Thursday, March 11, 2004

want to be an ambassador?
well if you can come up with enough money and influence to help george bush, you can!

have i said "fuck george bush" recently? yeah, fuck george bush.

The list of non-career, often inexperienced, diplomats who have been appointed to ambassadorships by President Bush includes at least three dozen rich GOP donors – including 20 Pioneers. Pioneers earned their recognition by pledging to raise at least $100,000. The campaign disclosed the names of 241 people who met this goal in 2000, and 45 who have done so in the 2004 campaign. Another 310 people pledged to round up $100,000 for Bush in 2000, but it is not known how many, if any, reached the goal.

George Argyros – Ambassador to Spain

Argyros made it big in the Southern California real estate market. The ex-owner of the Seattle Mariners baseball team was been listed by Forbes magazine among the 400 richest Americans in the early ‘90s. Argyros was California campaign chairman for the Republicans in 2000. Not just a Bush Pioneer, Argyros made a total of $134,000 in GOP contributions during the 2000 election cycle.

Stephen Brauer – Ambassador to Belgium

Brauer, president of an automotive engineering company in Missouri, is part owner of the St. Louis Cardinals baseball club. In addition to attaining Pioneer status as a Bush fundraiser, Brauer made a total of $413, 830 in GOP contributions during the 2000 election cycle. He has announced plans to leave his ambassadorship in September 2003.

Nancy Brinker – Ambassador to Hungary

Brinker’s husband, Norman, is chairman of Brinker International, which operates several national restaurant chains. She is the founder of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, which is named in memory of her sister. Palmer and her husband made a total of $125,000 in GOP contributions during the 2000 election cycle.

W.L. Brown Jr. – Ambassador to Austria

Brown is the retired CEO of Brown-Forman Corp, which makes Jack Daniels and Southern Comfort. In addition to attaining Pioneer status as a Bush fundraiser, Brown made a total of $137,450 in GOP contributions during the 2000 election cycle.

Richard Egan – Ambassador to Ireland

Egan resigned as ambassador in December 2002. He made a fortune as founder and chairman of the high-tech company EMC and served on Bush’sTechnology Advisory Council in 1999. Not just a Bush Pioneer, Egan made a total of $480,100 in GOP contributions during the 2000 election cycle.

Russell Freeman – Ambassador to Belize

Freeman is a lawyer from North Dakota, where he specializes in corporate and probate law. His brother, Brad Freeman, is a California investor who also was a major Bush donor and fundraiser Freeman made a total of $3,750 in GOP contributions during the 2000 election cycle.

Tony Gioia – Ambassador to Malta

Gioia, known as a pasta magnate, is president of Gioia Management Inc. in Buffalo, N.Y., and served on the Bush 2000 national finance committee. Gioia personally made $36,411 in GOP contributions during the 2000 election cycle.

Hans Hertell – Ambassador to Dominican Republic

Hertell is the chairman of American Builders Corporation, a general contractor in Puerto Rico. In the early 1990s, he was Caribbean and Latin American director for the Washington-based consulting firm Black, Kelly, Scruggs and Healy. In addition to attaining Pioneer status as a Bush fundraiser, Hertell made a total of $23,000 in GOP contributions during the 2000 election cycle.

Robert W. Jordan – Ambassador to Saudi Arabia

Jordan is a partner in the Texas law firm of Baker & Botts, which also includes Bush legal adviser James Baker. Jordan represented Bush during SEC inquiries about the management of his now-defunct company, Harkin Energy. At the time he was appointed ambassador, Jordan was also reportedly a candidate for Justice Department antitrust chief. Jordan personally made $2,500 in GOP contributions during the 2000 election cycle.

Frank Lavin – Ambassador to Singapore

Lavin is a repeat appointee from previous GOP administrations and is known as a steadfast Republican donor. He was deputy assistant Commerce secretary for East Asia under the first President Bush and served President Reagan administration as deputy executive secretary of the National Security Council and White House political director. Lavin also has been Bank of America’s regional manager in Singapore and Citibank’s vice president of Global Corporate Banking in Hong Kong. Lavin personally made $4,500 in GOP contributions during the 2000 election cycle.

Howard Leach – Ambassador to France

Leach is the former Republican National Committee finance chairman. He is a billionaire CEO of Leach Capital Corp., which is invested in timber, agriculture and other interests. As president of Cypress Farms, Inc., in California, he earned a reputation for extracting pro-agricultural decisions from the first Bush administration. In addition to attaining Pioneer status as a Bush fundraiser, Leach made a total of $399,359 in GOP contributions during the 2000 election cycle.

