Spurred on by clammyc's diary about Cheney's charitable contributions. I started wondering why Cheney would give so much money ($1.3 million) to Capital Partners for Education, a Georgetown-based scholarship fund that helps finance education at private and parochial schools for area teenagers. (
http://www.cpfe.org/) It was not only the largest single contribution in the charity's history, but also represents twice their annual budget revenue for this fiscal year. (hat-tips to AMcG826 and mspicata; and I see that HeyThereItsEric has also done some digging).
Here's the rub - this organization seems (at least on the surface - and that's as far as I've gone) to be an admirable one for inner-city DC youth.
And that's the BIG RED FLAG for me.
Why would Dick Cheney do that?
Much more below the flip
Why be suspicious - well, that's how this administration has conditioned us. Since everything they do is under a cloud of secrecy, it's Pavlovian for me. If Cheney does it, it must be wrong.
So, I poke my nose around a little further and the mystery gets even deeper. A solid majority of these companies represented by the Board of Directors have connections to Iraqi and/or rebuilding and reconstruction. It spreads out like a web and touches everything from Halliburton to President Hamid Karzai's security. And why? This is a group that seems to be benevolent in its support of inner city youth.
But I've learned that in the Bush-Cheney world, benevolence can't just be benevolence. It's like when Barbara Bush donated money to the Katrina fund... and then we learn it was earmarked for Ignite!, an educational system for Houston schools. Heck, how can that be bad? But then we find out that Ignite was started by her son, Neal Bush... and that it received financial support from a vast array of foreign concerns, not the least of which was Boris Berezovsky, the Godfather of the Kremlin... and pal of Neal Bush's.
See... when these evil bastards give money for good causes... it seems like there's always an undercurrent that they are trying to cover.
Let's take a look at the Board for Capital Partners for Education. I want to preface this by saying that many of these people seem okay. Many donate to Republicans; many donate to Democrats. As individuals, there aren't that many black marks here. But it's the companies that they work for that raise eyebrows.
Why does CPE have two members of The Carlyle Group on their board? That's the first thing that jumps out.
Praveen Jeyarajah
Managing Director, The Caryle Group
Charles Rossotti
Senior Advisor, The Caryle Group
Carlyle specializes in the following industries: Aerospace & Defense, Automotive, Consumer & Industrial, Energy & Power, Healthcare, Real Estate, Technology & Business Services, Telecommunication & Media, and Transportation. The Group's aerospace and defense investments have been a source of criticism because of the Group's alleged connections to the Middle East. The Carlyle Group's investments are focused on East Asia, Europe and North America. Defense investments represent about 1% of the group's current portfolio -- though this translates, for example, into a 33.8% ownership of QinetiQ, the UK's recently privatized defense company -- but this is the area for which Carlyle Group is best known.
Then there's the Hudson Institute, whose trustees and fellows include Richard Perle, Conrad Black and Scooter Libby. They operate various programs (listed below), including one run by Meyrav Wurmser, wife of David Wurmser, the former Middle East advisor to Dick Cheney, and one of the authors of the neocon strategy paper titled "Clean Break."
Carol Adelman, PhD
Senior Fellow, Hudson Institute
The Hudson Institute is a non-profit think tank headquartered in Washington D.C. While describing itself as "non-partisan" and preferring to portray itself as independently "contrarian" rather than as a conservative think tank, the Hudson Institute gains financial support from many of the foundations and corporations that have bankrolled the conservative movement. [snip]... [I]n the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks it has substantially boosted its focus on international issues such as the Middle East, Latin America and Islam.
The Institute now operates a number of programs - each of which are dubbed as a "center" or "project" - including:
* Center for Islam, Democracy and the Future of the Muslim World - Hillel Fradkin Director
* Islam and Democracy Project - Husain Haqqani Co-Chair;
* Project on Campaign and Election Laws - Amy Kaufman;
* Center for Middle East Policy - Meyrav Wurmser Director;
Then there's Computer Sciences Corporation:
Caralyn Brace
Partner, Computer Sciences Corporation
In March 2003, Computer Sciences Corporation., one of the country's leading IT consulting firms with revenue of more than $11 billion in 2002, acquired DynCorp for $950 million.
Computer Sciences Corporation had more than 1,000 contracts with the U.S. government from 1990 through 2002, worth $15.8 billion.
Iraq contracts
On April 18, 2003, Computer Sciences Corporation's DynCorp International won a contract from the U.S. Department of State to provide up to 1,000 civilian advisers to help organize civilian law enforcement, judicial and correctional agencies.
Afghanistan contracts
In November 2002, the State Department's Diplomatic Security Services took over responsibility for President Hamid Karzai's security from the U.S. military. Part of the work was then contracted out to DynCorp, which also assisted in the protection of Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the Haitian president, in the early 1990s.
http://www.publicintegrity.org/...
On to Hogan and Hartson LLP
J. Warren Gorrell, Jr.
Chairman, Hogan & Hartson, LLP
Rebuilding Afghanistan and Iraq
Pursuing Opportunities & Managing Risk
Iraq Legal Issues
Mr. Robert Kyle, Partner, Hogan & Hartson LLP - Planning for Operations in Iraq
http://www.yuricareport.com/...
How about Arlington Capital Partners? And how about the company they transformed into? QinetiQ. Sound familiar? Scroll back up to the Carlyle Group, which owns 1/3 of QinetiQ.
