Joe Kennedy III's Marshall Group and Bain Capital Campaign Contributors

If you check out the Center for Responsive Politics’ Open Secrets website, you’ll notice that among the top financial contributors to Joe Kennedy III’s current campaign to win election as Brookline’s representative in the U.S. Congress is a Marshall Financial Group executive named Dennis M. Mathisen—who lives in Las Vegas, Nevada. On Feb. 21, 2012, for example, Mathisen made two campaign contributions, totaling $12,500, to Joe Kennedy III’s campaign committee. And, in addition, another Marshall Financial Group executive who lives in Cohassen, Minnesota, named Peter M. Mathisen, made two campaign contributions, totaling $7,500, to Joe Kennedy III’s campaign fund between Feb. 8 and Feb. 14, 2012.

Coincidentally, an article, titled “Collapse of a Loan Powerhouse,” by investigative reporter Jennifer Bjorhus—which was posted on the Minneapolis Star-Tribune website on Sept. 1, 2010, contains the following reference to the apparent involvement of Dennis Mathisen and his Marshall Financial Group’s failed BankFirst and Marshall Bank subsidiaries in the U.S. banking industry’s sub-prime mortage scandal that helped trigger the post-2008 U.S. economic recession:

“…In addition to the failure of its own banks -- BankFirst and Marshall Bank -- Marshall loans helped wipe out at least six other small banks across the country…according to bankers and federal regulators….Marshall's driving force, Chairman Dennis Mathisen, staunchly defends the organization as a victim of the country's real estate collapse, nothing more.

“But interviews with bankers who worked with the organization, former employees, a growing cache of court documents and the reviews of bank regulators themselves show that the organization's problems went much deeper. BankFirst, for instance, had a `large volume’ of poorly underwritten loans in an 18-month period that started shortly after Mathisen bought the bank, regulators concluded.

“In 2003, under Mathisen's leadership, Marshall snapped up a small Minnesota bank… and renamed it Marshall Bank. In early 2005, Marshall bought BankFirst in Sioux Falls, S.D....Critics accuse the Marshall organization of reckless lending. Whether a loan failed didn't affect the organization's upfront fees or commissions to the team that originated the loans or the team that sold them to participating banks -- a point regulators made when they reviewed BankFirst's failure….

“The Marshall ripple effect is still on the FDIC's radar, said an FDIC official, speaking on condition of anonymity. He said regulators have identified five failed banks in which bad BankFirst loans were a `material’ percentage of the bank's capital and played a role in their demise: Bank of Wyoming in Thermopolis, Wyo.; Venture Bank in Lacey, Wash.; Mutual Bank in Harvey, Ill.; MetroPacific in Irvine, Calif., and First State Bank of Flagstaff, Ariz….

“In 2007 regulators ordered BankFirst to stop syndicating loans….Regulators shut BankFirst down for good…

"…BankFirst's losses stemmed from `pervasive internal control deficiencies,’ according to a damning 37-page report that the internal watchdog arm of the Federal Reserve Bank released in February [2010].

“The problems included such things as not managing risk, poor loan underwriting and a pay structure that rewarded excessive risk-taking. Loan originators were paid commissions based on the size of the loans, not on quality and with no repercussions if the loan went bad….

“Mathisen dismisses as a formality the letter the FDIC sent him and other BankFirst executives and directors in March [2010], demanding that they help pay for the losses that the FDIC's insurance fund incurred as a result of the bank's failure…. “

 
Besides accepting thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from Dennis Mathisen and Peter Mathisen, Joe Kennedy III’s campaign also accepted a $5,000 campaign contribution on Mar. 31, 2012 from the Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer of Bain Capital’s Sankaty Advisors fixed income and credit affiliate, Jonathan Lavine. Most of the $2.5 million in campaign contributions that Bain Capital executives have made since January 2011 have gone to fund the campaigns of Republican Party candidates. But besides helping to fund Joe Kennedy III’s run for Congress, Bain Capital executive Lavine (who also sits on the board of trustees of Columbia University and is a Director of the Boston Celtics) has also contributed another $50,000 since January 2011 to support the campaigns of other Democratic Party candidates. On June 27, 2011, for example, Lavine made a $30,800 campaign contribution to the DNC Services Corporation; and on Mar. 9, 2011 Lavine made a $19,200 campaign contribution to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

