Is Josh Bolten still OMB manager? Found a bunch of research on him. Scary

[madfloridian]

I was looking for info to share on the Bush's enabling of the drug industry. I found this on Bolten from last year, and it is scary stuff. Makes you wonder who's minding the store, if indeed it is being minded at all.
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IF YOU’RE IN FAVOR OF BUTTONED-DOWN SECRECY IN THE BUDGET OFFICE
YOU’LL LOVE THE NEW OMB DIRECTOR

President Bush announced Thursday that Josh Bolten would become the
next director of the Office of Management and Budget, taking over from the
outgoing Mitch Daniels. (http://www.whitehouse.gov/ )

He’s genetically predisposed to silence. Bolten, 48, is the son of a
Seymour Bolton, a CIA agent who worked in covert espionage. Both Josh and
his father were cozy with George H.W. Bush. Though Bolten is one of the most
powerful policymakers in the world, he has said he likes his own life
undercover and prefers not to do interviews.
(http://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/06/national/06LETT.html)

He is one of the closed-lips defendants named in the Dick Cheney
secret energy task force lawsuit, filed by Judicial Watch
(http://www.judicialwatch.org/cases/67/ac2final.htm). The Bush
administration refused to hand over documents that relate specifically to
Cheney and Bolten, among others.
(http://www.enn.com/news/wire-stories/2002/10/10182002/reu_48741.asp)

Bolten already has experience doling out money, at least to
corporate interests. He chaired the “Domestic Consequence Group,” a blandly
worded euphemism for the quiet economic crisis group in the White House
which helped co-ordinate the $15 billion airline bailout in 2001.
(http://financialtimes.com/aoa/FT31X0OK0SC.html)

Not everyone is comfortable with him. An aide to Rep. Charlie
Norwood (R-GA), who, under tremendous pressure from Bush, sold out the
patients' bill of rights, claims that Bolten “screwed us over.” According to
the New Republic, the man who muscled Norwood into bashing patient’s rights
was none other than the hush-hush Joshua Bolten.

The New Republic article (August 2001) Bolten is involved in almost
every aspect of policy in the White House, and to some extent has superseded
Mr. Bush's longtime adviser from Texas, Karl Rove. "The anonymous fourth man
in the inner circle of Bush's staff, Bolten is far less well-known than Andy
Card, Karl Rove...but inside the White House, few doubt his importance," the
magazine's Ryan Lizza writes. "The three spheres of White House
policy-making -- Margaret La Montagne's Domestic Policy Council, Larry
Lindsey's National Economic Council, and Condoleezza Rice's National
Security Council -- all report to him. Technically, Bolten is even Karl
Rove's immediate superior. Since Bolten is the traffic cop for Bush's
briefings, no policy matter comes before the president without his blessing.

According to White House congressional lobbyist Nick Calio, `He's
got his hands in virtually everything at the White House, though. All policy
matters report to him eventually.'"

A QUESTION FOR GEORGE W: Will Bolten change his secretive style, to
one of greater transparency, access, and openness when he runs the budget
office?

Bolten was one of the quiet strategists who created the Office of
Homeland Security, along with White House Chief of Staff Andrew H. Card Jr.
and Tom Ridge. (http://slate.msn.com/id/2066989/)

“He is very secretive, but has his fingerprints all over President
Bush's new $600 billion economic plan, the legislation creating the
Department of Homeland Security and just about every other domestic policy
concocted in his powerful little corner deep in the West Wing,” wrote the
New York Times.
(http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F1091EF73C5A0C758CDDA80894DB
404482)

IF YOU LIKE THE ECONOMY, IF YOU THINK THE TAX CUT PLAN IS A DANDY
IDEA
YOU’LL LOVE JOSH BOLTEN

Josh Bolten is a key architect of the Bush economic plan.
(http://www.stern.nyu.edu/News/news/2002/december/1213nytns.html)

"The president continues these crazy economic policies, not based on
anything but the presidents whim," said Rep. Bob Matsui (D-CA) California,
in a May 2003 Democratic press conference aired on C-Span.

