http://hotair.com/archives/2007/06/21/audio-mark-levin-thrashes-trent-lotts-long-and-undistinguished-record/
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Giuliani's law firm also donates to Democrats
politicsBy CARLA MARINUCCI
San Francisco Chronicle
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani is partner in a law firm with a generous political action committee -- one that gave nearly 40 percent of its contributions to Democrats in the 2006 midterm elections, including $5,000 to then-Democratic House leader Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco.
The 2006 donations from the political action committee of the Houston-based law firm of Bracewell & Giuliani -- known as Bracepac -- included $3,000 to Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of San Francisco.
Bracepac contributed to 53 Democratic candidates and 50 Republicans in the 2006 election cycle, federal records show.
Some Republican insiders said the campaign contributions by Giuliani's firm will have no influence on the former New York City mayor's attempts to woo conservative and grassroots voters away from the other leading GOP presidential candidates, Arizona Sen. John McCain and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.
"If the donations were in Rudy Giuliani's name, or his wife's name, that would be a problem," said Bill Whalen, a Hoover Institution research fellow and former speechwriter to Republican Gov. Pete Wilson. "But it's the reality of modern-day politics ... and under the larger category of doing business. He's a partner in a law firm that wants to do business on both sides of the street -- so you give to Republicans and Democrats."
Giuliani is among a group of 2008 presidential hopefuls who are in California this week for fundraising and public events including Democrats John Edwards of North Carolina, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois and Republican McCain.
As the already busy presidential campaign gathers speed, the hopeful candidates are certain to face increasing scrutiny on their lives inside and outside of politics including issues such as the political contributions by the former mayor's law firm.
Giuliani already has faced questions about his income from the law firm, as a security consultant and as a public speaker, a field in which he reaped $11.3 million last year, federal records show.
The Houston Chronicle reported this month that Giuliani has been paid at least $1.2 million by Bracewell & Giuliani. Texas Lawyer reported that he also received $690,000 in partners' profits last year.
Scott Segal, a partner in Bracewell & Giuliani, said Tuesday in response to questions that the firm's "approach to government relations is bipartisan and bicameral."
Indeed, the firm's political donations are controlled entirely by its political committee. Insiders point out that Giuliani is not a member of that committee and makes no decisions related to its political contributions.
Maria Comella, a spokeswoman for Giuliani's campaign, said in an e-mail Tuesday that "the PAC is not representative of the mayor's beliefs," adding that "people donate to Mayor Giuliani based on their belief in his candidacy, not the other way around."
Bracewell & Giuliani has also been a high-profile lobbying firm, receiving nearly $6 million in lobbying fees last year with a client list that included the National Petrochemical and Refiners Association _ which fought regulations to reduce greenhouse gases _ and the Electric Reliability Coordinating Council, an industry group formed in part to fight pollution controls for coal-fired plants.
Giuliani's chief policy adviser, Bill Simon _ a former Republican candidate for California governor _ said he expects Giuliani will be subject to examination by the public in the campaign and believes voters will fairly judge the former mayor's experience and long record of public service.
"I think any presidential contest is going to involve a lot of scrutiny, and the mayor has been a very, very successful individual on a number of different activities," Simon said. Opponents and the media "will look hard at the mayor's record and occasionally distort it."
(E-mail Carla Marinucci at cmarinucci(at)sfchronicle.com)
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PREMEDITATED MERGER
Rudy Giuliani tied to 'superhighways'
Law firm represents consortia funding NAFTA-related routes
Posted: May 15, 2007
1:00 a.m. Eastern
By Jerome R. Corsi
© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com
 Rudy Giuliani |
Questions are being raised over Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani's policy on terrorism, after a report revealed he has strong ties to two foreign investment consortia working to own or lease U.S. toll roads, including the Trans-Texas Corridor 35, which is identified as part of the I-35 "NAFTA Superhighway."
Although he opposed NAFTA in 1993, Giuliani recently declined to call for building a fence on the United States border with Mexico, and he has supported a guest-worker program.
Columnist Michelle Malkin also has documented that while mayor of New York City, Giuliani kept the municipality a sanctuary city for illegal aliens, adhering to a policy first established by Mayor Ed Koch in 1989.
