Hillary has already had to absorb a couple of shots for apparent mismanagement during her tenure as Secretary of State; now it’s Jeb Bush’s turn, although he’s not yet declared himself a candidate. The International Business Times reports that certain corporate donors to his gubernatorial campaign received business from the state pension:
An International Business Times analysis of Florida government documents and a list of George W. Bush’s bundlers compiled by Public Citizen found that 11 firms that received new Florida pension investments under Jeb Bush were Pioneers. IBTimes also analyzed data from the Florida Division of Elections and Political Moneyline to determine how much money executives from those firms donated directly to Jeb Bush’s campaigns, George W. Bush’s campaigns, the Republican National Committee and the Republican Party of Florida between 1998 and 2006.
The article contains information concerning the firms and the amounts of money donated. (h/t ericlewis0 @ The Daily Kos)
IBTimes also runs a related story:
As Jeb Bush oversaw the State Board of Administration (SBA) that runs Florida’s massive public pension system, the state shifted billions of dollars into higher-risk, higher-fee alternative investments, benefiting the same sector of the investment industry he would work in upon leaving office. Many of those state deals delivered returns that fell short of projections. Roughly 20 percent of that system’s 53 private investment deals during Bush’s governorship went to companies that employed his brother’s Pioneers. Those financial firms, in turn, delivered more than $5 million of campaign cash to George W. Bush, the Republican National Committee and Jeb Bush’s Republican Party of Florida….
“If not an actual conflict of interest, these examples would provide fodder for apparent conflicts of interest,” said Common Cause Florida’s Peter Butzin. “Those folks who give … expect something in return. And if that something in return is not blatantly sending business their way or resulting in a particular vote, it most certainly is at least providing an opportunity for access, to get the foot in the door, so that they can make the case with that official.”
The balance makes for an interesting peek into the world of campaign finance and the importance of family networking. Turns out a cousin of the Bushes ran an important division of Goldman Sachs at one time; now he heads up Neuberger Berman:
one of the largest private, independent, employee-controlled investment management firms.
According to Wikipedia. Prison Planet also runs a story on both Jeb and Hillary.