Well, Representative Matsui, meet your new budget director. He
developed the whim.

"But there is a method to their madness, and that is to change the
social structure of this country,” said Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY) “...They
want to roll back the social programs that are the safety net for this
country."

MEMO TO JOSH BOLTON: Putting a trillion dollars into the hands of
the wealthiest people in America will not buy washing machines and cars. The
president's stubborn and failed approach to reviving this economy is turning
into a nightmare.

"I've heard so many times that Josh Bolten is effectively the
secretary of the Treasury in absentia, because of the power that he wields
on economic policy," said one senior Senate Republican leadership aide,
reported by Sun National, May 9 2003.
(http://www.sunspot.net/news/nationworld/bal-te.econteam09may09,0,293488.sto
ry?coll=bal-news-nation)

HATCHET MAN:

According to the Washington Post (Dec. 7, 2002) Bolten was involved
in pushing Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill and National Economic Council
director Lawrence Lindsey to resign, after Bush decided he needed stronger
messengers to communicate with voters. "Bush reached the final decision
after a meeting Wednesday with political adviser Karl Rove, Chief of Staff
Andrew Card and deputy chief of staff Joshua Bolten."
(http://www.primarymonitor.com/news/stories2002/1207_treasury_2002.shtml)

PROTECTING U.S. DRUG MANUFACTURERS:

“Paragraph 6” -- Josh Bolten is believed to have been heavily
involved in the Doha para 6 negotiations, on behalf of PhRMA (Pharmaceutical
Research and Manufacturing of America.) In the USA, the big PhRMA fire power
came from the White House, and US negotiators had almost no real negotiating
freedom. Though Bolten was, characteristically, silent, there was plenty of
evidence that Bush's own economic team (Gary Edson and Josh Bolten) was
deeply involved in the negotiations.

What exactly is “Paragraph 6?” Think of it this way: Prescriptions
for World's Poorest Will Stay Unwritten

According to Guardian Newspapers, 2/19/2003: The pharmaceutical
lobby provided nearly $60m in funding in the recent mid-term US elections,
helping the Republicans win key seats…Now, as one official puts it, "it's
pay-back time; the industry is calling in its favours". At issue was how the
rules should be interpreted to allow manufacturers to export copycat drugs
to countries too poor to make their own, such as most within sub-Saharan
Africa, which is in the grip of the Aids pandemic.

BOLTEN AND THE BUSH CAMPAIGN PROMISES:

He was a key architect of George W. Bush campaign, according to E.J.
Dionne, of the Brookings Institution.
(http://www.pbs.org/thinktank/transcript747.html)

During the campaign, even Republicans became offended by what some
considered “doubletalk,” following a meeting with Bolton.
According to “National Politics” (Oct 2 1999) a senior House
Republican aide said staff members who talked to Bolten, who was at that
time Bush’s Policy Director, about the Republican plan for the earned-income
tax credit, Bolton indicated no opposition to it. But during the campaign,
Bush turned on them, accusing House Republicans of trying to "balance their
budget on the backs of the poor." Bush campaigned on the assertion that he
was an inclusive, peacemaking, compassionate conservative. Even before he
was elected, some disagreed. "We were double-crossed," the aide said, after
the meeting with Josh Belton.
(http://www.courses.psu.edu/hd_fs/hd_fs597_rxj9/gop-bush.html)

According to CNN AllPolitics.com September 4, 2000
”Quietly running Bush’s campaign policy meeting was Josh Bolten, the
Bush campaign's 45-year-old policy director.”
Bolten and his staff were cagey about the prescription drugs plan.
“Gore plans to give an economic speech that's sure to hammer home his charge
that Bush's tax cut is so big it doesn't leave room for the drugs plan.
Bolten's forces will send out spreadsheets saying that isn't so.”

