The Nation: Hillary's Mysterious Money Men

[illinoisprogressive]

In the Clintons' pursuit of power, there is no such thing as a strange bedfellow. One recently exposed inamorata was Norman Hsu, the mysterious businessman from Hong Kong who brought in $850,000 to Hillary Clinton's campaign before being unmasked as a fugitive. Her campaign dismissed Hsu as someone who'd slipped through the cracks of an otherwise unimpeachable system for vetting donors, and perhaps he was. The same cannot be said for the notorious financier Alan Quasha, whose involvement with Clinton is at least as substantial--and still under wraps.

Political junkies will recall Quasha as the controversial figure who bailed out George W. Bush's failing oil company in 1986, folding Bush into his company, Harken Energy, thus setting him on the path to a lucrative and high-profile position as an owner of the Texas Rangers baseball team, and the presidency. The persistently unprofitable Harken--many of whose board members, connected to powerful foreign interests and the intelligence community, nevertheless profited enormously--faced intense scrutiny in the early 1990s and again during Bush's first term.

Now Quasha is back--on the other side of the aisle. Operating below the radar, he entered Hillary Clinton's circle even before she declared her candidacy by quietly arranging for the hire of Clinton confidant and longtime Democratic Party money man Terry McAuliffe at one of his companies. During the interregnum between McAuliffe's chairmanship of the Democratic Party and the time he officially joined Clinton's campaign, Quasha's firm set McAuliffe up with a salary and opened a Washington office for him.


Just a few years earlier, McAuliffe had publicly criticized Bush for his financial dealings with Harken, disparaging the company's Enron-like accounting. Yet in 2005 McAuliffe accepted this cushy perch with Quasha's newly acquired investment firm, Carret Asset Management, and even brought along former Clinton White House business liaison Peter O'Keefe, who had been his senior aide at the Democratic National Committee. McAuliffe remained with the company until he became national chair of Hillary's presidential bid, and O'Keefe never left. McAuliffe's connection to Quasha has, until now, never been noted.

Another strong link between Quasha and Clinton is Quasha's business partner, Hassan Nemazee, a top Hillary fundraiser who was trotted out to defend her during the Hsu episode--in which the clothing manufacturer was unmasked as a swindler who seemingly funneled illegal contributions through "donors" of modest means.

In June, by liquidating a blind trust, the Clintons sought to distance themselves from any financial entanglements that might embarrass the campaign. Clinton spokesman Howard Wolfson argued that the couple had gone "above and beyond" what was legally required "in order to avoid even the hint of a conflict of interest." But throughout their political careers, Bill and Hillary Clinton have repeatedly associated with people whose objectives seemed a million miles from "a place called Hope." Among these Alan Quasha and his menagerie--including Saudi frontmen, a foreign dictator, figures with intelligence ties and a maze of companies and offshore funds--stand out.

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20071105/baker_federman

[rinsd]

1. LOL now its morphed to six degrees of separation.

The Nation (at first it was just Ariana Bermanington) has become pathetic in their attempts to smear Hillary.

[MonkeyFunk]

2. I once knew

this lady whose cousin once gave money to Hillary Clinton, and then that cousin went to NYC and had a cabbie who once drove Kevin Bacon!!!!!

[incapsulated]

4. The Nation will go to great lengths

To smear people they don't like, and I don't like the Nation because of it.

Alan Quasha has donated money to:

Barak Obama

Christopher Dodd

Mitt Romney

Rudy Guilliani

He gave more to Hillary and Romney because I assume he is trying to back the likely winners.

http://fundrace.huffingtonpost.com/neighbors.php?type=name&lname=Quasha&fname=Alan

[hedgehog]

6. The article mentions that, and it indicates support for the DNC .

Clearly though, these people have direct connections to Ms. Clinton that go beyond a $4300 campaign donation. Setting up a phony job so MacCaulif could work on the campaign is one example.

[incapsulated]

8. Because the Clintons have those kinds of connections

This is a former President of the United States. These are players.

If Obama won the election he would have the same kind of connect the dot associations.

The system is corrupt. No one is innocent.

[hedgehog]

10. I have two words for that argument:

Jimmy Carter

[incapsulated]

12. Do you know?

Jimmy Carter was an innocent, really?

I wouldn't want the Nation investigating his time in office or his connections, either.

[hedgehog]

15. I watched the Carter presidency. He may have been naive, but he was

and is an honest man.

[incapsulated]

17. I watched a lot of things in politcs

Before the internet and without reading investigations and had not a clue what was going on behind the scenes. Especially now with campaigns costing a million times what they used to.

I think Jimmy Carter is a good man. But no one who sat in the White House is an innocent lamb. Nor would such information about him change my opinion that he is basically a good man. I don't judge people by perfection in a corrupt system, I judge them by what they do.