John A. Bates
Principal, Arlington Capital Partners
Among the private equities that have focused their efforts on the emerging homeland security contracting, trying to replicate Carlyle's success with defense contracting, are Paladin Capital Partners, Arlington Capital Partners, and Behrman Capital.
Arlington Capital Partners, a $450 million private equity, acquired two top federal contractors, ITS Services in April 2003 and Science & Engineering Associates Inc. in January 2004. The firm combined the two, and named the new company Apogen Technologies, which provides "technology solutions" to the departments of Defense and the Homeland Security, as well as other branches of the government. Apogen ranks among the top 10 Department of Homeland Security contractors.
http://www.publicintegrity.org/...
In early August 2005 QinetiQ announced that it would acquire Apogen Technologies, Inc., pending regulatory approval. The QinetiQ website lists this merger as costing $288.0m (£162.7m).
As a privatized company, QinetiQ is now one of the largest defense research organizations in the world.
How about TechnoServe? A company that unites Christian groups and corporate interests that are establishing businesses worldwide.
Bruce McNamer
President and CEO, TechnoServe
Funding: Technoserve supporters include: American Lutheran Church, Canadian Lutheran World Relief, Disciples of Christ (Christian Church), Episcopal Church (Bishop's Fund), Lutheran Church in America, Maryknoll Fathers, Mennonite Central Committee, Reformed Church in America, The Presbyterian Hunger Program, United Church Board for World Ministries, United Methodist Committee on Relief, Atkinson Foundation, Bridgeport Area Foundation, Patrick and Aimee Butler Family Foundation, O.J. Caron Foundation, Patrick and Anna M. Cudahy Fund, Fohs Foundation, Ford Foundation, Greenwich World Hunger Association, International Foundation, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Frank J. Lewis Foundation, Near and Far Aid Association, Theresa & Edward O'Toole Foundation, The Pate Institute for Human Survival, William Penn Foundation, J. Howard Pew Freedom Trust, The Pew Memorial Trust, Rotary International (District 723), W. Ford Schuman Foundation, Wahlstrom-Johnson Foundation, West Foundation Inc, Borg-Warner Foundation Inc, The Chase Manhattan Foundation, Chevron Ltd, Citibank NA, Emery Worldwide, Exxon Corp, General Electric Foundation, General Mills Foundation, General Signal Corp, Gilbert Associates, IBM World Trade Corp, Manufacturers Hanover Trust Co, Marine Midland Bank, McGraw-Hill Foundation, Morgan Guaranty Trust Co, PDC International Corp, Paramount Furniture, Penn Central Corp, Price Waterhouse, Print and Post Service, Richardson-Vicks, Singer Co, Texaco Inc, WNBC-TV, Host Country Institutions, InterAmerican Foundation, Private Agencies Collaborating Together (PACT), USAID, The World Bank.(1)
And the various permutations of Snecma/Safran/SAGEM
Sandy Meredith
Vice President, Government Relations
Snecma USA, Inc
SAFRAN USA, INC. (FORMERLY SNECMA USA, INC.)
Snecma Moteurs of France is one of the world's major aircraft engine suppliers. In January 2000 SNECMA was converted into a holding company, and its propulsion operations were spun off into a new company, Snecma Moteurs.
SAFRAN is the name adopted following the merger of the propulsion and aerospace equipment group SNECMA and defense conglomerate SAGEM.
The French defense electronics firm Sagem, already heavily involved in direct military sales to Iraq, supplied inertial guidance systems for the Condor.
And what about the three legal firms represented on the board. Jones Day? Sonnenschein, Natha and Rosenthal; and Venable?
Kent Killelea
Legislative Counsel, Jones, Day, Reavis & Pogue
J. Gary McDavid
Counsel, Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal
Richard E. Powers, Jr.
Partner, Venable LLP
The Jones Day law firm "represents some of the biggest media (and media-related) companies in the country, including: DIRECTV, General Electric Company, The Goldman Sachs Group, Halliburton Company, Kellogg Brown and Root, Knight Ridder, Lehman Brothers Holdings, Liberty Media Group, Merrill Lynch & Co., Procter & Gamble, R.R. Donnelley & Sons, Thomson Multimedia S.A., Time Warner, the Tribune Company, and the Washington Post Company.
Sonnenschein is deeply engaged in identifying client opportunities among the billions of dollars in new contracts and subcontracts likely to be awarded in Iraq." [snip...] The U.S. government anticipates spending an estimated $2.5 billion on restoring Iraqi infrastructure, and Sonnenschein is helping companies navigate the often confusing and turbulent government channels available to U.S. companies for contracting opportunities.
Richard E. Powers, Jr. Partner
Practice Areas - Energy
He represents clients in numerous foreign countries, including Colombia, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Egypt, Iraq, Mexico, Yemen, The Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Russian Federation.
Venable's Homeland Security division is now run by Asa Hutchinson, a founding member of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security who also served as prosecutor in the Clinton impeachment trial. Lungren recently told Congressional Quarterly that his financial connection to the firm "ended at midnight on the last day of last year" and that he "went the opposite direction of the revolving door folks" by taking a pay cut to re- enter politics. Upon his return to Congress, Lungren was named to the House's Homeland Security Committee
Again, Capital Partners for Education seems like a worthwhile cause to help inner cuty youth in DC.
But, the troubling question remains.
Why do the majority of companies represented by its Board have some stake in the future of the Middle East.
And why did Dick Cheney just donate a windfall to them?
And what exactly is his dollar buying?