Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Bill who wrote (272159)	7/9/2002 6:51:00 PM
From: DuckTapeSunroof	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

Who? >>> One of Bush’s fishiest moves as a businessman who failed upward in the oil industry occurred in 1990, when Bush was on the board of directors and the audit committee of Dallas-based Harken Energy. Harken had bailed out Bush four years earlier by buying his own down-and-almost-out oil venture. In that deal Bush received a hefty dose of Harken shares. In June 1990, Bush dumped over 212,000 shares and bagged $848,000. He did so at a time when Harken was slipping but had hidden losses by selling a subsidiary, more or less, to itself in a deal the Securities and Exchange Commission later ruled a phony transaction. Moreover, Bush failed to disclose his stock sale right away, as the SEC required, and, instead, notified the SEC eight months after the federal deadline. Bush skated. An SEC investigation concluded without penalties or charges, but the SEC did unearth other instances of late filings by Bush. Those skeptical about these things might want to note that the SEC general counsel at the time, James Doty, had earlier represented Bush during his purchase of the Texas Rangers baseball team—a deal that Bush partly financed with the proceeds of his Harken stock dump. And during that SEC inquiry Bush was represented by Robert Jordan, who had been a partner of Doty at the Baker Botts law firm. Jordan is now Bush’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia. Whether Bush broke any laws, the Harken deal stunk. (And there’s more to it than the cursory description I’ve provided.) If Bush had not engaged in insider trading, he certainly benefited as an insider. At the least, his financial ass was saved by Harken because of his DNA and his father’s job (vice-president). Yet the Harken mess has never much haunted Bush in public. Until now. On July 2, New York Times columnist Paul Krugman recalled Bush’s Harken ride and observed that Bush’s Harken trade had netted him about four times the cash Martha Stewart saved via her suspicious transaction. Krugman went on to opine that Bush’s "administration is uniquely well qualified to chase after corporate evildoers" because Bush has "firsthand experience of the subject."