[hedgehog]

18. Also presented for your consideration:

It would appear that at least some of our candidates don't feel a need to buddy up with big money men to run a campaign.

[incapsulated]

19. No, but which are really viable candidates?

The Clintons always went for big money, that is no secret. It's not pretty and nothing to brag about.

They also have the ABILITY to get it.

I'm not going to argue that they aren't the worst with this, because they are. They are also the only ones capable.

[hedgehog]

20. I don't know, $1.7 million and counting in two days isn't pocket change!

and it's coming in $50 and $20 at a time!

Gobama!

[incapsulated]

21. No, he is doing well

And more than keeping up. :)

[karynnj]

23. I think he was but not everyone around him was - Bert Lance

[DURHAM D]

35. I hope you are kidding.

Carter had many scandals - starting with his own brother's relationship with Libya. Check out Bert Lance, Andrew Young, and Ham Jordan just for starters. Carter had a relationship with some guy who got caught in the Oil-for-Food program also.

[John Q. Citizen]

30. Especially the people whio vote for them, after knowing this. They are the most corrupt.

[incapsulated]

31. So I guess you won't vote for Clinton and we are corrupt if we do?

If voting for a democrat in the GE makes me corrupt I tell you to go and suck Nader's dick.

[John Q. Citizen]

34. Your guess is as good as mine. Some people would sell there

own grandmother out if they thought they would win.

Just up thread you make the point that corrution is a good thing because it makes a candidate viable.

What you are saying is there isn't a dimes worth of difference between Hillary and bush when it comes to corruption. Which is a good thing, in your opinion, because it makes her a viable candidate.

Like I said, the people who would vote for either one, knowing what you know, are the most corrupt. Which is why the corruption continues. Voters such as yourself enable the corruption.

Have a nice day!

[incapsulated]

36. Ah, another purist

Too good for the corrupt system, refusing to participate.

Voting for Nader and ensuring the worst fucking administration in US history is installed.

Go YOU.

[John Q. Citizen]

37. Imagine peace!

"Too good for the corrupt system, refusing to participate.

Voting for Nader and ensuring the worst fucking administration in US history is installed.

Go YOU."

I'm not too good for it, I just won't promote it and then pretend it's somebody else's fault.

Nobody is pure. But all of us have to decide for ourselves where we draw the line. You seem to be a very angry and scared person. Well, it's no wonder, given the times we live in. You assume the worst in others, and maybe you have good reason to do that. I hope your vote will bring you some peace and meaning to your life. If it doesn't , well, c'est la vie.

Even damnation is poisoned with rainbows- Leonard Cohen

[leveymg]

29. Al Quasha is one of the BCCI-Nugan Hand Iran-Contra dirty money guys from way back.

The Clintons were compromised by this international spook mafia of rogue intel, Saudis and Rightwing Israelis back in the early 1980s during the Mena Airport thing.

They're still pumping money into American politics. Amazing.

[mod mom]

38. So you attack the messenger but don't debunk the information in the article?

That's a winning solution.

[msongs]

3. the OP will NOT vote the democratic party candidate if it is Hillary Clinton nt

[leftchick]

7. me either

she is no more what I consider a Democrat than McCain or Guillianni.

oh and nice avatar. :crazy:

[jgraz]

14. Well that certainly refutes all facts in the article she posted

:eyes:

[bonito]

16. As well as I n/t

[Colobo]

27. Will you vote and root for Obama if he is the nominee, dear msongs?

You don't seem to like him very much.

[leftchick]

5. dirty reading! I need a shower!

:puke:

<snip>

As his co-chair in the private firm, Quasha chose his old friend Nemazee, a fellow Harken investor. By the time of the Carret acquisition, Nemazee, a founding member of the Iranian-American Political Action Committee whose family was close with the late Shah of Iran, had become a significant fundraiser for the Clintons and the Democratic Party. In 1995 he raised money for the DNC. In 1998, in the midst of the Lewinsky affair, Nemazee collected $60,000 for Bill Clinton's legal defense fund in $10,000 increments from relatives and friends. Clinton subsequently nominated Nemazee as ambassador to Argentina but withdrew the nomination after an article in Forbes raised questions about Nemazee's business dealings in the 1980s and '90s--which noted that the American-born Nemazee magically became "Hispanic" by acquiring Venezuelan citizenship because of a requirement that certain California public pension funds be run by minorities.


<snip>

Meanwhile, during McAuliffe's employment at Carret, Quasha himself donated large sums to the DSCC. He gave $26,700 in June 2006 and $25,000 that October and also personally contributed $4,600, the maximum allowed, to the Hillary Clinton presidential exploratory committee.

