Like a worn out car sent south of the border for reuse as a taxi cab, Bush Administration insiders capitalize on their access to anyone with a checkbook. An exposé by the Sunday Times of London (TimesOnline) tells the story in print and on camera.
Ken Silverstein, writer and contributer to Harpers magazine and author of Turkmeniscam: How Washington Lobbyists Fought to Flack for a Stalinist Dictatorship, turned me on to this piece that I frankly overlooked when it broke back in July of this year. Admittedly, this is an old tale as news goes. But like loose change in the folds of the sofa, its fun to shake off the lint and have a go of it.
In a nutshell, a reporter from the Sunday Times teamed up with Eric Dos, whose full name is Yerzhan Dosmukhamedov. Dos told Steven Payne, that he was representing another Kazakhstani political figure who was looking to meet the top people in the US government.
Dos had good reason for believing that Payne could make it happen. Payne has accompanied Bush and Cheney on foreign trips to the Middle East and Asia, and he sits on the influential advisory council to the Department of Homeland Security. Payne is also president of a lobbying company, Worldwide Strategic Partners (WSP), which specialises in connecting business and political interests with the US government.
Akayev, who is in exile in Moscow after being ousted from power three years ago in a people’s revolt, was seeking an endorsement from senior US figures in order to help rehabilitate himself in the eyes of the world, Dos told Payne.
For those of us who have lost any sense of surprise at the depths of political depravity within the White House, the direction that this story goes will come as no surprise. Suffice it to say that Payne was willing, if not eager, to represent the interests of a deposed Kazakhstani dictator.
For an adventure in political corruption, read and view the following items in sequence:
- The Sunday Times, July 13, 2008 “Stephen Payne: a hotshot lobbyist who can get you into White House”
This is the piece published in the Sunday Times back in July that exposed the sordid mess.
In addition, the Times collected a number of photographs of Mr. Payne and George W. Bush working on Bush’s Crawford, Texas ranch.
Pay particular attention to page 3, which describes some of Mr. Payne’s qualifications and his intimate relationship to the Bush White House.
- White House Responds to Lobbyist Access-for-Donations Report
Here White House Press Secretary Dana Perino makes light of the relationship between Steven Payne and President Bush, referring to the “hundreds of volunteers” working with the Administration.
The Bush Administration is all but over in the next few weeks and I am beginning to worry. With something resembling ethical government fast approaching, I may have to turn to blogging about kittens or some such thing. Geeesh.
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