WASHINGTON, D.C. -- As Greens prepare for the Midterm Convention of the Green Party of the United States, party candidates and activists are calling on Americans to hold the Bush Administration responsible for coddling corporate criminal activity and governmental malfeasance.
"With George W. Bush in the White House, our federal government is fast becoming a gangster operation, as all sorts of criminal behavior go uninvestigated and unpunished," said David Cobb, Green candidate for Texas Attorney General. "Even in the case of Enron, which is now in court, the links of corporate criminals to the Bush and Clinton Administrations and to both Democrats and Republicans in Congress have evaded investigation. If I am elected, my first act will be to haul the officers and directors of Enron before a grand jury to face criminal indictment."
Greens urge American voters and the media to hold President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney directly responsible for relaxed law enforcement, corporate cover-ups, and secret government policies and operations:
*** The sale of Harken stock by former executive George W. Bush, who cashed in to the tune of $848,560 just before the stock price fell drastically and Harken reported a $23 million loss, is in every way comparable to the actions of Enron executives who dumped their shares just before their value plummeted. In both cases, wealthy corporate execs made a killing, while smaller investors and employees lost their savings.
"Before we believe Bush's flimsy excuses about failing to disclose his huge stock sale to the Security and Exchange Commission in a timely manner, we need an independent investigation -- just as we need one for the Enron scandal, for WorldCom, and other corporations that exercise enormous influence over both Democrats and Republicans," said Linda Schade, Green candidate for the Maryland State House of Delegates, District 20.
*** Halliburton Inc. faces seven lawsuits on behalf of investors claiming violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The lawsuits cite fraud by Halliburton for false and misleading statements to the market, and for reporting fraudulent revenues of $98 million for Fiscal Year 1999 and $113 million for FY 2000 -- when Dick Cheney was CEO. Also, the Financial Times of London has reported that between September 1998 and early 2000, CEO Cheney oversaw $23.8 million in deals for the sale of oil-industry equipment and services to Saddam Hussein, thanks to legal loopholes in US sanctions against Iraq. The contracts were negotatiated through Halliburton subsidiaries Dresser Rand and Ingersoll-Dresser Pump.
*** A provision in the bill to President Bush's proposed Homeland Security Department will exempt its employees from the Whistleblower Protection Act, preventing the exposure of intelligence errors that led up to September 11. Homeland Security personnel would escape accountability for the kind of mismanagement that FBI agent Colleen Rowley revealed, since employees with evidence of wrongdoing would face harassment and loss of their jobs.
*** President Bush asserts (as did President Clinton) that the US will not participate or comply with the International Criminal Court. Congress and the White House reacted hysterically to the establishment of the ICC, vetoing further UN operations in Bosnia. US officials have threatened to send in US forces to rescue any American soldiers held at ICC headquarters in the Hague, in the name of US sovereignty and fear over anti-American sentiment around the world.
"The President's refusal to cooperate with international law is notorious -- and inconsistent," said Dr. Jonathan Farley, a congressional candidate in Tennessee. "While NAFTA and other free trade pacts allow secret international authorities to override US labor, human rights, and environmental laws on behalf of powerful corporations, neither Bush nor Congress will allow an open international court to hold any US official responsible for war crimes, genocide, or serious human rights abuses. It shows that Democrats and Republicans alike fear international cooperation that's based on justice rather than on military or economic power."
The Green Party of the United States will hold its Midterm Convention in Philadelphia from July 18-21 at the Holiday Inn, a few blocks from the historic sites of one of America's early capitols. The Green Party will also hold a large political rally on Friday night, July 19, at the Irvine Auditorium, featuring 2000 Presidential candidate Ralph Nader, 2000 California Senatorial candidate Medea Benjamin, and Georgia Rep. Cynthia McKinney.
