Who Is Fred Zeidman and Why Should You Care?

A recent Washington Post article covering the conflagration in the Middle East lured me in with its title: "In Mideast Strife, Bush Sees a Step to Peace."

President Bush's unwillingness to pressure Israel to halt its military campaign in Lebanon is rooted in a view of the Middle East conflict that is sharply different from that of his predecessors.

The article goes on to quote several authorities giving their take on Bush's current policy toward the Israeli-Lebanon flare-up. It concludes with this interesting quote.

Fred S. Zeidman, a Texas venture capitalist who is active in Jewish affairs and has been close to the president for years, said the current crisis shows the depth of the president's support for Israel. "He will not bow to international pressure to pressure Israel," Zeidman said. "I have never seen a man more committed to Israel."

Now I'm just a blogger, not a journalist, but it seems to me that there is some context to that little paragraph that as a reader you ought to know. And since the author didn't see fit to fill you in, here ya go.

Zeidman's name might be familiar in Houston circles, where he was known as an old and close friend of George Bush. He was a Bush Pioneer in the 2000 presidential campaign and a Bush Ranger in the 2004 election cycle.

Zeidman has ties to another infamous Texan. In 2003, he accompanied House Majority leader Tom DeLay on his 2003 trip to Israel. The trip made headlines because, while there, DeLay contradicted the President's own policy on Israel, condemning cease fires as "vacations" for terrorists.

“He really made an impression,” Fred Zeidman, a longtime Jewish Republican activist and now chair of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council, said of DeLay. Zeidman took DeLay on his first trip to Israel in the mid-1980s.

Oh, and did I forget to mention that Zeidman's son just got hired to represent the White House?

[Jay] Zeidman is the son of Fred Zeidman, chairman of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council and a fund-raiser for President Bush in the Jewish community. The younger Zeidman said he attended a lot of meetings with his father for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and the Anti-Defamation League in Houston, and walked away with strong support for Israel and political activism.

Oh, by the way, Jay is 22. But don't be thinking his father pulled any strings for this appointment.

Both father and son acknowledge that some may try to depict the appointment as an act of nepotism. But Fred Zeidman said that after he introduced his son at the White House for the first time, he was on his own.

Nepotism? In the administration of the son of a former president? Oh, wait...

And of course, you've probably heard of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) because they were implicated in the indictment and prosecution of Larry Franklin, a Pentagon analyst on the Iran desk who plead guilty to passing classified documents to AIPAC regarding U.S. plans to destabilize Iran.

Oh, and if you're looking for the obligatory oil connection, that's there, too. Zeidman is the former Chairman of Seitel, Inc. a leading provider of seismic data and related geophysical expertise to the petroleum industry. When he was appointed, the company was trying to burnish its image after restating earnings in the wake of the Enron scandal, and SEC charges against a former CEO for abuse of company funds.

Okay, here's probably the most important thing to remember. In 2004 Fred Zeidman was appointed the Senior Director of Governmental Affairs to the lobbying firm of Greenberg Traurig. Greenberg Traurig was in the headlines recently, after one of its former lobbyists, Jack Abramoff, got in a little trouble over some PAC money.

Greenberg Traurig provided lawyers to the Bush-Cheney team during the Florida recount. And speaking of nepotism, the firm also hired Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia's son on election day 2000, just a few weeks before his father famously quashed the recount in a 5-4 decision.

And did I mention that Congress is opening an investigation into the ties between Abramoff and the White House?

Chairman Thomas M. Davis III (R-Va.) authorized a subpoena weeks ago to Greenberg Traurig, according to several of the law firm's former clients who have been notified that it is turning over billing records, e-mails, phone logs and other material that reflects efforts to lobby the White House. Abramoff, the once-powerful lobbyist at the center of a wide-ranging public corruption investigation, was sentenced to five years and 10 months in prison on March 29, after pleading guilty to fraud, tax evasion and conspiracy to bribe public officials in a deal that required him to provide evidence about members of Congress.

Representatives of four of Abramoff's former tribal clients said they have been notified by Greenberg Traurig that the firm is turning over records. In some cases, there were scores of phone calls or other contacts with the White House. It is not known whether any of those contacts resulted in improper aid to Abramoff. Several tribal representatives said they believe many contacts were with staff members at the White House office of intergovernmental affairs.

In a subpoena -- read to The Washington Post by a former client who received a copy from Greenberg Traurig -- seeks all firm billing records "referring or relating to matters involving Jack Abramoff or any person working with Jack Abramoff," as well as all records reflecting any contacts those lobbyists had with the White House. The subpoena seeks records from Jan. 1, 1998, to the present, though Abramoff did not begin work at Greenberg Traurig until early 2001.

