-Caveat Lector- Click Here: <A HREF="http://www.conservative.org/gorebook/Chapter5.htm";>Al Gore - America in the Balance: Chapter 5</A> ----- Chapter 5 The Company He Keeps: Special Friends and Special Interests Al Gore has often been depicted by the media as a middle-aged Boy Scout, Mr. Clean, the most straight-laced White House presence since Calvin Coolidge. And for years the American people, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, have accepted this characterization. However, since he entered the 2000 presidential race, investigative journalists have begun to peel off Gore’s veneer, to expose the lies he’s told, the deals he’s cut, the laws he’s broken. Thus far, however, most haven’t taken a close look at the company he keeps. Here, then, is the low-down on a few of Al Gore’s good friends and political cronies—the leeches and manipulators who have surrounded him since he first ran for office. Tony Coelho recently resigned as Al Gore’s campaign manager. He cited a stomach problem as his reason. However, he may have left because the media snoops were hot on his trail. Coelho was originally called in after the Gore candidacy had washed up on the beach and lay dying in the noon-day sun. When Tony came to the rescue, he demanded “total control” of the campaign organization—and got it.89 A few years earlier, he had been one of the most powerful men in Congress. Then, all of a sudden, he was gone—resigning after questions were raised about his ethical conduct. He quit because they had him nailed. Gone but not forgotten: Two years ago he was appointed U.S. Commissioner General for Expo 98, to be held in Lisbon, Portugal. It was a low-profile job with a high potential for waste, fraud, and abuse. And sure enough, Tony got into trouble again. In September of 1999, an audit by the State Department’s Inspector General found mismanagement of government funds and possible violations of the law.90 Below are some of the items on a lengthy list of the abuses the I.G. uncovered: 91 * Coelho and friends misused around $150,000 in airline tickets and pass upgrades donated to the federal government by Continental Airlines. * Coelho scarfed up $800 from the petty cash drawer to pay for a Mercedes with chauffeur, though he had 6 vans assigned for his use. * He stayed in a luxury apartment that cost $18,000 a month and sent the bill to the United States Information Agency. * He hired two stepsons of the ambassador to Portugal, one as a “senior operations assistant” to work out of his office and paid them inflated salaries. Their contracts did not outline duties. Coelho’s niece was also on the payroll. * He hired a consultant and paid him more than $26,000 to work out of his office, reimbursing him for expenses that weren’t covered in the contract. * He obstructed the I.G.’s investigation by ordering documents destroyed. * According to the I.G., he wheedled a $300,000 personal loan from the president of a Lisbon bank, ostensibly to support the Luso-American Wave Foundation, formed to raise money for a massive sculpture to honor Portuguese who immigrated to the United States. Coelho didn’t bother to list the loan on his financial disclosure form. At first, the money was deposited into USIA trust funds for the exposition, but was removed after discovery that it was a personal loan and not a gift. After the I.G.’s report hit the news, Coelho began to engage in damage control, though his efforts weren’t entirely successful. * On October 2, 1999, Stanley Brand, Coelho’s lawyer, said the loan “was paid off with donations from people donating to the memorial, including a large donation from Tony himself.”92 * Two days later, Brand did a bit of back-pedaling. This time he said that Tony still owed around $100,000 on the loan, and was “in the process of paying it off.”93 * On October 7, Brand gave the world an update: Coelho had sent a wire transfer to a bank in Portugal for final payment on the loan. Reportedly, Coelho had made almost $2 million during an 18-month period, and his total assets were around $55 million.94 * Shortly after the story broke, Al Gore said on “Face the Nation”: “Tony Coelho is doing a terrific job. He’s my close friend, and he’s going to continue to do a great job.” When asked about the audit, Gore called it “inside baseball.”95 That might have been the end of it, but it wasn’t. In March of 2000, Time reported that Coelho’s activities in Lisbon were no longer the sole concern of the State Department. The Justice Department had launched its own criminal investigation.96 When asked about these new developments, Gore sounded like a broken record: “Tony Coelho is doing a terrific job, day