During the campaign, Bolten’s policy plan became so comprehensive
that the Democrat Leadership Council (DLC) complained that Bush had poached
ideas from their plan.
(http://cgi.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/time/2000/09/11/serious.html)

JOSH BOLTEN’S OFFICIAL BIO

From 1999 to 2000, Josh Bolten was Policy Director of the
Bush-Cheney 2000 Presidential campaign and the Bush-Cheney Presidential
Transition. From 1994-1999, he was Executive Director, Legal & Government
Affairs for Goldman Sachs International in London. In the previous Bush
administration, Josh was General Counsel to the U.S. Trade Representative
and Deputy Assistant to the President for Legislative Affairs. Previously,
he was International Trade Counsel to the U.S. Senate Finance Committee.

CONCERNS ABOUT JOSH BOLTEN

Mitch Daniels, who he will replace, was not an ideologue; he did his
job as a number cruncher and a fiscal conservative. He made enemies on the
hill when he was snippy about their pork habits. But, in the end, he
overcame his fiscal conservativeness to serve the Bush team in their quest
for more money for their cronies (ala tax cuts). He didn't look too
comfortable in that part of the job.

Now the picture of Bolten: Ideologue and agenda pusher/manhandler.
There will be a huge conflict in this particular position between the job
(reporting budget projections, transparent management of government funds)
and the political role he has been playing. This means he is a perfect fit
for the Rove political machine -- but perhaps not such a great fit for the
rest of the country who deserve to actually have an office of budget and
management, not an office of Enron accounting to make our economy "appear
healthy." Secrecy has no place when he is handling OUR money.

AND A WORD ABOUT BOLTEN’S FATHER, CIA ESPIONAGE AGENT

"When Bush (George H.W. Bush) saw the AP story in the Washington
Star, he asked for an internal CIA review to verify the story (it was true),
and if it would 'cause problems for Helms.' Helms lied to a Senate committee
about the CIA's role in subverting Chilean democracy and would later be
convicted for contempt of Congress.

"After investigating, Bush assistant Seymour Bolten reported the
exposure of Helms' false testimony to the Warren Commission would probably
cause Helms 'some anxious moments,' though not 'any additional legal
problems.' But Bush was assured that a 'slightly better' story had resulted
from an Agency phone call to AP 'protesting that Martin's story was sloppy.'
Additionally, Bush was told that an unnamed journalist had 'advised his
editors...not to run the AP story.'

"Bolten complained to Bush: ‘ This is another example where material
provided to the press and public in response to FOIA requests is exploited
mischievously and is distorted to make headlines.' One might more accurately
describe it as an occasion where Bush’s CIA pressured one news outlet to
back away from an accurate story while using a connection in the press corps
to suppress it in another (Bowen 55-6)."
(http://home.att.net/~m.standridge/dayshot.htm and
http://www.fair.org/extra/best-of-extra/cia-bush

[BeHereNow]

1. Oh yes, he is one scary guy

and the reason you don't hear much about him
is that he is too close to the REAL powers that be.
We NEVER hear their names.
BHN

[madfloridian]

2. Looks like he supercedes even Karl Rove.

SNIP..."The New Republic article (August 2001) Bolten is involved in almost
every aspect of policy in the White House, and to some extent has superseded
Mr. Bush's longtime adviser from Texas, Karl Rove. "The anonymous fourth man
in the inner circle of Bush's staff, Bolten is far less well-known than Andy
Card, Karl Rove...but inside the White House, few doubt his importance," the
magazine's Ryan Lizza writes. "The three spheres of White House
policy-making -- Margaret La Montagne's Domestic Policy Council, Larry
Lindsey's National Economic Council, and Condoleezza Rice's National
Security Council -- all report to him. Technically, Bolten is even Karl
Rove's immediate superior. Since Bolten is the traffic cop for Bush's
briefings, no policy matter comes before the president without his blessing."

[madfloridian]

3. Google image search on Bolten turned up JCMach1's Syndrome blog.

http://www.thesyndrome.com/archives/archive-052003.htm

Jerald, I had forgotten how long you had the blog up online.

[DeepModem Mom]

4. Excellent research, madfloridian!

[madfloridian]

5. It came from DU, I think. From last year.

I often save research on the Bush bunch. I did not credit this when I saved it, but it either came from Bartcop or DU. I remember we looked into this guy a lot last year.