So yeah, Zeidman is a "Texas venture capitalist who is active in Jewish affairs and has been close to the president for years." I guess it's accurate as far as it goes. Like Forest Gump, he has the distinction of showing up in the background at auspicious moments in history. Now I'm not implying anything by all this, mind you. I just thought you might like to know.

The Rehabilitation of Ken Lay

A review of this week's news and commentary reveals the public's conflict and frustration regarding Ken Lay's unexpected demise. The fact that his punishment will never be served leaves many feeling that he escaped his fate somehow, but the circumstances of his death were nonetheless suffused with a certain pathos. "Kenny Boy" lived the high life, but ultimately he didn't dodge any bullets. Given his age of 64, and the possibility of a twenty year sentence, he was looking at the specter of imprisonment for the rest of his mortal days. The stress of that future almost certainly contributed to his death.

But just because a massive heart attack has rendered justice in this earthly life a moot point, doesn't mean all is forgiven. You may not want to dance on Lay's grave, but you might still be a little outraged at the efforts to put a shine on the tarnished image of a man whose name had become synonymous with corporate greed. And although Lay's death was in many ways tragic, most people prefer to save their sympathy for the 5,000 Enron employees whose jobs, savings and pensions were wiped out by the company's spectacular implosion.

Adding to the sense of justice denied, although there are conflicting reports as to the actual value of Ken Lay's worth, his death puts a kink in the government's ability to pursue the estate.

Lay's death allows his lawyers to ask the court to vacate his conviction for fraud and conspiracy in the scandal that left thousands jobless and wiped out billions from investors. That would thwart the government's bid to seize $43.5 million from Lay, but his assets could still be targeted in civil litigation from shareholders and others.

Nonetheless, Lay's supporters this week were trying to convince the public that he was a martyr, not a villain. Rev. William A. Lawson, pastor emeritus of Houston's Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church who will preside at Lay's funeral, offered this take on his friend's life.

"I plan to tell them this is not the first time somebody good has been falsely accused and even crucified,'' Lawson said today in an interview before leaving for Aspen.

Just like Martin Luther King and John F. Kennedy, my hope is that people will view Ken Lay in a much more positive light after his death. Even though people say he's a robber and a crook and that it's a good thing he's dead, we have the right to tell his family we've seen this (vilification) before, and history can be kind.''

Lay's supporters quickly point to his charitable contributions as evidence of his character.

For a decade, Lay underwrote much of the budget for the local National Association for the Advancement of Colored People chapter. He donated about $1 million to build the YMCA in Katy, a Houston suburb.....

Ah, but here's the rub.

"The generosity that he showed the city of Houston should never be forgotten,'' [Robert Prentice, a professor at the University of Texas] said. "Unfortunately, we now know that it was done largely with other people's money.''

Not everyone was so quick to embrace long lost friends. Among the Bush administration's many Orwellian attempts to re-write history, a recent press conference offered this revision of the President's relationship with Ken Lay.

Q: What has been the President’s reaction to the death of Ken Lay?
[White House spokesman TONY SNOW]: I really have not talked to him about it. I will give you my own personal reaction, which is that when somebody dies, you leave behind those that grieve, and I think that they deserve our compassion. But — I don’t know, what do you think would be the appropriate thing to say?
Q: I do not know. I don’t know him. The President was his friend, not me.
SNOW: No, the President has described Ken Lay as an acquaintance, and many of the President’s acquaintances have passed on during his time in office. Again, I think that it is sort of an interesting question but not answerable by me.

You know, just another casual acquaintance, like Jack Abramoff--oops! Never mind.

Ironically, anyone looking for a moral to this story might heed Lay's own words.

...following his conviction on fraud and conspiracy charges in May, the 64-year-old Lay offered a final bit of unofficial testimony that would have made his father [a Baptist lay preacher] proud.

"We believe God is in fact in control and indeed he does work all things for good for those who love the Lord," he said.

We'll just leave it at that.

Revenge of the Nerds

It's a delicious irony, isn't it, that the folks most defiant at being steamrolled by the Bush administration are those geeks over at the Justice Department. Not that we shouldn't expect our civil servants to stand for truth, justice and the American way. It's just that six years of the White House's war on dissent had us pretty much believing they could get by with anything. When our own citizens can be locked up without due process; when the highest-ranking lawman in the land condones torture; and when, after setting aside decades of precedence and policy to lead us into an illegal war in Iraq, the administration now has the brass to suggest they'll do it again in Iran -- well, it makes one realize the fragility of our democratic process, to say the least.