after day. He will continue to do a terrific job.”97 Gore seemed to be saying, “I don’t care if Tony’s a bad guy, as long as he keeps my campaign ginning.” Within a week the national press was talking about a new investigation—this one by the Securities and Exchange Commission, involving Thoroughbred Breeders, Inc., a corporation that Tony and an unsavory partner took over and then shut down. A second company, the AutoLend Group, was also under investigation. These companies had two things in common: (1) They were engaged in shady business practices, and (2) Tony Coelho was a director on both boards.98 During this scrutiny, Tony Coelho was still the absolute ruler of Al Gore’s presidential campaign; and while the major news magazines and the New York Times covered this story in depth, the majority of the American people didn’t know Coelho was Gore’s campaign manager, much less that he’d been involved in so much sleaze. Now that Coelho has departed, it looks as if Gore will weather another storm without even having to put up his umbrella. Meanwhile another friend of Al Gore was covering himself with sleaze. This one agreed to plead guilty in Florida to the charge of soliciting a political donation from a foreign contributor in behalf of the Democratic Party. According to prosecutors, Howard Glicken solicited the contribution from German businessman Thomas Kramer. The Wall Street Journal reported the following: The case generated controversy after FEC lawyers recommended against pursuing Mr. Glicken because it was “unclear” that he would settle the case, given his “high profile [and] potential fund-raising involvement in support of” Mr. Gore. Mr. Gore met Mr. Glicken in 1987 during the then-senator’s unsuccessful bid for the presidential nomination and the two became friends. He raised more than $2.3 million during the 1992 and 1996 Clinton/Gore campaigns, and Bill and Hillary Clinton listed him among their “longtime friends” who stayed overnight at the White House. After the 1992 election, Mr. Glicken became a consultant to foreign businessmen and introduced associates to key people in Washington, squiring some to fundraisers to meet the president and other players. He visited the White House more than 70 times.99 One of the most fortuitous friendships Al Gore and his family ever made was with Armand Hammer and his Occidental Petroleum Company. Younger Americans aren’t familiar with the controversy that surrounded Hammer during his long and contradictory life. One of the richest men in the world, he was an outspoken supporter of the Soviet Union and international communism during the Cold War. Many Americans saw him as a traitor, and J. Edgar Hoover believed that he acted as a Soviet agent while traveling to and from Russia. As Micah Morrison of the Wall Street Journal pointed out, citing an authoritative book on the subject by Edward Jay Epstein, Hoover’s suspicions were grounded in hard evidence: Mr. Hammer mined asbestos and brokered the production of tractors and pencils for Stalinist Russia. He cut lucrative fur deals. He trafficked in Czarist art, real and forged. He laundered millions for the Soviet Union in sham transactions. Later, Mr. Epstein reports, Mr. Hammer leapt into the big time by acquiring Libyan oil rights for Occidental Petroleum through a combination of shrewd dealing and bribery.100 Hammer also did something else. As Morrison put it, he “trafficked in politicians of all parties and stripes.”101 One of these was Albert Gore, Sr. Another was Albert Gore, Jr. Hammer and the elder Gore met at a stock auction in the 1940s and established a close friendship that lasted until the 1990s, when both men died.102 Both were men of the Left, and both were driven to become the rich capitalists they despised in the abstract. And they both profited enormously from the relationship. Early in the game, one of Hammer’s subsidiary companies bought a piece of property in Tennessee, sold it to Gore, Sr., who in turn sold it to Gore, Jr.