Even the Washington Post, a paper that ALWAYS champions democrat politicians, is recognizing that there are problems with Terry McAuliffe’s business dealings. From today’s editorial which appears in the print edition as “Smoke and mirrors”, subtitled, “Is Terry McAuliffe’s GreenTech a real venture—or a political prop?”:
>>>GreenTech relies heavily on financing from wealthy foreigners, many of them Chinese, who pony up at least $500,000 each through a federal program designed to attract overseas investors. In return for their investments, they receive U.S. visas and may become eligible for permanent residency green cards. TheEB-5 visa program is legal; it’s been operating since 1990 with bipartisan support. The troubling question is whether GreenTech, as conceived by Mr. McAuliffe, is a serious and viable automotive enterprise or mainly a scheme to attract foreign investment capital and serve Mr. McAuliffe’s political agenda. The fact that production has ramped up so slowly — to date, just a few hundred golf-cart-sized electric cars have rolled off the assembly line — feeds those suspicions. So does a federal investigation focusing on whether a senior official at the Department of Homeland Security gave Mr. McAuliffe special treatment, based on his political connections, in approving EB-5 visas for GreenTech’s foreign investors. Equally disconcerting is GreenTech’srefusal to allow journalists to tour its factory in Mississippi. According to former GreenTech employees who spoke to The Post, the plant is a Potemkinmanufacturing facility, where managersstage a semblance of production for the benefit of visitors. Company officials deny that. If it’s untrue, they should allow journalists to see for themselves. Mr. McAuliffe resigned quietly as GreenTech’s chairman in December; he remains the firm’s largest shareholder.<<<
GreenTech is but one of McAuliffe’s many sleazy business ventures. He has spent a lifetime, and made a fortune, as the premier practitioner of Crony Capitalism. This from another post article in 2009:
>>>One of McAuliffe’s most lucrative deals, earning him $8 million, was a $100,000 investment in Global Crossing Holdings in the 1990s. The company’s chief, Gary Winnick, later became a contributor for whom McAuliffe secured a golf date with President Bill Clinton. McAuliffe made $16 million developing a shopping center in Florida after persuading a top labor leader he knew through the Democratic Party to invest $40 million from the union’s pension fund. He made $1.2 million helping Telergy, an Internet startup firm from his home town, Syracuse, N.Y., secure a $40 million investment from Winnick, the Global Crossing chief. Telergy paid McAuliffe the referral fee, he recalled, after its executives invited him to serve on the board to help forge contacts with national politicians. By the end of Clinton’s second term, McAuliffe was the president’s top fundraiser, well known for working with Clinton to arrange perks for party donors — and doing business with some of those same donors. By the end of Clinton’s second term, McAuliffe was the president’s top fundraiser, well known for working with Clinton to arrange perks for party donors — and doing business with some of those same donors. One of those was Carl Lindner, who headed Chiquita Brands International and the insurance company American Financial Group. Although Lindner is known for supporting Republican causes, McAuliffe said he introduced him to Clinton and encouraged him to donate. About the same time, McAuliffe was also partnering with Lindner in the purchase of American Heritage Homes, a home-building company in central Florida. <<<
Let’s not forget McAuliffe’s sweet deal with American Pioneer Savings Bank, this one involving his father-in-law:
>>>In 1979, McAuliffe met Richard Swann, a lawyer who was in charge of fundraising for Jimmy Carter‘s presidential campaign in Florida. In 1988, McAuliffe married Swann’s daughter, Dorothy. In the late 1980s, Swann’s finances collapsed, entangling McAuliffe, who then used his political contacts to help Swann.[9] In 1990, federal regulators seized Swann’s American Pioneer Savings Bank, causing Swann to file for bankruptcy and McAuliffe to lose $800,000 he had invested in American Pioneer.[9] The Resolution Trust Corporation, a federal agency, took over American Pioneer’s assets and liabilities and sued McAuliffe and a former unit of the bank foreclose on a real estate loan.[9] Under the guidance of Swann, McAuliffe partnered with a pension fund controlled by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and the National Electrical Contractors Association to buy some American Pioneer real estate, valued at $50 million, for $38.7 million from the Resolution Trust Corporation.[9][11] Of the purchase amount, McAuliffe paid $100, while the pension fund paid $38.7 million;[9] McAuliffe still received a 50% equity stake.[11] The deal was arranged by pension fund trustee Jack Moore, who was an acquaintance of McAuliffe from the Gephardt presidential campaign.[9][11] McAuliffe used some of the proceeds from the deal to purchase Jefferson National Title Insurance, a Florida company, and sold back some of McAuliffe’s shares to the pension fund.[9] The Department of Labor then filed a lawsuit against McAuliffe and Moore, accusing them of imprudent business practices in the deal and also in a $6 million loan the fund made to a real estate company controlled by McAuliffe, which McAuliffe used to clear up his father-in-law’s debt but soon defaulted on the loan.[9] With the help of a fundraising contact, McAuliffe bought a troubled house-building company that had been buying some of the land formerly held by Swann’s bank and became its chairman.[9] After his bankruptcy, McAuliffe paid Swann to “help with the management” of his companies.<<<
Terry McAuliffe likes to brag that he’s been a businessman since he was 14. In his own autobiography he refers to himself as a hustler. Grifter might be a better word to describe his business dealings. Terry McAuliffe, has spent his life completing one sleazy business deal after another, dealings that made him rich and left thousands of other people holding the bag. Even the Washington Post recognizes his lifetime of dishonest business dealings. It would be a huge mistake for the voters of Virginia to not also recognize the kind of man the democrats have nominated to be our next Governor. We must not give him the opportunity to play Grifter-in-Chief with the Commonwealth of Virginia.
