October 20, 2004 - As if Bush's sale of his $606,000 share of Texas
Rangers stock to owner Tom Hicks for $15 million wasn't enough,
there's more from deep in the heart of Texas to nail the good old
boy, namely the possibility of tax evasion. That is, Bush declared
the proceeds as a long-term capital gain, which it wasn't, as opposed
to ordinary income, which it was. This means Bush paid at the capital
gains' rate of 20 percent as opposed to the ordinary income rate of
39.6 percent. Beating the IRS out of nearly 20 percent in additional
taxes. But the fun doesn't stop there.

As reported by MakeThemAccountable.com, Bush had had prior business
with Tom Hicks, who also was cofounder, with his brother R. Steven
Hicks, of a radio company that merged in 1999 into AMFM, Inc. It was
soon engulfed and devoured by Clear Channel Communications, of which
old Tom became vice chair (I think the title is appropriate, don't
you?).

Tom, a busy bee, is also chief corporate raider for the firm Hicks,
Muse, Tate & Furst. In addition to being Bush's No. 4 career patron,
Hicks, Muse wanted to dip into the $13 billion University of Texas
(UT) endowment for takeover deals, sort of like Michael Milken's old
corporate raider "treasure chests." And we all know what happened to
Mike. Indicted in 1989 of 98 counts of fraud and racketeering. In
1990, banned from operating in the securities industry for life and
sentenced to 10 years in prison for security fraud by then straight
shooting New York D.A., Rudy Guiliani. Sentence later reduced to 22
months, served at a "Club Fed," a fenceless prison camp for low risk
inmates. Ah well, life at the top. But let's move on . . .

Coincidentally, as Bush stepped into the Texas governor's office,
Hicks was confirmed as a University of Texas regent, first chair no
less. Hicks corralled some lobbyists to help pass a bill to create
the UT Investment Management Co (UTIMCO). Love the acronyms. Then
UTIMCO handed out contracts to private investment firms to "manage"
pieces of the endowment - lots of foxes in the old hen house. When a
media scandal (remember those) actually exposed UTIMCO's juicy
contract deals with firms connected to Hicks and Bush, and even one
that President Bush 1 reportedly had a piece of, well, folks weren't
too happy. Nevertheless, the management fees to Hicks for "investing"
the TU billions could easily have topped the $250 million he paid for
the Texas Rangers. In so many words, Bush in his official duties as
governor passed Hicks the money to buy the team.

Right there and then Junior should have been busted for misuse of his
office for personal profit. He wasn't. And, as mentioned, he bilked
even more bucks out of the deal by wrongly reporting taxes due on the
team sale. In fact, an IRS agent who worked on the 1972 Governor of
Illinois Otto Kerner's case, commented . . ."The government
concluded, and the jury affirmed, the fact that people in official
policy positions who enhance the value of their own property in whole
or in part are guilty of a corrupt practice, and accordingly the gain
is not capital gain. This is consistent with the theory behind giving
tax incentives only for legitimate capital appreciation."

It's about as clear as a day in Crawford, Texas that Governor Bush
had a real incentive to direct public policy for personal benefit. In
contrast, Kerner had been a rich man already, and the proceeds he
filched didn't add up to much considering his net worth. But Junior's
$12 million payoff was the mother lode of his assets.


ctd

part 2

What's more, in addition to the $150 million funded by the city of
Arlington's citizens, the Gov pushed legislation to reduce the
Ranger's school tax. The Rangers leased the stadium from a
development corporation exempt from any school district tax, which
turned out to be a hefty amount. And to top it off, the Gov backed
legislation that reduced the Ranger's school tax by $920,000, if the
team exercised their option to buy the stadium. It also would have
paid off in another venue in which Bush had an equity interest with
his good old boy TR pardners.

Yes sir, take me out to the ballgame. The 4/22/97 Houston Chronicle,
said "The tax reform bill . . . would have saved at least $2.5
million in school property tax for a company founded by Bush's
billionaire business partner and top campaign contributor, Richard
Rainwater of Forth Worth," another beaut. Rainwater was top gun of a
public company, Crescent Real Estate Equities, a real estate trust
traded on the New York Stock Exchange. Guess what? Bush had 4,222
shares of the company's stock when he offered up the tax cut that
would benefit it. This was the firm that owned psychiatric hospitals
throughout the country - closed because of scandals and frauds
exposed by 60 Minutes and several publications before the 2000
presidential election. This was the Junior we were inheriting via
fraudulent voting procedures, a stacked Supreme Court, Jeb, and the
lovely Katherine Harris.

Add to that, the Crescent perks afforded by Bush policies: (1)
receiving an extra $10 million stadium tax for a stadium used by the
Dallas Mavericks; (2) Texas sold to Crescent three office blocks that
belonged to the teacher's retirement fund - the sale of one block
cost the fund $44 million; (3) the trust fund for the TU Public
School sunk $20 million in Crescent in Bush's first term as governor.

The Bushman sold his Crescent interest via his "blind trust," the
Lone Star Trust, whose trustee was Bush's own personal CPA, Robert
McClesky. Of course, the Crescent shares were sold at their top
dollar, $40 a pop, gifting him proceeds of $168,000. Not too soon
after, Crescent's stock dumped at $21 a share. And on and on he goes,
the Lone Ranger riding into the sunset.  Hi-ho Silver, away!

Returning to the TR sale, Bush earned an additional 10 percent of the
team by his "added value" of political clout. It once again smacks of
conflict of interest. According to IRS Revenue Procedure 93-27, "The
receipt of partnership capital interest for service provided to or
for the benefit of the partnership is taxable as compensation." As a
result of filing the Ranger $12 million as long-term capital gains,
Bush screwed the U.S. government out of at least $2.4 million in
taxes. Buy me some peanuts and cracker jacks. I don't care if we
never get back, etc. So stay tuned as the song and saga play out. And
let's see if the American people get just who the creep is sitting in
the White House. His very presence stains it, every which way. Let's
hope on November 3, he gets the rousing, "Yerrr Out!" he so richly
deserves - for this and all his other strikeouts worldwide.

None of this is a surprise, and some of the details are well known to Bush watchers, but what can one say?  The man is more corrupt by far than Warren Harding (of the Teapot Dome scandal), a truley slimmy character willing to bilk the public, lie to Congress, Lie to We the People, and do whatever is necessary to stay in power.  He belongs in jail, doing hard time with the rapists and murderers, NOT in the white house.

I'm only surprised to see just one (now two including mine) responses to this thread.

I'm only surprised to see just one (now two including mine) responses to this thread.



I didn't respond because what is there to say? This doesn't surprise me at all. It is just another point proving that he is crooked and corrupt.




Cat

Nor is there much our ideologues can say in defense.

Nor is there much our ideologues can say in defense.


That's right.

So why is there not a move to impeach the sniviling idiot?  Actually there is.  But we have a Reepublican Congress, so that will never happen.