In addition to receiving campaign contributions from Marshall Financial Group and Bain Capital executives, Joe Kennedy III’s campaign committee also received: two contributions, totaling $7,500, from Boston real estate developer Robert Beal on Jan. 30, 2012; a $5,000 contribution from Casablanca Capital executive Donald Drapkin of New York on Feb. 16, 2012; a $5,000 contribution from Starwood Capital executive Madison Grose of Greenwich, Connecticut on April 30, 2012; a $5,000 contribution from Kramer Capital LLC executive Donald Kramer of Greenwich, Connecticut on Mar. 29, 2012; a $5,000 contribution from Carlyle Group executive Perre Sarkozy of New York City on Apr. 11, 2012; and a $5,000 contribution from Billionaire Viacom executive Sumner Redstone of Beverly Hills, California on Mar. 31, 2012.

So don’t be surprised if the Kennedy Dynasty’s latest candidate for Congress ends up representing the special, private economic interests of the Marshall Financial group, Bain Capital and “the 1 percent” of the U.S. population (that has apparently been bankrolling his election campaign since 2011) if he takes over Barney Frank’s seat in the House of Representatives—instead of representing the public interest of 99 percent of the people who live and vote in Brookline.

Obama's Rahm Emanuel, Wall Street and Chicago Daley Machine Connections

“In late 1998…Rahm Emanuel, a departing senior political aide to President Bill Clinton, ventured out to an elegant restaurant in Dupont Circle…John Simpson, who ran the Chicago office of…Wasserstein Perella & Company, had flown to Washington to meet with Mr. Emanuel at the behest of Mr. Simpson’s boss, Bruce Wasserstein, a major Democratic donor and renowned Wall Street dealmaker who had gotten to know Mr. Emanuel.

“`I had this idea that this could work and that it had upside,’ said Mr. Wasserstein, now chairman and chief executive of Lazard, the investment bank….Shortly afterward, Mr. Emanuel accepted an offer, nudging him down what has by now become a well-trodden gilded path out of politics and into the lucrative world of business.

“Mr. Emanuel, who was chosen last month to become President-elect Barack Obama’s White House chief of staff, went on to make more than $18 million in just two-and-a-half years, turning many of his contacts in his substantial political Rolodex into paying clients…Mr. Emanuel built up strong ties with an industry now at the heart of the economic crisis…After Mr. Emanuel left banking to run for Congress, members of the securities and investment industry became his biggest backers, donating more than $1.5 million to his campaigns dating back to 2002, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

“Mr. Emanuel also leaned heavily upon the industry while he was chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee during the 2006 midterm elections. Financial industry donors contributed more than $5.8 million to the committee…Friends of Mr. Emanuel’s from his private-sector days said he still checks in with them regularly….It was Morton L. Janklow, the literary agent for several former presidents, who introduced Mr. Emanuel to Mr. Wasserstein…Mr. Emanuel met Mr. Wasserstein in his New York office,…His connections certainly helped drum up business and contributed to his hiring, former colleagues said. Indeed, a partial list of clients from Mr. Emanuel’s Congressional financial disclosure in 2002 is easily linked up to the various strands of his political career, including his time as a fund-raiser for Mayor Richard M. Daley of Chicago and then for Mr. Clinton’s first presidential run.

“The clients included Loral Space & Communications, run by Bernard L. Schwartz, one of the Democratic Party’s biggest donors, who said he got to know Mr. Emanuel while he was in the White House; the Chicago Board Options Exchange, whose chairman and chief executive, William J. Brodsky, became friends with Mr. Emanuel while he was working for Mayor Daley; and Avolar, a business aviation company whose top executive, Stuart I. Oran, was formerly in charge of governmental affairs for United Airlines, a role in which he said he interacted with Mr. Emanuel at the White House.

“One of Mr. Emanuel’s major deals was the purchase in 2001 of a home alarm business, SecurityLink, from SBC Communications, the telecommunications company that was run by William M. Daley, the former secretary of commerce in the Clinton administration and the brother of Chicago’s mayor….Mr. Emanuel’s biggest transaction came in late 1999 when he landed an advisory role for Wasserstein in the $8.2 billion merger of two utility companies, Unicom, the parent company of Commonwealth Edison, and Peco Energy, to create Exelon, now one of the nation’s largest power companies.

