10/25/2006
Conrad Burns: Kicked Back, With His Mind on His Money and His Money and His Mind
by Matt Singer on 9:39 am.
This morning’s Missoulian:
A new accounting review shows, among other things, the organization’s chief executive received three different salaries at the same time. And one of the company’s former employees said in a Missoulian interview that staff members were expected to contribute to Burns’ re-election campaign.
Multiple salaries? Expectations to send money back to Burns?
Why that all sounds corrupt as Hell to me. This whole expectation of feudal loyalty smacks of Resodyn buying debate seats and guaranteeing them for Burns’ supporters.
Can we rename Burns’ office Tamany Hall?
As another note, I have no real idea whether there was ever an explicit agreement between George Bailey and Burns or Burns’ staff to kickback these federal appropriations to Burns’ reelection campaign. I do know that a man, who when discussing federal appropriations would howl, “That’s my money. My outpatient clinics,” is a man who has so thoroughly lost touch with reality and all sense of decency that demanding favors in exchange for how he uses his power to earmark our money certainly isn’t outside the realm of possibility.
It’s his money after all. It belongs in his campaign coffers.
Also worth noting, Lee Newspapers is doing an analysis of whether Burns really is bringing major money into the state (notably, all of the Lee papers are running this Burns story, only the Missoulian appears to be reporting on the INSA corruption developments). They singled out Burns’ Butte claims and found that he does bring money to the state. They also found that some of the money Burns claims he brought to Montana went elsewhere, that former staffers of his turned lobbyists had a hand in much of it (can we all say “revolving door” together?), and 80% of the money Burns is claiming he secured was also requested by Baucus, so it’s tough to give exclusive credit.
Notably, Burns is doing these things when these companies hire his former staff as lobbyists. I’ve written it before, but it appears I’ll have to write it again. I’m not really sure how much Burns is a part of this, but it appears some Republicans long ago figured out a game: find a dumb man on the appropriations committee, work for him for several years and line up approps for his former staffers turned lobbyists, when you leave to start your lobbying career just find a replacement who will do the same for you. Make it easier the Senator’s new staff by mostly finding your clients in the Senator’s home state. Then, charge Montanans high prices for access to their own Senator. That’s a damn good way to make a living.
In fact, it’d be about $20 million they’ve made via our Senator, their former boss.
Tamany Hall
| | Permanent Link | Categories: Conrad Burns, Front Page, corrupt, dickhead |
I was particularly tickled by the quote, “One of the largest beneficiaries of federal largesse in Butte is MSE.”
Their president Jeff Ruffner sent a non-profit I’m associated with a rejection letter during a capital campaign with the excuse that worries about an unstable economy due to a bloated federal budget made giving impossible at this time.
Good deal Matt. Thanks for the insights. Seems to me that this would turn the real conservatives off, but I ma not sure that they even exist anymore.
I see in the billings gazoo that the Presidunce is coming to billings on thurs to help cornbread out! Will it work? I doubt it. Let the word go out to get the protests ready!
Our campaign finance system is like giving candy to a child and then telling him not to eat it.
More Burns news: Tester’s latest e-mail just cleared up two questions of mine, namely what is Burns’s secret plan, and what was he holding up to Tester at the end of the last debate!
Behold!: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZmT eFq13VU
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