Remember what Kevin Phillips
said about the Bush family? “Over four generations they have honed a
pattern of loyalty to [America’s] wealthiest 0.01 percent … How you do that over four
generations and not take that loyalty to the White House is not credible.”
If anyone doubts his words, they should have a look at Paul Harris’s investigation, reported
the other day in The (London) Observer. Harris revealed that roughly $150 million — or half of
the $296 million raised in campaign contributions since 1998 by George W. — “has come from just 630
people.” And, he added:
Certainly the benefits of donating seem clear. A report by the group revealed
that, out of 630 elite donors from 2000 and 2004, almost one quarter were given an appointment
from the administration — including 24 ambassadorships and two cabinet positions. In 2002 more
than $3.5 billion of federal contracts were given to 101 companies that between them boasted 123
Pioneers and Rangers [contributors who gave, respectively, $100,000 and
$200,000].
The contributors are part of an “extremely ‘clubby’ and close-knit” network representing elite
wealth with “four main families … at its centre”: Seven members of the Bush clan itself, who have
given at least $100,000 each; “Massachusetts millionaire” Richard Egan and two of his sons; and
three members each of the Fox family, owners of the Harbour Group finance firm with major
investments in China, and the Reynolds family of land developers.
But while the contributors represent elite wealth, the current occupant of the White
House is not picky about ethical or moral pedigree. Harris reports that “146 of the donors
have been involved in corporate scandals or helped to run companies that have.”