“John W. Rowe, the former chief executive of Unicom who now holds the same position at Exelon, sought out Mr. Emanuel after he went to Wasserstein… Mr. Rowe…was first introduced to Mr. Emanuel by Lester Crown, the billionaire scion of Chicago’s influential Crown family.

“Tax returns Mr. Emanuel released while first running for office and reported in news articles, along with Congressional financial disclosures, reveal his steep financial ascent while working at Wasserstein. He earned more than $900,000 in 1999, his first year at the firm; nearly $1.4 million in 2000; and $6.5 million in 2001, when he left the firm in midyear to run for Congress. He collected $9.7 million more from the firm in deferred compensation in 2002….The bonanza Mr. Emanuel reaped would come in handy when he ran for the House seat vacated by Representative Rod R. Blagojevich, now governor.

“Mr. Emanuel contributed $450,000 out of his own pocket to his campaign in the primary, and his leading rival accused him of trying to buy a seat in Congress.

--from a Dec. 4, 2008 New York Times article by Michael Luo, titled “In Banking, Emanuel Made Money and Connections.”

“…At the end of the summer of 1989, Obama was an intern at Sidley Austin, a prestigious Chicago law firm that also happened to employ...Michelle Robinson…Michelle left Sidley Austin to become an Assistant to Chicago Mayor Richard Daley…The move was not without its benefits. Michelle Obama's stint at the mayor's office gave her, and her husband, access to Chicago's political class...Michelle helped give Obama an invaluable new base in Chicago politics...After 18 months, she left the mayor's office…”

--from an Aug. 25, 2008 Time magazine article

Obama’s Rahm Emanuel, Wall Street and Chicago Daley Machine Connection

On reason 2012 Democratic Party presidential candidate Barack Obama failed to bring much radical democratic change to the United States between 2009 and 2012 might be because of his political and personal historical and current links to rich white politicians like Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, to the corrupt Daley Machine of Chicago’s Regular Democratic Party organization and to various super-rich white bankers from Wall Street firms like Goldman Sachs and Citigroup. As Newsweek columnist Jonathan Alter observed in his 2010 book, The Promise: President Obama, Year One:

“Obama and Rahm…had a teasing relationship based on Rahm’s legendary profanity…By October [2008] Rahm had become an important part of the campaign…The soon-to-be president…had to convince Rahm Emanuel to give up his dream of being the…speaker of the House.

“Rahm was in all the early meetings, but nailing down a commitment from him to be chief of staff taxed Obama’s persuasive power…The two men spoke in person about the job at least half a dozen times…If he took the job, Obama said, he’d be his `right-hand’ man on everything…

“Michelle Obama’s father, Fraser Robinson, held his job as a worker in the city water department in part because of his political work as a precinct captain in the Regular Democratic Party organization…

“…Obama asked his…campaign economic advisors…to assemble a team of 8 to 10 big thinkers for conference calls every 5 days or so…Three former treasury secretaries were on the list: Robert Rubin, the…senior advisor (and former chairman) at…Citigroup.., Larry Summers, the…Rubin protégé.., Paul O’Neill, the…former ALCOA chairman…Warren Buffett and Paul Volcker were often on the line. The second richest-man in the world had met Obama in 2004…His endorsement gave the candidate a boost…Volcker…had known Obama since mid-2007…

“…During his years at the top of Goldman Sachs, the Clinton administration (where he…served as treasury secretary), Citigroup, and the Hamilton Project…[Robert] Rubin mentored scores of…young policy types. More than a dozen of them eventually worked in important positions under Obama and maintained their relationship with Rubin. [Tim Geithner, Larry Summers, Peter Orszag, Michael Froman, Philip Murphy, Gene Sperling, Jason Furm, Jacob Lew, Gary Gensler, Diana Farrell, Lewis Alexander, Lael Brainard and David Lipton]…

“Summers quickly became Obama’s dominant economic advisor…Buffett…had invested heavily…in Moody’s, one of the corrupted ratings agencies that gave cover to the reckless…Summers had taken a…hands-off view…of regulating derivatives while at the treasury department in the 1990s and as late as 2008 made more than $5 million consulting on them for the hedge fund D.E. Shaw and Co….The New York Times revealed that Summers was a consultant for Taconic Capital Advisors as early as 2004, when he was still president of Harvard and lecturing faculty members on why they couldn’t moonlight…Obama and his economic advisors met in Miami on September 19 [2008]…”

  So it’s not surprising that the undemocratic control of both Chicago’s city government and the U.S. federal government by Wall Street investment bankers and Billionaire U.S. plutocrats like Warren Buffett and Lester Crown has continued under the Democratic Obama regime since 2009.