Since his start as a young fundraiser on Carter's 1980 re-election campaign, McAuliffe has consistently melded politics, policy and private enterprise. By the time he was 30, he had launched a dozen companies, his own law firm and numerous venture capital companies. Perhaps his most controversial association was with the telecommunications company Global Crossing, where McAuliffe managed to turn a $100,000 personal investment into an $18 million windfall. After McAuliffe sold his shares and got out, the company collapsed; nearly 10,000 employees lost their jobs, and investors lost $54 billion. McAuliffe defended the firm's top executives, who were close with both the Bushes and Clintons, but went on to attack President Bush for similar patterns at Harken.

At a DNC meeting in Las Vegas in 2002, McAuliffe spoke about the recent collapse of Enron and questioned whether Bush could "restore confidence to Wall Street when he has engaged in the same practices he condemns today," a reference to Bush's Harken profiteering. That same year, associates of McAuliffe, fronted by a fake grassroots organization, released an aggressive ad campaign seeking to highlight the Harken-Bush connection.

It is not surprising, then, to learn that neither McAuliffe's connection to Carret nor Quasha's role in the firm have been widely publicized. Carret employees said they were surprised that when Quasha acquired the prestigious firm he did not choose to publicize his coup, instead keeping it quiet. In fact, the company's website does not reveal his role as chair--or much of anything about the firm. The company's chief financial officer, Marco Vega, said he was unable to provide details on Quasha's role in the company, or even to confirm his current title.

[alarimer]

9. Good; we need to expose all this stuff

I am hoping some of this stuff will derail her candidacy.

[hedgehog]

13. Would there be a Hillary Clinton Candidacy minus these money men?

What about Bill Clinton's run back in 1992?

[DemocratSinceBirth]

22. To The Ten People Who Read The Nation

Excuse me the 100,000...

More people read the free Orlando Weekly...

[burythehatchet]

24. your observations are becoming more and more refined by the day.

:thumbsup:

[DemocratSinceBirth]

39. Thank You I Think

"Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds."

-Albert Einstein

[izzybeans]

11. It seems what is wrong for Bush is right for Hillary supporters.

[John Q. Citizen]

33. Yes, they only abhor corruption if it's bush doing it. Funny how that works.

[superkia]

25. Give it up, Clinton supporters could see her eating babies on tv...

and you still wont change their minds. They want to see their favorite team no matter what the cost to our children's future. Clinton supporters remind me so much like the Bush supporters were before, maybe the swapped from Bush and now are in favor of Clinton...Who knows. Lets just hope that enough Americans vote on the facts and not just because someone is the favorite.

[saracat]

40. No kidding.No matter what is revealed about her, they go right on drinking the Koolaid.

[starroute]

26. The Quasha name comes up in a lot of my BCCI files

Both him and his father William ... this Mother Jones article gives much of the background:

http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/1992/09/bushboys.html

Bush Family Value$

September 1, 1992

Harken Energy was formed in l973 by two oilmen who would benefit from a successful covert effort to destabilize Australia's Labor Party government (which had attempted to shut out foreign oil exploration). A decade later, Harken was sold to a new investment group headed by New York attorney Alan G. Quasha, a partner in the firm of Quasha, Wessely & Schneider. Quasha's father, a powerful attorney in the Philippines, had been a staunch supporter of then-president Ferdinand Marcos. William Quasha had also given legal advice to two top officials of the notorious Nugan Hand Bank in Australia, a CIA operation.

After the sale of Harken Energy in 1983, Alan Quasha became a director and chairman of the board. Under Quasha, Harken suddenly absorbed Junior's struggling Spectrum 7 in 1986. The merger immediately opened a financial horn of plenty and reversed Junior's fortunes. But like his brother Jeb, Junior seemed unconcerned about the characters who were becoming his benefactors. Harken's $25 million stock offering in 1987, for example, was underwritten by a Little Rock, Arkansas, brokerage house, Stephens, Inc., which placed the Harken stock offering with the London subsidiary of Union Bank -- a bank that had surfaced in the scandal that resulted in the downfall of the Australian Labor government in 1976 and, later, in the Nugan Hand Bank scandal. (It was also Union Bank, according to congressional hearings on international money laundering, that helped the now-notorious Bank of Credit and Commerce International skirt Panamanian money-laundering laws by flying cash out of the country in private jets, and that was used by Ferdinand Marcos to stash 325 tons of Philippine gold around the world.)

[wyldwolf]

28. Tony Rezko?

[geek tragedy]

32. Hillary has much more experience in sleazy, quasi-legal

fundraising activities. True, Obama had ties with one unsavory character, but even Rezko is no Web Hubbell.

[MethuenProgressive]

41. Not surprising at all to see an Obama logo in the OP

Someday, the Usuals will start posting positive comments about their candidate instead of just thread after thread after thread bashing others. Someday, hopefully.