3
3
2
Cross Posted atLegal Schnauzer
Richard Parsons,now chairman of Citigroup, is the man Karl Rove and other Bushies should thank for the free pass they have received, according to a new report from D.C.-based investigative journalist Wayne Madsen:
According to top Democratic Party sources, some with long years of political experience at the national level and in the highest levels of government, there is one adviser to President Obama who has his ear even more than chief of staff Rahm Emanuel. That man is Richard Parsons, a graduate of the University of Hawaii and the chairman of Citigroup. Until 2007, Parsons also served as chief executive officer of media giant Time Warner.
Parsons has strong ties to Republicans. He also has some serious personal baggage.The New York Daily Newsreported last year that Parsons, the married father of three,had fathered a childout of wedlock with a model-philanthropist named MacDella Cooper.
All of that, however, has not kept Parsons fromhaving major influence with Obama. Reports Madsen:
In 1991, Nelson Rockefeller's brother, Laurance Rockefeller, recommended that Parsons be appointed to the board of Time Warner. In 2001, Parsons became chief executive officer of AOL Time Warner, after the merger with the Internet firm.
Parsons served as co-chair of President George W. Bush's commission on Social Security reform. He also works closely with David Rockefeller and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Parsons also served on an economic advisory team under President Obama.
Part of the reason why Obama was not critically treated by the media was the fact that Parsons exercised control over a vast array of the corporate media, including CNN, Time magazine, Money, People, and Fortune magazines, and, at the time, AOL.
Parsons even is friends with Karl Rove. And that apparently has helped influence the Obama administration's approach to justice issues:
But more importantly, Parsons, according to Democratic Party sources, has ensured that Obama maintains his policy of looking forward and not back.Parsons, who is a friend of former Bush policy adviser Karl Rove, has convinced Obama that there should be no criminal investigations by the Justice Department of Rove or other top Bush administration officials from everything from political prosecutions of former Alabama Democratic Governor Don Siegelman and Rove's involvement in election fraud to the CIA's rendition and torture programs. Parsons was a member of an economic advisory team that met with President-elect Obama just two days after he was elected President in 2008.
What kind of judgment does Richard Parsons possess? Questionable appears to be the best answer. He brought inlongtime Washington insider Richard Hohltat Citigroup. Here is howThe New York Timesdescribed that move:
Critics say that as a top lobbyist for the savings and loan industry in the 1980s, Mr. Hohlt blocked regulation of these institutions and played a pivotal role helping to prolong dubious industry practices that cost taxpayers $150 billion to clean up.
1 | 2