Protesters March on 2012 Republican National Convention in Tampa

Columbia University's Bain Capital - Sankaty Advisors Connection

As the Columbia University website notes:

“Jonathan Lavine is the Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer of Sankaty Advisors, Bain Capital’s fixed income and credit affiliate, which he founded in 1997… Before the formation of Sankaty, Mr. Lavine worked in Bain Capital’s private equity business which he joined in 1993...Mr. Lavine is a Trustee of Columbia University and former Chair of the Columbia College Board of Visitors...Mr. Lavine also is a member of the ownership group and a Director of the Boston Celtics…He was a 2008 recipient of Columbia’s John Jay Award for distinguished professional achievement.”

  Yet an article by John Nichols, titled “Romney Still Reaps Huge Profits From Bain’s Vulture Capitalism,” that was posted on The Nation’s website on July 16, 2012 contains the following reference to the Bain Capital private equity firm that Columbia Trustee Lavine is affiliated with:

“…Romney…helped to create Bain Capital, a private equity firm that makes its money by buying functional US manufacturing and service firms and rendering them dysfunctional. Bain guts American companies, ripping out whatever parts are profitable and then tossing the workers aside.

“Bain forces cuts in wages, benefits and pensions. It outsources work. And it offshores production—harming American workers and communities and undermining American industries….Romney continued to be intimately involved with Bain as the company began to focus more and more of its energies on the shuttering of US factories and the transfer of the work done in those factories to foreign countries….Through arrangements that he made, Romney remains one of the prime beneficiaries of every move that Bain makes….He remains a direct beneficiary of Bain’s buccaneer pillaging of the US economy…Romney continued to collect a share of the corporate buyout and investment profits enjoyed by partners from all Bain deals until 2009… Romney has collected profits from twenty-two Bain and Bain-related funds…. “

  Besides sitting on the board of trustees of tax-exempt Columbia University, Bain Capital/Sankaty Advisors’s Chief Investment Officer contributed $19,200 to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee on Mar. 9, 2011, $30,800 to the DNC Services Corporation on June 27, 2011 and $5,000 to Joe Kennedy III’s congressional campaign committee on Mar. 31, 2012, according to the Center for Responsive Politics' Open Secrets website.

PBS's Big Oil/Foundation Links

“A multi-foundation effort to generate support for the PBS NewsHour has resulted in $3.55 million of special funding for the news program, according to MacNeil/Lehrer Productions, which produces the NewsHour. The participants in the initiative are Carnegie Corporation of New York, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, The Rockefeller Foundation, and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation….”

--from a May 30, 2012 press release of the PBS NewsHour

“…Chuck Hagel is…Co-Chairman of the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board; Chairman of The Atlantic Council; a member of the Secretary of Defense’s Policy Board and Secretary of Energy’s Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future; and is a member of Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) board of directors. He also serves on the Board of Directors of Chevron Corporation; the Advisory Boards of Deutsche Bank Americas; Corsair Capital; M.I.C. Industries; is a Director of the Zurich Holding Company of America; and is a Senior Advisor to McCarthy Capital Corporation….He co-chairs the PBS National Policy Advisory Committee.”

-- from the Public Broadcasting Service [PBS] website

PBS’s Big Oil/Foundation Links

(Note: The following historical article was written in 2002.)

Some of the profits that San Francisco-based Chevron Texaco has made during the last ten years have gone to PBS's Washington, D.C. outlet, WETA-TV. In 1992, for instance, a foundation grant of over $2.4 million was given to WETA-TV by Chevron to fund PBS¹s National Geographic Specials. That same year Chevron¹s foundation also gave money to the following other ³non-profit² organizations:

Stanford University was given 3 grants, totaling $455,000, by Chevron

University of California-Berkeley was given 2 grants, totaling $217,000 by Chevron

The American Enterprise Institute For Public Policy Research in Washington, D.C. was given a $70,000 grant by Chevron

The Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C. was given a $60,000 grant by Chevron

