Tuesday, September 12, 2006
Public Interest
I read today that John Groen, an attorney formerly employed by Pacific Legal Foundation, is running for the Washington State Supreme Court.
I remember him as a young mouthpiece twelve years ago when he represented a network of right-wing terrorists operating as covert agents of the Building Industry Association of Washington. Which is not surprising given PLF is one of several right-wing legal foundations in the US founded by industry magnates to undermine civil rights, environmental protection, and occupational safety.
PLF, initially funded by the California Chamber of Commerce, now--along with others like Mountain States Legal Foundation--are, believe it or not, tax-deductible charities. Find me the public interest there.
But this time, John Groen, Supreme Court candidate, is bought and paid for by the BIAW and friends through an elaborate money-laundering scheme that, alas, has no hope of being upended by the Washington Public Disclosure Commission. The reason being that the BIAW is financed primarily by a racketeering scam whereby public insurance monies are managed by and for the BIAW through a deal set up just for them by state legislators bribed for such purpose through a perpetual campaign kickback scheme to members of both political parties, thereby foreclosing any hope that the PDC will ever enforce clean election laws for fear the bipartisan legislators would cut their budget in revenge.
It's part of a larger system that no governor has been willing to take on, and no major media willing to discuss. If the US Department of Justice were not equally corrupt, the BIAW criminal enterprise would be ripe for investigation, but then we saw how DoJ handled the theft of Florida 2000, didn't we.
I remember him as a young mouthpiece twelve years ago when he represented a network of right-wing terrorists operating as covert agents of the Building Industry Association of Washington. Which is not surprising given PLF is one of several right-wing legal foundations in the US founded by industry magnates to undermine civil rights, environmental protection, and occupational safety.
PLF, initially funded by the California Chamber of Commerce, now--along with others like Mountain States Legal Foundation--are, believe it or not, tax-deductible charities. Find me the public interest there.
But this time, John Groen, Supreme Court candidate, is bought and paid for by the BIAW and friends through an elaborate money-laundering scheme that, alas, has no hope of being upended by the Washington Public Disclosure Commission. The reason being that the BIAW is financed primarily by a racketeering scam whereby public insurance monies are managed by and for the BIAW through a deal set up just for them by state legislators bribed for such purpose through a perpetual campaign kickback scheme to members of both political parties, thereby foreclosing any hope that the PDC will ever enforce clean election laws for fear the bipartisan legislators would cut their budget in revenge.
It's part of a larger system that no governor has been willing to take on, and no major media willing to discuss. If the US Department of Justice were not equally corrupt, the BIAW criminal enterprise would be ripe for investigation, but then we saw how DoJ handled the theft of Florida 2000, didn't we.
