Post by Kee on Apr 22, 2004 19:47:22 GMT -5
**sighs...**
I can't believe it!
I take that back...I can believe it, but just how deep is this thing? I'm making a prediction. One day this whole pandora's box is going to break wide open and be exposed just as watergate was. I just hope it happens and America wakes up before we loose our country, our planet, and our freedoms, as we know them.
Pipeline Plan Leads Back to High-profile Investing Group
By Robert Trigaux
St. Petersburg Times
Monday 19 April 2004
A northern Virginia power company whose chairman has longstanding ties to the Bush White House and this state's public pension fund last week received swift approval by Gov. Jeb Bush and the state Cabinet for a pipeline project that would bring natural gas from the Bahamas to South Florida.
The company is AES Corp., an $8.5-billion revenue corporation whose chairman is Richard Darman. For those not up on the Washington scene back in the 1980s, Darman rose to become the high-profile budget director in the first Bush administration.
Darman was intimately involved with former President George Bush's promise - later broken - immortalized in the line, Read my lips: no new taxes. Breaking that vow was a major factor in Bush's election loss to Bill Clinton in 1992.
Darman moved on from government. But not too far. In addition to his recent role as chairman of AES, Darman has served since 1993 as part of the senior management team and adviser of the Carlyle Group of Washington.
It's a business tale of cozy ties that this brief column can only begin to describe.
One of the world's largest private investing firms, Carlyle was started by former Bush administration and other former senior federal officials. Its initial focus: buying and reviving troubled defense companies. Carlyle was quickly and immensely successful, thanks to the firm's ability to win federal contracts.
Former President Bush worked as a high-paid rainmaker for Carlyle for years, giving international speeches and opening the doors of foreign governments. He recently retired from that role.
Critics charge that Carlyle's phenomenal success is based on little more than former senior federal officials leveraging their access and personal influence here and abroad. Carlyle, whose address, like that of the White House, is on Pennsylvania Avenue, also enjoyed close client ties and investments with the Saudi royal family and the wealthy business side of the bin Laden family (not tied to Osama bin Laden's terrorism) long before Sept. 11, 2001.
Talk about a who's who. Carlyle's chairman emeritus is Frank Carlucci, who was secretary of defense in the late 1980s. Carlyle's current chairman is former IBM CEO Lou Gerstner. The head of its European operations is former British Prime Minister John Major. Carlyle's senior counselor is James Baker III, who served as Treasury secretary and secretary of state in the Reagan-Bush years.
Five months ago, President George W. Bush named Baker as his personal envoy to Iraq to help that country deal with its debt problems. This is the same Baker who was sent by the Bush family to Florida in late 2000 to help manage the legal battle over the Bush-Gore presidential election recount.
A mature and more powerful Carlyle Group now has substantial investments in a wide range of businesses worldwide. Including stakes in Florida businesses in the automotive, shipping and defense industries. Among some prominent examples:
- The Florida State Board of Administration, which manages the state's public pension funds, has invested more than $200-million in recent years with Carlyle.
- Lakeland's Breed Technologies, a maker of auto parts and air bag systems, was bought last year by Carlyle for a reported $300-million. Breed was renamed Key Safety Systems.
- In December 2002, CSX Corp. said it would sell its domestic container shipping unit to Carlyle for $300-million. Just one week before, President Bush had named CSX chief executive John Snow as Treasury secretary, succeeding Paul O'Neill.
- Carlyle bought Texas defense subcontractor Vought Aircraft Industries and soon consolidated some of its operations in Stuart, on Florida's east coast. That did not last long. Two months ago, Vought said it will close the Stuart operation and lay off all 375 workers. Vought also is closing its Tennessee plant in Nashville. Why? Vought received $35-million by promising to add 3,000 jobs in five years at its operations in the Dallas area.
- United Defense Industries has enjoyed an expansion near Jacksonville, thanks to $50-million in new work from a Navy contract on the aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy. Carlyle is the largest shareholder in United Defense.
The bottom line? Carlyle's use of the political influence of its senior executives to further its business remains remarkably effective. Few if any investment firms have gained so much clout and wealth as quickly as Carlyle.
The strategy also revives the old warning, once voiced in 1961 by President Eisenhower, against the perils of an emerging "military-industrial complex."
So what does this all this have to do with a gas pipeline waiting to be built from the Bahamas to South Florida?
While remaining a senior Carlyle figure, Darman became a director of the AES power company in June 2002. He was elected AES chairman in May 2003.
Last week, the governor and the Cabinet approved the proposed AES Ocean Express LLC pipeline project. Also approved was a second and competing Bahamas-to-Florida gas project backed by Tractebel Calypso Pipeline LLC, part of a French utility.
Both approvals occurred with only brief discussion and - despite concerns for the delicate coral reefs in the area - without input from environmental groups, according to the Miami Herald. The projects still need permits from the Army Corps of Engineers.
The profit potential is big for the company that first finishes its pipeline. It will enjoy strong demand for natural gas sought by Florida power plants eager to use the cleaner fuel to generate electricity.
Here's a wild guess. Barring difficulties with Mother Nature, the AES pipeline project looks like a sure thing.
