JakeD
07-17-08, 09:23AM
In yesterday’s press conference, White House Press Secretary Dana Perino continued to downplay the long relationship between President Bush and his longtime fundraiser Stephen Payne, who was recently revealed to be selling access to Bush administration officials:
QUESTION: Does the President know Steve Payne?
PERINO: I think — yes, he believes that he would have met him before (http://thinkprogress.org/2008/07/14/bush-payne/). I don’t think that he knows him all that well, but he has met him before. Certainly he’s been — Steve Payne has been somebody who’s been involved in Texas politics for a long time and been a supporter of the Republican Party. So he knows who he is.[…]
A lobbyist with close ties to the White House is offering access to key figures in George W Bush’s administration in return for six-figure donations to the private library being set up to commemorate Bush’s presidency.
Stephen Payne, who claims to have raised more than $1m for the president’s Republican party in recent years, said he would arrange meetings with Dick Cheney, the vice-president, Condoleezza Rice, the secretary of state, and other senior officials in return for a payment of $250,000 (£126,000) towards the library in Texas.
Payne, who has accompanied Bush and Cheney on several foreign trips, also said he would try to secure a meeting with the president himself.
I know this stuff is old hat, but I'm so sick of the blatant lies that come from the current administration that I could puke blood. They give the public the finger every day, and we don't do shit about it. Now some run-of-the-mill asshole lobbyist gets away with more corrupt garbage, and they play it off like "oh yeah maybe he knew him". What crap.
QUESTION: Does the President know Steve Payne?
PERINO: I think — yes, he believes that he would have met him before (http://thinkprogress.org/2008/07/14/bush-payne/). I don’t think that he knows him all that well, but he has met him before. Certainly he’s been — Steve Payne has been somebody who’s been involved in Texas politics for a long time and been a supporter of the Republican Party. So he knows who he is.[…]
A lobbyist with close ties to the White House is offering access to key figures in George W Bush’s administration in return for six-figure donations to the private library being set up to commemorate Bush’s presidency.
Stephen Payne, who claims to have raised more than $1m for the president’s Republican party in recent years, said he would arrange meetings with Dick Cheney, the vice-president, Condoleezza Rice, the secretary of state, and other senior officials in return for a payment of $250,000 (£126,000) towards the library in Texas.
Payne, who has accompanied Bush and Cheney on several foreign trips, also said he would try to secure a meeting with the president himself.
I know this stuff is old hat, but I'm so sick of the blatant lies that come from the current administration that I could puke blood. They give the public the finger every day, and we don't do shit about it. Now some run-of-the-mill asshole lobbyist gets away with more corrupt garbage, and they play it off like "oh yeah maybe he knew him". What crap.