Operation OUTROVE update

Needlenose is awesome.

I didn't get a chance to call Mr. Dan Mills yesterday. While I was preparing some questions to ask, I started doing more research. And more research. And yet more research. I went to the bookstore and read the first chapter of Ivins' "Shrub," used Lexis/Nexis to find as many articles as I could about the topic (there weren't too many, and I've got the screen captures to prove it), and found some flaws in Palast's reporting. For example, he says Ben Barnes was Texas' Lt. Governor at the time he called in the favor for Bush, but Barnes was actually Speaker of the House - He became Lt. Governor the next year, 1969.

I found out Palast also talks about this story in his book, where he mistakingly labels GTech as a New Jersey corporation. They are actually based in Rhode Island, and I should know since I once had a job interview in their corporate headquarters.

Some of this nitpicking is important, since the letter Palast unconvered says Barnes was the Lt. Governor at the time and he wasn't, which sheds some possibility on the letter being a hoax. That I cannot confirm at this point in time, though most of what was said in the letter makes sense when I read other articles about the story.

My other problem with the letter is that it never mentions the $23 million payoff GTech gave to Barnes. It hints that there was a deal between Barnes pitched to Bush on behalf of GTech, and, of course, Barnes would expect a payment in return. But I was able to use Lexis/Nexis to find a Washington Post article from 1999 which confirms that GTech dismissed Barnes as their a lobbyist, buying out his contract for "$23.1 million." Another article places the date for this action in Feb., 1997.

This poses a problem that I haven't been able to solve yet. In 1997, there was a corruption scandal between GTech and the Texas Lottery Commission. I need to read more about this scandal, but from what I understand so far, a man named Lawrence Littwin was appointed president of the commission in May, 1997. He wanted to rebid the Texas state lottery contract, which basically meant that GTech would lose their contract to one of the largest state lottery systems in the country. But in October, 1997, Littwin got shitcanned, and the new commission president gave the lottery contract to GTech.

In 1999, I believe, Littwin filed a civil suit claiming that he was fired because Barnes made a deal with Bush. Barnes wouldn't talk about getting Bush into the Air Guard, and Bush would make sure GTech got business from Texas. This is where Palast thinks the $23 million payoff comes into play, because Barnes would obviously want something out of the deal.

The only problem I see if that Barnes was dismissed by GTech in February, and Littwin was fired in October, how did GTech know to pay him off? Was there a pay off? Did GTech know they were in hot water and try covering their tracks by making it look like they dismissed Barnes in February? That, as far as I can tell, is what Palast's sources claim.

To me, $23 million to buyout Barnes contract does seem fishy to me. That's an awful lot of money to shell out just to get rid of somebody.

It's also worth noting that Barnes constantly denied that he pulled any strings to get Bush into the Air Guard until this civil suit in 1999, then he had to admit it because he was under oath. He admitted to giving a lot of rich kids a leg up on guard admissions, because there were a lot of Texas daddies calling in favors. Such was the culture of Texas' rich and politically connected in 1968. Barnes singing like a bird about getting Bush into the guard is a recent development, because in the past he would deny it in public.

For now, my tasks are to research the civil trial further and see if I can find any other reasons why GTech gave Barnes $23 million. And even though Palast says in his book that Mills never did a thing with the letter he uncovered, I plan in trying to reach Mills soon. Maybe I should also see if I can get ahold of Littwin.