A Place at the Table...
But Only if You Pay in Advance!
Tamara Unveils the First of Her GWB Golden Lawbreaker Dishonorees
by Tamara Baker

Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2001 -- SAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA -- As promised, I'm going to devote a portion of each and every column from here on out to publicizing a GWB Golden Lawbreaker (or GWBGL, for you acronym fiends out there).

For those of you who came in late, former Texas Governor George W. Bush, acting at the behest of the Cheney-Card Junta, moved to insure that even the most unsavory donors to the Republican Party were allowed their bought-and-paid-for places at the Junta's table of graft and kickbacks. He did this by moving to overturn several Executive Orders issued by President Bill Clinton, the most important being the one that made it illegal for Federal agencies to issue government contracts to individuals or companies that broke environmental, labor or anti-discrimination laws.

Why did Shrub do this? Why, to bring 'honor and dignity to the White House', of course!

Former Governor Bush is a man of his word, you see -- and the more cash you're willing to commit to his cause, the more likely he is to keep his word with you.

With that background, I hereby present the first GWB Golden Lawbreakers: Those Shrub donor persons or businesses that would not see Dime One from the Feds under That Scandalous Bill Clinton, but for whom the taxpayers' money will flow freely under the aegis of the Cheney-Card Junta. These particular Golden Lawbreakers are worthy of special notice, since they were among the first of Shrub's donors way back in 1999 (thanks to Texans for Public Justice (http://www.tpj.org/reports/gusher/profiteers.html) for the info!).

1. Robert Brittingham Family (Dallas, TX): $12,500 
Per TPJ: "Robert and Jack Brittingham sold one of the nation's largest ceramic tile companies for $650 million in '90. Robert Brittingham was convicted in '93 for illegally dumping Dal-Tile lead wastes. A federal judge fined him $4 million dollars -- then the largest environmental fine ever levied on an individual."

2. David/Charles Koch (Wichita, KS): $25,000 
Per TPJ: "Koch Industries oil spills trigger repeated lawsuits; the State of Texas is suing the company. It paid $10.5 million in '98 to settle a fishery lawsuit that followed its spill of crude into Nueces Bay. A federal jury ruled in '99 that Koch should pay $553,504 for oil it pilfered from Indian lands."

And last but not least for today:

3. Lonnie "Bo" Pilgrim (Pittsburg, TX): $125,000 
Per TPJ: "This poultry king doled out $10,000 checks to state senators on the Senate floor in '89 to gut workers' compensation laws. His company has attracted more than $500,000 in pollution fines in the last decade. Now Pilgrim wants to inject 500 gallons of chicken waste a minute into underground wells. Critics say it will endanger local water quality."

There's lots more where that came from, boys and girls. Stay tuned!