—our Al. Hammer’s company then began paying Gore, Jr. a highly inflated annual fee for mining rights—and never mined the property. This little arrangement netted Gore, Jr. over $190,000.103 Hammer did other favors for Gore, Sr. For example, the two men went into the cattle business together. As Morrison put it: Over the years, as Mr. Gore rose in prominence and went on to the Senate, many favor-seekers traveled to Tennessee to purchase some very expensive cattle. The profits allowed the senator and his family to live in luxury at Washington’s Fairfax Hotel. In return, Mr. Gore provided several valuable services to Mr. Hammer, including fending off the FBI.104 Hammer also did favors for Gore, Jr., in addition to paying him mineral rights. * When Senator Al ran for reelection in 1990, the Hammer family and corporations made donations up to the legal limit.105 * According to Neil Lyndon, Hammer’s former personal assistant, Al and Tipper had dinner regularly with Hammer and Hammer’s paid lobbyists. The Wall Street Journal also quotes Lyndon as saying: “Separately and together, the Gores sometimes used Hammer’s luxurious private Boeing 727 for journeys and jaunts.”106 * The New York Times reported the following: “Former Senator Paul Simon of Illinois wrote in a 1989 book that Mr. Hammer promised him ‘any cabinet spot I wanted’ to withdraw from the 1988 Democratic presidential primary race and support the younger Mr. Gore’s candidacy.”107 It’s particularly interesting that Hammer should feel free to make such an offer. Did that mean Gore was so much his creature that Hammer could make such promises without even consulting the candidate? Or did it mean that he was acting as Gore’s agent in the matter? Why was Hammer so anxious to help further Gore, Jr.’s career? Perhaps events this year provide us with an answer to that question. Near Bakersfield, California, lies Elk Hills oil field, a 47,000-acre tract that has belonged to the federal government since 1912. In September of 1995, the Vice President of the United States, in his role as Reinventer of Government, recommended that Elk Hills be privatized. When the land was released for sale, Occidental Petroleum gobbled it up. Occidental stock soared. And the trust fund Al Gore’s father left behind contained a huge block of stock. Al is currently managing that trust for his mother. It’s certainly satisfying to be able to help your country and your gray-haired mother at the same time.108 No one knows the extent to which Gores Sr. and Jr. aided Armand Hammer, his family, and Occidental. Nor can we determine the extent of the services Hammer rendered to the Gores. These are relationships common enough in Washington. But Al Gore has been involved in more than his share. One of the most sinister figures in Al Gore’s entourage is Nathan Landow—a man with a shady past and even shadier connections. In the 1970s, Landow made a serious effort to get into the hotel and casino business. When he was ready to make his move, he enlisted the help of Joe Nesline—an underworld character. As the Washington Post put it in 1978: Two prominent Washington investors with connections to the Carter administration were involved in a proposal to build a hotel and gambling casino in Atlantic City, with Washington gambling king pin Joe Nesline as a consultant. The investors are multimillionaire builder Nathan Landow and Smith Bagley, a Reynolds tobacco heir. Landow is under consideration for appointment as U.S. Ambassador to the Netherlands.109 The Post also pointed out that Nesline had a long criminal record, including bookmaking, bribery and gambling. In 1951, he was also convicted of carrying a deadly weapon in the fatal shooting of a man in an after-hours club.110 Landow and Nesline were also involved in another casino deal, this one on St. Martin Island in the Caribbean. This enterprise also involved Edward Cellini, brother of mob associate Dino Cellini, a former associate of Meyer Lansky.111 In yet another business deal, Landow teamed up with Anthony Plate, a member of the Carlo Gambino crime family, to invest in Quaker Masonry, Inc., a firm with offices in Maryland and Florida.112 In the early 1980s—when the administration of Washington mayor Marion Barry was selling urban renewal properties to Democratic Party supporters at cut-rate prices—Landow was one of the lucky buyers. As National Review reported: “Nathan Landow, for example, a prominent Democratic Party fundraiser, paid less than one-third the market price for a piece of downtown real estate he purchased from the [Washington Redevelopment Land Agency] in early 1982.”113 So Landow has been skulking around in deep shade for several decades—and during this period he was a big behind-the-scenes money man in the Democratic Party. Question: What are Landow’s connections with Al Gore and the Clinton/Gore Administration? Answer: Many and varied. * Landow raised $600,000 for the Clinton/Gore ticket in 1992 and 1996—a lot of money that buys a lot of gratitude.114 * He allegedly tried to pressure former White House volunteer Kathleen Willey to keep quiet about Bill Clinton’s sexual harassment. According to Newsweek, “Landow’s real-estate firm chartered a plane to fly Willey from her home to Maryland’s Eastern Shore, where Landow has an estate.” There, according to Newsweek, Landow told