The National Council of La Raza in Washington, D.C. was given a $65,000 grant by Chevron

The NAACP in New York City was given a $55,000 grant by Chevron

Among the ³non-profit² organizations who received foundation grants from Chevron two years later, in 1994, were the following:

San Francisco¹s KQED/Channel 2, which was given a $152,000 grant by Chevron¹s foundation

The San Francisco Opera Association, which was given an $86,000 grant by Chevron¹s foundation

The African American Institute in New York City, which was given a $90,000 grant by Chevron¹s foundation

The American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, which was given another $70,000 grant by Chevron¹s foundation

Stanford University, which given 4 grants, totalling $495,000, by Chevron¹ s foundation

University of California at Berkeley, which was given a $342,000 grant by Chevron¹s foundation

The Hoover Institute On War, Peace and Revolution in Stanford, California, which was given a $120,000 grant by Chevron¹s foundation

The Center for Strategic and International Studies in D.C., which was given another $100,000 in tax-exempt money by Chevron¹s foundation.

Although the assets of Chevron¹s foundation exceeded $34.3 million in 1995, it only gave $21.7 million away during that same year‹despite the fact that Chevron made a $930 million profit.

ChevronTexaco¹s foundation is not the only foundation that gets its grant distribution money from a business involvement in the oil industry. The MacArthur Foundation¹s $2 billion-plus corporate stock portfolio included at least $31 million in oil company stock a few years ago. The Sister Fund¹s assets are derived from Hunt Oil, a firm which sometimes competes with Chevron in the marketing of Middle East and African oil. And, as long ago as 1973, The American Oil Industry: A Failure of Anti-Trust Policy pointed out the following about the relation between large U.S. foundations and the oil industry:

"Some of the largest foundations in the country have been established with oil money. A foundation can be both a means of retaining control and seeking favorable tax treatment.

"Of the first 30 largest foundations in the United States in asset rank, seven have major holdings in oil company stocks and are associated with oil company founders. The three largest in terms of the market value of assets are the Rockefeller Foundation with $831 million, the Mellon Foundation with some $668 million and the Pew Memorial Trust with $367 million in 1971.

"An examination of these foundation assets reveals a known truth: that the Rockefeller and Mellon families are the sources of great wealth deriving from the oil industry. If the assets of the Rockefeller Foundation and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund are added together they total approximately $1 billion. Similarly, if the assets of the Andrew Mellon Foundation, the Richard King Mellon Foundation, and the Scaife (Sarah Mellon) Foundation are combined, they too total in the neighborhood of $1 billion.”

In 1972, when Chevron went under the name of Standard Oil of California, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund owned $8.9 million worth of stock in this company; and the Commonwealth Fund owned $11.1 million worth of Standard Oil of California/Chevron stock. The president and CEO of the WETA-TV station which received $2.4 million from Chevron in 1992 was PBS Director Sharon Rockefeller.

(conclusion of 2002-written historical article)

Obama's Axelrod Family-IGS-ASGK-AKPD Connection

“An organization's ability to compete successfully in a Global marketplace is impacted by governing bodies worldwide. Policy makers and influences in every market have the potential to impact a client's business operations and competitiveness. IGS works with business units, Senior Management and General Counsels to ensure that the organizations policy opinion and concerns are understood and promoted….”

--from the Interactive Global Solutions [IGS] website

“Michael Axelrod has grown up in the business of electoral politics, beginning his career in a variety of campaign management capacities for AKPD Message & Media, a firm created by his father, David Axelrod, former White House Senior Advisor and campaign strategist for Barack Obama. With his extensive campaign and corporate client experience, Axelrod, an international corporate and public affairs consultant, has experience working with corporate and political leaders and campaigns in Latin and South America, Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Africa. He currently has projects and teams in places throughout every area of the globe.

“While at AKPD Message & Media, Mr. Axelrod was part of the strategic team behind such political clients as the `Obama for America’ presidential campaign…Mr. Axelrod also worked with clients on day-to-day messaging and strategy as well as developing the firm's international political practice. He directed the campaign strategy in AKPD's work for Francisco de Narváez, who defeated former president Nestór Kirchner in the legislative midterm elections in Buenos Aires, Argentina…Mr. Axelrod currently sits on the board of a private equity firm that makes real estate investments in small to mid-market assets, portfolios of assets, operating companies with underlying real estate assets and strategic investment programs and joint ventures. Based out of Denver, Colorado, the firm has invested over $875 million throughout the world….”

