Background

CBS, the network that so thoughtfully brought us Richard Clarke, Joe Wilson, and Woodward saying things that aren’t even in Woodward’s book, now brings us Ben Barnes, who will tell us that he helped get Bush into the National Guard at Daddy’s request. According to the Blogspirator, who has a lot of great research on Barnes, he will get his message out in a SwiftBoatVets type video.

Some Facts

I’ve already reported that the intermediary in this transaction is a guy who is dead, so can’t challenge the account. The Spectator has more. Now hear this:

1) Barnes is the number three contributor to John Kerry, through his bundling of contributions of individuals. (Captain Ed)

2) Barnes saw his Texas elective career — Lt. Governor — end (as did many top Dems) because of the Sharpstown stock fraud scandal, which was kind of like Whitewater, ecxept everybody made money. From Insurance Journal in 2000:

Gov. Davis was labeled an unindicted co-conspirator in the bribery case and lost his bid for reelection; Mutscher, Shannon and McGinty were sentenced to five years probation; Osorio received a 14-month sentence and probation; three-term Attorney General Carr lost his job; Lt. Gov. Ben Barnes’ reputation was ruined; and half of the legislature either left or were voted out of office.

3) The same Guard-related charge was made in 1999, and the LA Times, among others, investigated it and found it to be unsupported.

4) Barnes was involved with the lottery company GTECH in two messy situations. The first was a federal prosecutor’s allegation of Barnes’ involvement in a $500,000 bribery scheme in New Jersey to a GTECH executive, who was convicted and sent to prison. This from the Abilene Reporter-News:

Published reports have said a federal grand jury is investigating GTECH’s business relationships in Texas. In January, Barnes was accused in a federal prosecutors’ report in New Jersey of engaging in a kickback scheme similar to one that led to the conviction of a lottery company official in New Jersey.

The allegation was in a pre-sentencing report filed in Newark federal court in the criminal case of J. David Smith, former national sales manager for GTECH Holdings Corp. No charges have been filed against Barnes, who denies any improprieties in his dealings with GTECH.

Smith was accused in New Jersey of hiring GTECH consultants who would give him a portion of what they earned from the firm. He was convicted in October of defrauding GTECH of $169,500. In its pre-sentencing report, the U.S. attorney’s office in New Jersey asked that federal Judge Nicholas Politan consider Smith’s Texas dealings with Barnes and other GTECH consultants.

In Texas, prosecutors alleged, more than $500,000 was paid to Smith through a Barnes bank account. “The Texas monies are kickbacks and should be considered as relevant conduct for the purpose of calculating” the sentence against Smith, prosecutors said in the 53-page report.

5) The second scandal involving Barnes and GTECH concerned the Texas lottery itself, which had been very lucrative for Barnes, according to the Abilene paper:

Since the Texas Lottery began in 1992, Barnes had been receiving 4 percent of GTECH’s gross revenue from its operation of the Texas Lottery, at times totaling more than $3 million per year for Barnes.

GTECH makes the following disclosures in its 1997 10-K report to the Securities and Exchange Commission:

It has not been uncommon in the lottery industry for investigations of various types, including grand jury investigations, to be conducted by federal or state law enforcement and other officials into possible undue influence, bribery or other improprieties or wrongdoing in connection with efforts to obtain or the awarding of lottery contracts and related matters.…. Some investigations in the past have involved the Company, or its consultants, lobbyists or representatives, directly or indirectly, and the Company is aware of federal grand jury investigations currently being conducted by the U.S. Attorneys in New Jersey and Texas….

As widely reported in the Texas media, the Texas Lottery Commission is inquiring of GTECH regarding its business relationships relating to the Texas Lottery and GTECH has cooperated with that inquiry. The Texas Lottery is also inquiring about several other matters which could have material negative implications with respect to GTECH’s business in Texas, including the following:

- GTECH’s consulting contracts with Ben Barnes, formerLieutenant Governor of Texas, which contracts were entered into in 1991 and were bought out and terminated by the Companyin February 1997…

In March 1997, the Texas Lottery Commission directed its staff to prepare and circulate by June 30, 1997, a request for proposals with respect to the entire Texas Lottery contract currently held by GTECH….The Texas Lottery Commission has further asserted that it has no obligation to deal with GTECH in good faith with respect to the termination of its contract with the Company…. The Texas Lottery contract is GTECH’s largest, accounting for approximately 16% of GTECH’s total revenues in fiscal 1997 and a significant percentage of operating income.

Summary

Bush’s Guard service, already investigated by the LA Times and many others with no evidence of wrongdoing, has resurfaced because of the allegations of John Kerry’s third largest contributor of bundled contributions. And what do we know about this fellow, in addition to his ties to the Kerry campaignas its third largest fund raiser? Why, quite a lot, as it turns out.

Ben Barnes is a former Lt. governor of Texas whose reputation had been “ruined,” according to Insurance Journal, because of a stock-fraud scandal. According to Federal Prosecutors in New Jersey, Barnes bribed convicted GTECH felon David Smith to the tune of $500,000 in the mid 90’s. Finally, from 1992-1997 Barnes was being paid by GTECH a percentage of the take on the Texas lottery, up to $3 million per year, to help secure and maintain the single largest and most profitable piece of GTECH’s business, but had that contract terminated because of an investigation by the Texas Lottery Commission that could have “material negative implications” for GTECH’s business. This Ben Barnes appears to be one solid citizen, does he not?

MSM credibility to hit another new low

You wanna bet we won’t hear any of this on 60 Minutes? Well, I suppose his credibility is as high Joe Wilson’s.

UPDATE: Even his daughter Amy says he’s lying, for pete’s sake, via WND.

This entry was posted on Sunday, September 5th, 2004 at 8:48 am and is filed under General, New Media, Red Shift. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.