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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Rambi who wrote (68061)	9/8/2004 3:06:31 PM
From: carranza2	Respond to of 793964

If you watch this tape excerpt, Barnes states that he got Bush into the National Guard "when he was lt. gov." So he seems to be a bit confused. I;m sure his handlers have straightened him out. Right. Barnes is bad news, a sleazy SOB if there ever was one. Kerry must believe he is in serious trouble if he thinks that Barnes is his salvation. Here's a CNN article on an investigation done by the LA Times at the time the allegations were originally made indicating that the LAT found no evidence of political influence being used to get W in to the NG: cnn.com Barnes is definitely stinky. Lost his Lt. Gov. job because of an S&L scandal involving him: tsha.utexas.edu Very questionable dealings with respect to the Texas Lottery; his $3 million a year lobbying contract had to be terminated due to a federal prosecutor based in New Jersey alleging that Barnes operated a kickback scheme. texnews.com The buyout for the contract made Barnes a rich man--reportedly $23 million. belogical.com Barnes was so interested in the criminal case in NJ that he intervened in the appeal of the case, using one of Texas' most famous drug lawyers as counsel. vls.law.vill.edu The Wall St. Journal's take on this sleazy business: Kickback lottery scheme US prosecutors are continuing to investigate J. David Smith, former sales manager of Gtech Holdings, after his conviction in a kickback scheme while the company was seeking business from the New Jersey lottery. Gtech, the country's largest state lottery contractor - which runs computerised lotteries for 29 states and many foreign countries - was not party to the case. Noting statements during the trial that Gtech spends some $20 million year on lobbyists and consultants, assistant US attorney Kimberly Guadagno, said "If they're paying $20 million to buy access to public officials, then there has to be something wrong with that." During the trial it emerged that Mr Smith had arranged a commission for himself from Gtech consultant Ben Barnes, equal to one third of the payments Mr Barnes received. Mr Barnes, a former lieutenant governor of Texas, who gets a percentage of Gtech's revenue from the Texas lottery, received $3.2 million in one year. Wall Street Journal, 7 October 1996 nvc.halsnet.com