Jeffrey A. Marcus – Ambassador to Belgium

Marcus, part owner of the Texas Rangers baseball team and the Dallas Stars hockey team, is chairman of J&N Ventures Inc. in Dallas. He founded Marcus Cable Co., the nation's largest privately held cable operator, but sold it five years ago. In addition to attaining Pioneer status as a Bush fundraiser in 2,000, he was reportedly the top GOP donors in the nation for the 2002 mid-term elections, giving nearly $300,000. He was appointed to his ambassadorship in August 2003, replacing Pioneer Stephen Bauer.

John Ong – Ambassador to Norway

Ong, who retired in 1997 as chairman of B.F. Goodrich, is the former head of the powerful Business Roundtable and the National Business Alliance. Not just a Bush Pioneer, Ong made a total of $181,735 in GOP contributions during the 2000 election cycle. Earlier this year, Ong agreed to pay a $15,000 fine to the Federal Election Commission for giving too much money to federal candidates in 1997 and 1999.

John Palmer – Ambassador to Portugal

Palmer, who was chairman of SkyTel Communications until the wireless paging company was bought by MCI WorldCom, now heads a venture capital firm in Jackson, MS. He was state finance chair for Bush the elder in 1992 and Bush the younger in 2000. In addition to attaining Pioneer status as a Bush fundraiser, Palmer made a total of $166,850 in GOP contributions during the 2000 election cycle.

John Price – Ambassador to Mauritius

A large commercial real estate broker and shopping mall developer from Utah, Price and his family gave not just to election campaigns but to the Florida recount fund and the transition team. In all, Price personally made a total of $367,181 in GOP contributions during the 2000 election cycle. Only weeks before his appointment to the ambassadorship, a jury found that Price and his company had cheated former partners out of $1 million in a New Mexico mall deal.

Mercer Reynolds III – Ambassador to Switzerland

Reynolds returned from Switzerland in April 2003 to become the national finance chairman for Bush's re-election campaign. He is a Cincinnati investor who has been a partner with Bush in the energy business and with the Texas Rangers baseball team. He also owns Reynolds Plantation Golf Resort, the site of a $2.25 million Bush fundraiser in June 2003. Besides being known as the "fundraiser in chief," Reynolds made a total of $456,173 in GOP contributions during the 2000 election cycle.

Martin Silverstein – Ambassador to Uruguay

A Philadelphia and New Jersey lawyer, Silverstein has a close relationship with former governor and now Homeland Security honcho Tom Ridge. Silverstein reached Pioneer status by raising $100,000 or more for Bush, and personally made a total of $37,325 in GOP contributions during the 2000 election cycle.

Clifford Sobel – Ambassador to Netherlands

Sobel is a longtime political fundraiser and former chairman of the Internet company Net2Phone. In addition to working for Bush’s campaign, Sobel has been chief fundraiser for the New Jersey Republican Party, former Gov. Christine Todd Whitman, who until recently headed the Environmental Protection Agency, and former U.S. Rep. Jim Courter. Not just a Bush Pioneer, Sobel made a total of $299,700 in GOP contributions during the 2000 election cycle.

Craig Stapleton – Ambassador to Czech Republic

Stapleton is married to Bush’s cousin Dorothy. He heads the Connecticut real estate firm Marsh & McLennan’s, which in turn owns Putnam Investments & Marsh Mercer Consulting Group. Stapleton also was an investor with Bush in the Texas Rangers baseball team. Not just a cousin-by-marriage and Bush Pioneer, Stapleton and his family made a total of $61,500 in GOP contributions during the 2000 election cycle.

Charles Swindells – Ambassador to New Zealand

Swindells is an executive with the Portland, Ore., branch of U.S. Trust Co., which was acquired by the Charles Schwab investment company – which, itself, is strongly aligned with the GOP. In addition to attaining Pioneer status as a Bush fundraiser, Swindells made a total of $42,000 in GOP contributions during the 2000 election cycle.

Peter Terpeluk Jr. – Ambassador to Luxembourg

Terpeluk worked in the Small Business Administration for the Reagan administration. He ran his own lobby firm, Terpeluk & Associates, before joining Pioneer David Metzner at American Continental in ’94. Washington-D.C.-based American has a client list that includes gambling, medical and high-tech special interests. Terpeluk was named ambassador to Luxembourg in 2002, replacing another big GOP donor, Denis Coleman. Terpeluk was gubernatorial candidate George W. Bush’s campaign finance chair in ’92.

Ronald Weiser – Ambassador to Slovak Republic

Weiser, CEO of McKinley Associates Inc, is an Ann Arbor, Mich., real estate investor, and served as Bush’s finance chair for Michigan. Not just a Bush Pioneer, Weiser made a total of $45,250 in GOP contributions during the 2000 election cycle. At the 2000 GOP convention, Weiser arranged for more than 100 Michigan delegates and alternates to attend a $1,000-a-plate fundraising lunch with Bush.