I can't believe it!
I take that back...I can believe it, but just how deep is this thing? I'm making a prediction. One day this whole pandora's box is going to break wide open and be exposed just as watergate was. I just hope it happens and America wakes up before we loose our country, our planet, and our freedoms, as we know them.
Pipeline Plan Leads Back to High-profile Investing Group
By Robert Trigaux
St. Petersburg Times
Monday 19 April 2004
A northern Virginia power company whose chairman has longstanding ties to the Bush White House and this state's public pension fund last week received swift approval by Gov. Jeb Bush and the state Cabinet for a pipeline project that would bring natural gas from the Bahamas to South Florida.
The company is AES Corp., an $8.5-billion revenue corporation whose chairman is Richard Darman. For those not up on the Washington scene back in the 1980s, Darman rose to become the high-profile budget director in the first Bush administration.
Darman was intimately involved with former President George Bush's promise - later broken - immortalized in the line, Read my lips: no new taxes. Breaking that vow was a major factor in Bush's election loss to Bill Clinton in 1992.
Darman moved on from government. But not too far. In addition to his recent role as chairman of AES, Darman has served since 1993 as part of the senior management team and adviser of the Carlyle Group of Washington.
It's a business tale of cozy ties that this brief column can only begin to describe.
One of the world's largest private investing firms, Carlyle was started by former Bush administration and other former senior federal officials. Its initial focus: buying and reviving troubled defense companies. Carlyle was quickly and immensely successful, thanks to the firm's ability to win federal contracts.
Former President Bush worked as a high-paid rainmaker for Carlyle for years, giving international speeches and opening the doors of foreign governments. He recently retired from that role.
Critics charge that Carlyle's phenomenal success is based on little more than former senior federal officials leveraging their access and personal influence here and abroad. Carlyle, whose address, like that of the White House, is on Pennsylvania Avenue, also enjoyed close client ties and investments with the Saudi royal family and the wealthy business side of the bin Laden family (not tied to Osama bin Laden's terrorism) long before Sept. 11, 2001.
Talk about a who's who. Carlyle's chairman emeritus is Frank Carlucci, who was secretary of defense in the late 1980s. Carlyle's current chairman is former IBM CEO Lou Gerstner. The head of its European operations is former British Prime Minister John Major. Carlyle's senior counselor is James Baker III, who served as Treasury secretary and secretary of state in the Reagan-Bush years.
Five months ago, President George W. Bush named Baker as his personal envoy to Iraq to help that country deal with its debt problems. This is the same Baker who was sent by the Bush family to Florida in late 2000 to help manage the legal battle over the Bush-Gore presidential election recount.
A mature and more powerful Carlyle Group now has substantial investments in a wide range of businesses worldwide. Including stakes in Florida businesses in the automotive, shipping and defense industries. Among some prominent examples:
- The Florida State Board of Administration, which manages the state's public pension funds, has invested more than $200-million in recent years with Carlyle.
- Lakeland's Breed Technologies, a maker of auto parts and air bag systems, was bought last year by Carlyle for a reported $300-million. Breed was renamed Key Safety Systems.
- In December 2002, CSX Corp. said it would sell its domestic container shipping unit to Carlyle for $300-million. Just one week before, President Bush had named CSX chief executive John Snow as Treasury secretary, succeeding Paul O'Neill.
- Carlyle bought Texas defense subcontractor Vought Aircraft Industries and soon consolidated some of its operations in Stuart, on Florida's east coast. That did not last long. Two months ago, Vought said it will close the Stuart operation and lay off all 375 workers. Vought also is closing its Tennessee plant in Nashville. Why? Vought received $35-million by promising to add 3,000 jobs in five years at its operations in the Dallas area.
- United Defense Industries has enjoyed an expansion near Jacksonville, thanks to $50-million in new work from a Navy contract on the aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy. Carlyle is the largest shareholder in United Defense.
The bottom line? Carlyle's use of the political influence of its senior executives to further its business remains remarkably effective. Few if any investment firms have gained so much clout and wealth as quickly as Carlyle.
The strategy also revives the old warning, once voiced in 1961 by President Eisenhower, against the perils of an emerging "military-industrial complex."
So what does this all this have to do with a gas pipeline waiting to be built from the Bahamas to South Florida?
While remaining a senior Carlyle figure, Darman became a director of the AES power company in June 2002. He was elected AES chairman in May 2003.
Last week, the governor and the Cabinet approved the proposed AES Ocean Express LLC pipeline project. Also approved was a second and competing Bahamas-to-Florida gas project backed by Tractebel Calypso Pipeline LLC, part of a French utility.
Both approvals occurred with only brief discussion and - despite concerns for the delicate coral reefs in the area - without input from environmental groups, according to the Miami Herald. The projects still need permits from the Army Corps of Engineers.
The profit potential is big for the company that first finishes its pipeline. It will enjoy strong demand for natural gas sought by Florida power plants eager to use the cleaner fuel to generate electricity.
Here's a wild guess. Barring difficulties with Mother Nature, the AES pipeline project looks like a sure thing.