her, “Don’t say anything,” that if she said “nothing happened,” no one could contradict her. Willey told the grand jury that during her visit, “Landow offered to fly her to New York City for a Christmas shopping trip.”115 * The Washington Post reported that Jarrett Stern, a private investigator, said Landow hired him to spy on Willey, According to Stern’s lawyer, the P.I. called Willey and warned her. Landow denied he hired Stern.116 It turned out he was telling the truth. It was Landow’s lawyer, Saul Schwartzbach, who hired the investigator to spy on Willey.117 * The Washington Times reported that when Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians were attempting to get the government to return tribal lands, “Longtime Gore fund-raiser Nathan Landow and former Clinton-Gore campaign manager Peter Knight reportedly offered to lobby the administration for the return of the lands in exchange for campaign contributions from the tribe of more than $100,000.... For their efforts the Indians got lunch with President Clinton and a dinner invitation from Mr. Gore, but no land. When news of the shakedown broke earlier this year, the Democratic National Committee returned the money.”118 * But Landow wasn’t merely shaking down poor Indians for the good of the cause. He also tried to grab a piece of the action. As U.S. News & World Report put it: “Although officials of the Cheyenne-Arapaho tribes ultimately refused to testify in the case, tribal lawyer Richard Grellner told the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee that in exchange for help with their claim, Landow demanded 10 percent of any development revenues and gas or oil royalties on the disputed land—a bonanza possibly worth as much as $200 million.”119 * Archie Hoffman, former Cheyenne-Arapaho tribal secretary, when interviewed by Bill Moyers on “Frontline,” said of Landow, “And he said, but if we didn’t do that, he said he’d make sure we never got the property back, you know?” * It gets worse. When federal investigators began to look into Landow’s dealings with the Cheyenne-Arapahos, Michael C. Copperthite, a Democratic fundraiser, knew some of the detail—and Landow knew that he knew. So according to Copperthite, Landow “did exactly the same thing to me” that Willey said he’d done. Here’s Copperthite’s version: “He said, And I quote exactly: ‘You’re going to be contacted by Justice Department people probably and I want to go over with you what the truth is, so that you can tell the truth.’ ... So then he does this whole story that doesn’t even match up to anything that happened and then says, ‘Now that’s the truth, isn’t it? You’re going to tell the truth.’”120 * According to Copperthite, Landow’s offer for lying to the Justice Department was not a Christmas shopping spree in New York, but a job with Al Gore’s 2000 presidential campaign.121 * So where did Nathan Landow get his clout with Gore? It was Landow who came to Gore and urged him to run for President in 1988, so the two go way back. And in that race, Landow was Gore’s chief financial backer. According to Copperthite, Landow told him, “We’re all going to be part of the big happy Gore family some day and this all will pass over.” Copperthite’s interpretation: “He was clearly telling me to keep my mouth shut, play along and I would be taken care of—or un-taken care of.”122 Al Hunt, writing in the Wall Street Journal, reported that Landow also apparently joined others in trying to help Webster Hubbell out of his fi nancial difficulties. Then Hunt says something about Landow that’s significant: What sets Mr. Landow apart, however, is that he and Bill Clinton actually have a hostile relationship. But Mr. Landow is close to Vice President Al Gore. Political observers who know him say that it’s highly doubtful that Mr. Landow would have done this out of personal kindness rather than political calculation....123 It’s important to note that all of these characters—slipping in and out of the White House, representing special interests, peddling influence—were invited into the party by Al Gore. Indeed, looking over this abbreviated list, it’s easy to conclude that Gore’s friends are even sleazier than Clinton’s friends, a terrible revelation to a sleaze-weary public. The American Conservative Union 1007 Cameron Street · Alexandria, VA 22314 Tel: (703) 836-8602 · Fax: (703) 836-8606 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ----- Aloha, He'Ping, Om, Shalom, Salaam. Em Hotep, Peace Be, All My Relations. Omnia Bona Bonis, Adieu, Adios, Aloha. Amen. Roads End <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. 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