Buried in the bowels of government are everyday patriots, the career civil servants who can't be bribed or threatened: people like scientist James Hansen at NASA, who spoke out on global climate change despite pressure from on high. Unfortunately, speaking truth to power in today's political climate is usually a career ender. Army Corps of Engineers chief contracting officer, Bunnatine Greenhouse, was fired for suggesting no-bid contracts to Halliburton violated rules on government oversight. Since the Bush administration came to power, scores of our best, most experienced public servants have been culled from the ranks for presenting uncomfortable truths or opinions out of sync with the neocon cabal currently in charge.

We began hearing stories of internal critics being silenced early on in the Interior Department, when the Environmental Protection Agency and the Bureau of Land Management came under attack. Rumsfeld's purge of the Pentagon began before the war. Lately, the axe has fallen heavily with Bolton's shake-up of the State Department, and Porter Goss' witch hunt at the CIA. The result has been brain drain and a declining morale among those who are left.

Once open disagreement was shutdown, whistleblowers began leaking to the press. The NSA eavesdropping scandal launched when an insider leaked to the New York Times. Calling the disclosure a "shameful act," the administration responded with an aggressive crackdown, asking the Justice Department to open an investigation. Porter Goss threatened employees with random lie detector tests to uncover leakers in the CIA. An investigation as to who leaked the secret prisons in Europe is on-going.

The Justice Department itself has felt the heat from this administration. President Bush was personally responsible for demoting the supervising federal prosecutor, U.S. Attorney Frederick A. Black, just as his investigation into Jack Abramoff's lobbying efforts on behalf of Superior Court officials in Guam was starting to yield fruit. And former Deputy Attorney General James Comey and former Asst. Attorney General Jack Goldsmith hung tough in response to pressure to approve illegal wiretaps in what Newsweek termed a palace revolt. But they paid the price. On his way out, James Comey appointed his friend, nerdy Patrick Fitzgerald, (alright, make that sexy nerd ), to serve as special prosecutor investigating the CIA leak scandal.

Since indicting I. Lewis Libby, Fitzgerald has been playing a version of high stakes poker with the Libby defense team. When Libby's lawyers asked for thousands of pages of classified material, (a tactic known as greymail), ostensibly for the purpose of proving that Libby was so distracted by his job that he forgot he talked to reporters about Plame, Fitzgerald fired back a sassy letter, calling the attempt "nothing short of breathtaking," and added that he was not required to search every government agency's files for evidence that might help Libby's defense. The special counsel also released correspondence making a tantalizing reference to missing White House emails, since rediscovered. Libby's lawyers filed a motion to dismiss, arguing Fitzgerald had no authority to conduct the investigation. Now the Justice Department drops a bomb: Bush authorized Libby to leak classified material. Well, well.

Today's revelations on the National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) memo on Iraq make stark the hypocrisy of an administration that declassifies and leaks highly sensitive intel for political purposes, while aggressively pursuing whistleblowers who try to shine some light on the most secretive presidency since Nixon. The President is authorized to disclose classified information, although it's questionable whether he followed protocol, and the debate regarding the aluminum tubes has been known, although not highlighted, all along. But it is politically damning, contradicting as it does so many previous statements by the administration regarding Plamegate. Every new revelation in this case makes apparent the degree to which the administration was gaming the system, and the contempt with which they regard the public and the press.

Certainly, no one in the inner circle at the White House had reason to believe Fitzgerald's investigation would get this far. At the very least, we now have proof that the President set in motion a series of events which led to the outing of a covert agent. And the sensational nature of today's revelations make Libby's excuse that he forgot about Wilson's wife until he heard it from reporters even less plausible. It's too early to say whether Fitzgerald's investigation of Scooter Libby will lead to a conviction, much less to further indictments. And a true accounting of the build-up to the war won't come from the special prosecutor's actions. That's the role of Congress. Let's hope the Democrats are taking notes.

But watching Fitzgerald turn the tables on the Bush administration must be heartening to the unsung heroes in the government ranks. If there is anyone in a position to appreciate the fetid stench of corruption and spite that characterizes this administration, it's those on the inside. Chalk one up to the guys with the white hats (and the pocket protectors).

Tom DeLay Dodges Another Bullet

This is what passes for good news in the DeLay camp these days:

DeLay's former deputy chief of staff, Tony Rudy, 39, did not implicate him in any wrongdoing when he pleaded guilty Friday to conspiracy in the case involving convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

Add this to the other good news that Jack Abramoff himself appears unlikely to implicate DeLay in his plea bargain, and Michael Scanlon, Abramoff's lobbying partner-in-crime, didn't name him either. Of course, Rudy did implicate DeLay's chief of staff, Ed Buckman, in the congressional bribery scandal. Buckman was DeLay's closest aide and spiritual adviser. But just because this admission takes the scandal into DeLay's inner circle, don't go jumping to conclusions. DeLay was completely clueless and you'd better believe it hurts to know that the people he trusted so well were capable of such duplicity.