--from the Interactive Global Solutions [IGS] website

Obama’s Axelrod Family/IGS/ASGK/AKPD Connection

As Newsweek columnist Jonathan Alter noted in his 2010 book The Promise: President Obama, Year One, during the 2008 U.S. election campaign, 2012 Democratic presidential candidate Obama “relied on a few longtime advisors, starting with David Axelrod” and “Axelrod was a former reporter and columnist for the Chicago Tribune…” The same book also observed that after Obama appointed him to be the Obama White House’s “Senior Advisor to the President” following the November 2008 election, “Axelrod figured there were…two issues that could stop him [Obama]: unemployment and Afghanistan.”

Coincidentally, an article by Dan Mihalopoulos that appeared in the July 19, 2012 issue of the Chicago Sun-Times contained the following reference to former White House Senior Advisor to the President” Axelrod (who became the Senior Strategist for Obama’s re-election campaign in 2011):

“David Axelrod — the top campaign adviser to President Barack Obama — sold his ownership stake in ASGK Public Strategies in 2009, when he became a senior White House adviser.

“But Axelrod didn’t cut his ties to the Chicago public relations firm completely. He still has an office there. His name is on the door. His old partners are still paying him…five annual $200,000 payments…Now, two of the firm’s clients — Citibank and the Chicago Cubs — have a lot riding on decisions to be made by Mayor Rahm Emanuel, the Axelrod friend and former White House colleague…Citibank…wants to help finance Emanuel’s…Chicago Infrastructure Trust…The Cubs…want Emanuel’s help in financing a major renovation of Wrigley Field…

“ASGK quietly has played a role in a number of major issues at City Hall...The firm’s executives don’t register as lobbyists…

“Another Axelrod-founded firm — AKPD Media and Messaging — recently produced ads critical of the Chicago Teachers Union…AKPD oversaw Emanuel’s ad blitz during his mayoral campaign, and the firm is a paid consultant to his political committee, state records show.

“Like ASGK, AKPD continues to pay Axelrod…AKPD owed him $2 million, to be paid over four years, when he became a White House aide, Axelrod told federal ethics officials.

“Both AKPD and ASKG are housed at the same River North address that’s also home to Axelrod Strategies, the firm he founded upon leaving the White House last year….ASGK’s managing partner, Eric Sedler, won’t talk about the work the firm is doing for the Cubs and Citibank.

“Dennis Culloton, spokesman for the Cubs’ owners, won’t say what ASGK is doing for the team but says it was hired in the past year.

“The team needs support from Emanuel and the City Council to advance its $300 million plan to rehab Wrigley…. Citibank and a fund called Citi Infrastructure Partners — which won’t talk about ASGK’s work — were two of the five financial institutions that Emanuel singled out at a March 1 news conference with former President Bill Clinton at which he announced the formation of the Chicago Infrastructure Trust...Ald. Will Burns (4th) — who voted for the trust — works for ASGK. Its website lists him as a managing partner….”

Also, coincidentally, the son of the Senior Strategist for Obama’s re-election campaign—Michael Axelrod—is a Partner in the Interactive Global Solutions [IGS] firm that, according to its website, engages in the following government-related activities on behalf of its clients: 1. “Direct Federal lobbying and legislative advocacy;” 2. “International legislative and regulatory advocacy; “3. “Effective interaction with U.S. Attorneys General;” and 4. “Advocacy for Foreign Governments seeking to establish pro-active relationships.” The IGS website also provided the following biographical information about a few of the IGS business partners of Obama Campaign Advisor Axelrod’s son:

“…Patrick Egan…served six years at the International Republican Institute, including as director of the Regional Program for Europe and in Baghdad, Iraq...He was a… visiting fellow at NATO Headquarters in Brussels…

“Kevin Gilna, based in Dublin Ireland provides…government services…His clients include some of the largest financial, trade and energy companies in the world….Mr. Gilna served as Senior Advisor to John Bruton, European Union Ambassador to the United States…Mr. Gilna also served as a Senior Advisor to Mr. Bruton during his period as Prime Minister of Ireland opposition….Mr. Gilna also served as Director of Elections for Prime Minister Bruton…Prior to that, Mr. Gilna was Director for Public Affairs for the Irish Construction Industry Federation (CIF), which represents over 3,000 construction companies…

