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Mar. 6, 2000
A dinner party with this crew could make you lose your lunch.
Campaign-finance watchdogs TEXANS FOR PUBLIC JUSTICE have just released a new list of major Bush backers. It includes the newest additions to the Shrub’s lengthening roster of bestest friends (aka “pioneers”) — the ones who contribute or raise $100,000 or more for his campaign.
Some of the more notable characters, according to the TPJ:
- Charles W. “Tre” Evers III, public relations
Claim to fame: Helped Florida’s sugar industry defeat a 1996 initiative to tax sugar grown in the Everglades, where the crops are destroying the ecosystem.
Claims to fame: Vocal affirmative action foe; accepted a $292,500 “going-away” gift from the cash-strapped United Way; wife of Sen. Mitch McConnell, an unapologetic enemy of campaign finance reform.
Claim to fame: Dropped out of the 1982 Boston mayoral race after media discovered he had plagiarized an anti-corruption policy proposal.
Claim to fame: This vascular surgeon spends his days fixing what tobacco has destroyed in his patients; meanwhile, he owns allotments to grow enough tobacco for 26.3 million packs of cigarettes a year.
Claim to fame: Youngevity’s cozy relationship with Bush won the massive watering-down of a Texas state law which would have made it necessary to have a prescription to obtain ephedrine. Ephedrine, a close cousin of methamphetamine, is often marketed as an “herbal supplement” for weight loss. Eight deaths in Texas have been linked to the substance.
Claim to fame: The Shrub’s dad appointed Secchia ambassador to Italy, despite Secchia’s reputation for lewdness; Secchia allegedly mooned one woman at a GOP convention and called another a “bitch.”
Claim to fame: Steil violated Michigan campaign-finance laws when he billed his campaign for more that $20,000 for a birthday party he threw for himself.
Claim to fame: Allegedly bribed a local school for support for a nearby housing development, which educators had said would overwhelm the existing school system.
Read the full list on the TEXANS FOR PUBLIC JUSTICE Web site.