Now comes a new report about Giuliani's involvement with public-private-partnership projects that include NAFTA Superhighway funding and his open borders record on immigration questions, all of which could undermine his otherwise tough policy on terrorism that has resulted from the 9/11 role Giuliani played in managing New York City's response to the attacks on the World Trade Center.
Giuliani's Houston-based law firm, Bracewell & Giuliani, is identified by the Texas Department of Transportation as the sole law firm representing Cintra Concesiones de Infraestructuras de Transporte, S.A., the Spanish investment consortium that has joined with Zachry Construction Company in San Antonio on the TTC project.
WND previously reported that TTC-35 is the new four-football-fields-wide car-truck-train-pipeline corridor to be built parallel to the existing I-35 as the Texas segment of the emerging Mexico-to-Canada I-35 NAFTA Superhighway.
Bracewell & Giuliani also has advised Cintra on the completion of the Comprehensive Development Agreement negotiated with Texas to develop State Highway 121 into a toll road through Collin and Denton counties.
The state highway department also gave Cintra a 50-year concession to operate SH 121 as a toll road, with Cintra agreeing to pay $2.1 billion upfront and annual lease payments totaling $700 million.
In addition, Bracewell & Giuliani successfully negotiated a $1.3 billion deal with TxDOT for Cintra-Zachry to build the remaining 40 miles of State Highway 130 as a toll road.
WND also has reported that Giuliani Capital Advisors was acquired in March by Macquarie, an Australian investment consortium which has also been involved in leasing and operating U.S. toll roads.
Further, the Federal Highway Administration has created a public-private-partnerships website on which both Cintra and Macquarie are featured as joint venture partners in the 2005 deal involving $1.83 billion paid to the City of Chicago to operate the Chicago Skyway under a 99-year lease.
The FHWA website also discloses that Cintra and Macquarie partnered in the $3.85 billion 2006 deal to operate the Indiana Toll Road on a 75-year lease.
WND has previously reported EuroMoney Seminars, a UK-based company, is holding seminars to teach state and local governments in the U.S. how to lease a wide range of public assets – from highways to water departments, to prisons and schools – to international and foreign investment groups.
Just this month, independent journalist Diane Grassi first broke the story of Giuliani's involvement with the NAFTA Superhighway, writing that, "All negotiations for Cintra were and are presently handled by the law firm, Bracewell & Giuliani, LLP, of which Republican Presidential candidate, Rudolph Giuliani, has been a senior executive partner since March 2005. His law firm is the exclusive legal counsel for Cintra."
The New York Sun also earlier reported that an October 2002 contract between Mexico City and Giuliani Partners, a Giuliani consulting firm, to reduce crime was a failure.
Giuliani began the project in January 2003 with a fanfare initial tour of Mexico City that included a motorcade of a dozen bulletproof SUVs, 400 officers, and a helicopter.
Still, the Sun reported that Giuliani Partners ended up being paid less than the full $4.3 million contract price tag, despite some 20 trips to Mexico City booked by Giuliani associates over a 10-month period.
In December 2004, Bernard Kerik, the former New York City police commissioner, resigned as CEO of Giuliani-Kerik, a law enforcement-oriented subsidiary of Giuliani Partners, amidst the various scandals that developed following Kerik's nomination by President Bush to head the Department of Homeland Security.
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Giuliani campaign chairman indicted
State treasurer indicted on drug charges
State Treasurer Thomas Ravenel has been indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of conspiracy to possess with the intent distribute cocaine, federal and state authorities said at a news conference at SLED headquarters this afternoon.
According to the indictment, beginning in 2005 — before he was elected state treasurer — Ravenel conspired with Michael L. Miller to possess with intent to distribute cocaine.
If convicted, Ravenel faces up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $1 million.
The Charleston Republican raised millions of dollars to unseat long-term Democratic incumbent Grady Patterson in November. He ran unsuccessfully for the GOP nomination for the U.S. Senate in 2004.
Ravenel in April was named the state chairman for former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani’s presidential campaign.
Ravenel, 44, is a multi-millionaire real estate developer and the son of Arthur Ravenel Jr., a powerful South Carolina politician who formerly was a member of the General Assembly and the U.S. House.
As treasurer, Ravenel is responsible for handling the state’s finances and investments. He also holds a seat on the powerful State Budget and Control Board, which controls much of the state bureaucracy. His salary is $92,007.
Check back throughout the evening and in Wednesday’s editions of The State newspaper for updates on this story.