“…Daniella Landau…served as a senior public policy adviser with the law firm of Baker, Donelson, where she helped craft and implement legislative strategy for clients such as American Airlines, Lockheed Martin, L3 and…Ms. Landau was previously Managing Director of Government Affairs for American Airlines, where she helped develop, implement and direct legislative and regulatory strategy. Prior to joining American Airlines, she spent three years as a senior media adviser with the public affairs firm of Burson-Marsteller. There, she helped coordinate message and communications strategies designed to promote successful passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Also in 1992/1993, Ms. Landau served on the Clinton/Gore transition team…

“…David Metzner…began his public policy career as the Director of Legislative Affairs for The Singer Company, where he assisted the CEO and other senior executives in developing corporate positions on tax policy, international trade and national security…. In January 2009, Mr. Metzner completed his six year Presidential appointment as Vice Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. In this capacity, he…led the Board's initiative in creating the Kissinger Institute on China-United States Relations. Mr. Metzner serves on the Institute's Advisory Board which is chaired by Dr. Kissinger…

“Tom Schilling...has served as a strategic communications consultant to such Colorado corporate leaders as StorageTek, First Data Corp., Interlocken business park, FlatIron Crossing shopping mall, U.S. Bank and Piper Jaffray….

“Sean Tonner...offers clients expertise in developing and executing effective corporate growth strategies as well as providing sound political consulting…Over the course of his career, Mr. Tonner has worked on numerous political campaigns in the U.S. and abroad, including Bush-Cheney...Most recently, Mr. Tonner has been working with clients in Central Europe in election strategies and business development with global corporations….Mr. Tonner has also amassed impressive corporate affairs experience developing and executing successful strategic plans for companies including Western Union, HealthOne, Wal-Mart, Noble Energy and others….At the age of 18, he joined the U.S. Army and attended Reconnaissance, Airborne, Ranger, Desert and Jungle warfare training. In addition, he served as a scout for the 24th Infantry Division in Desert Storm...”

 

Did Founder of Ford Foundation Help Finance Germany's Nazi Party?

Ford Foundation Founder Henry Ford accepting medal from German Nazi Government officials

In the 21st-century, the tax-exempt Ford Foundation (that Billionaire Industrialist Henry Ford apparently set up as a tax-dodge near the middle of the 20th century) redistributes some of the investment income that it obtains from its multi-billion dollar stock and hedge fund portfolio to wealthy tax-exempt universities/real estate development institutions such as Columbia University, in the form of tax-exempt “charitable grants.” In December 2011, for example, the Ford Foundation’s International Fellowship Program division apparently gave a self-serving $1 million “charitable grant” to the Trustees of Columbia University’s private library system “to archive and provide access to” the Ford Foundation’s own International Fellowship Program’s “paper and electronic records.”

Coincidentally, during the 1920s the founder of the Ford Foundation, Henry Ford, apparently helped fund the Nazi Party in Germany. As a muckraking journalist named George Seldes observed in his 1943 book Facts and Fascism:

“Henry Ford’s picture for years hung over Hitler’s desk in the Brown House in Munich. The Nazis in their early days boasted that they had the moral and financial support of the richest man in America…

“To many persons Ford has always been our No. 1 Fascist. (Newspapermen usually give that spot to William Randolph Hearst, and there is an unending argument as to which of the two has done more harm to the mind of America, but no one doubts that both have spread more fascist poison in this country than any other pair of prominent men…)

“It was general knowledge in the early 1920s, when it was not treason to aid Hitler, that Henry Ford was one of his spiritual and economic backers…

“The most credible evidence regarding Ford’s financing of early Nazism was given in the treason trial of Herr Hitler himself…On February 7, 1924, Herr Auer, vice-president of the Bavarian Diet, testified in the Hitler trial as follows:

“`The Bavarian Diet has long had the information that the Hitler movement was partly financed by an American anti-Semitic chief, who is Henry Ford. Mr. Ford’s interest in the Bavarian anti-Semitic movement began a year ago…Herr Hitler openly boasts of Mr. Ford’s support…A photograph of Mr. Ford hangs in Herr Hitler’s quarters..’”