. Yeah...do a Google or read Upthread about Burkle and the Great Stuff he's done for Dems...

then post again.

[mrreowwr_kittty]

162. And for the Saudis. nt

[Patsy Stone]

166. Okay

Lighten up.

Do you really think I'm saying something bad about the Dems here? Do you think I'm saying something disparaging about Hillary or Burkle? It was an interesting tidbit I found by Googling Burkle, that's all. (So, you see, I have Googled).

Was there something you interpreted as a judgment in my post? If you did, that's your agenda, not mine.

[Scurrilous]

160. Kick

:kick:

[mrreowwr_kittty]

161. 10pm (MT) kickeroo!

[Whisp]

163. kick some sense.

[Whisp]

164. ...

[HeraldSquare212]

173. So the Clintons do the right thing only when they think someone is watching. Nice. nt

[Stephanie]

175. Obama is right

They need to disclose their tax returns.

[mrreowwr_kittty]

176. Kick for Saturday! nt