All this good news probably made him want to get up and do the Snoopy dance. But some people just can't catch a break. It seems the Hollywood libruls made a movie star of the Hammer, and he's upset they didn't portray him in the best light. Mark Birnbaum and Jim Schermbeck are releasing The Big Buy: How Tom DeLay Stole Congress, a movie about DeLay's recent, er, troubles with Ronnie Earle. As DeLay describes it:

“The same day I secured the Republican nomination to continue serving you and the good people of the 22nd District, my Democrat opponent Nick Lampson’s liberal Hollywood buddies gave me a “welcome” gift. They officially released a documentary about Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle’s partisan witch-hunt.”

But the documentarians have a different take:

Mark and me, Hollywood Liberals? I live in rural West Texas. I drive a ten-year old Civic. I just voted in the Republican primary. My family and I paint the town red by going to one of many chain restaurants in Lubbock. Mark is a grandfather who lives with his cat in a 30-year old middle-class home in North Dallas built by a Texas Instruments engineer.

Well, for those of you who've never been, Lubbock does have it's own special charm. Still, pity poor Tom. Everytime he dodges another bullet, somebody else has him in their sites. No wonder he wants his gun back.

abramoff gets jail time

MIAMI, Florida (AP) -- Jack Abramoff, the disgraced lobbyist at the center of a Washington corruption scandal, was sentenced Wednesday to nearly six years in prison for fraud in the purchase of a Florida casino cruise line.

Let this be an example to those corrupt politicians and lobbyists that would try and exploit the system to line their pockets. Fraud, conspiracy, perjury, and corruption will no longer be tolerated. You are not above the law and the justice system will treat you like the criminal you are.

I'm not naming any names, but a certain politician from Sugar Land should be mighty worried at this newsbreak.

DCCC to target NRCC Chair

Robert Novak has some good news and some bad news for the Republican party. First the good news: Jack Abramoff is telling friends that nothing he is revealing to federal prosecutors as a result of his plea agreement on fraud, tax evasion and conspiracy will implicate Tom DeLay. Alright, technically it's only good news for DeLay. Abramoff doesn't promise he won't sing about other members of the House, including Ohio congressman Robert Ney.

Now the bad news: There are reports the DCCC may be targeting the chair of the NRCC in the 2006 congressional elections:

Rep. Rahm Emanuel, chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign committee (DCCC), has taken the unusual step of targeting his Republican counterpart, Rep. Tom Reynolds, for defeat in his upstate New York district this year. There is no record of a House campaign committee chairman ever being defeated for re-election by the opposition party.

The DCCC claims secret polls showed the supposedly safe Republican district represented by Reynolds is competitive this year. Reynolds, chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, in 2004 won re-election to a fourth term with a surprisingly low 56 percent. His Democratic opponent was retired industrialist Jack Davis, who spent $1,250,000 of his own money in 2004 and is trying again.

Where would the DCCC get the chutzpah to pull something like this? Whatever happened to bipartisanship in Congress? Why, this is unprecedented!

Of course, there was that little incident with Tom Daschle. You know, the Senate Minority Leader who was defeated by John Thune in November, 2004 after an unprecedented campaign where Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist broke tradition and actively campaigned against his counterpart. The result was the first race a senate majority or minority leader has lost in over 50 years. Daschle's crime, according to Frist, was that he was the chief obstructionist to President Bush's policies on tax cuts, judicial nominees and the war in Iraq. Of course, a lot of Democrats were scratching their heads about that one, seeing as how his tax cuts went through, not once but three times, his judicial nominees were appointed and the war in Iraq...well, don't even go there (no pun intended).

For an example of Senator Daschle's unpardonable crimes:

...he angered Republicans and unnerved a few Democrats when, with the nation on the brink of war with Iraq, he said he was "saddened that this president failed so miserably at diplomacy that we're now forced to war."

Daschle later said he regretted the timing of his criticism and expressed strong support for U.S. troops in Iraq.

Yes, it's painful to remember how successfully the Republicans were able to steamroll the Democrats in the early years of the Bush administration. But that's history now. If the November elections deliver a Democratic majority in the House, the Democrats are going to issue subpoenas faster than New Rome issues traffic tickets. Senator Frist, along with henchman Tom DeLay in the House, rewrote the rules of partisanship that are now coming back to haunt them. Too bad neither one of them will be around after the elections to reap their just rewards.