Tony Rodham: A ex son-in-law every mother-in-law can be proud of (esp. Boxer)
I don't know about you but this makes me so damn proud to be a Democrat! And imagine how excited all of those young voters who believe in silly concepts like fairness, truth, and integrity will be when they read stuff like this. Oh well, they will get over it and jump on board.
Tony, meanwhile, landed a job as a field organizer with the Democratic National Committee and married Sen. Barbara Boxer's daughter, Nicole. But he soon struck out on his own, launching a consulting firm. In 1997, he traveled with three business partners to Cambodia, where he met with newly installed dictator Hun Sen to discuss possible investments in the country. Hun Sen, who had come to power in a bloody coup, was gearing up for the upcoming election by intimidating his political opponents, and the US government had taken a hands-off approach to the regime. Rodham suggested that his visit might help the peace process and open up the nation to American business. "We came to see what fits here in Cambodia, and there are many fits," he told reporters—speaking at a hotel, the Associated Press dryly noted, that was owned by a Cambodian businessman banned from doing business in the United States because of his alleged involvement in the drug trade.
A few years later, another embarrassing foreign adventure landed the Rodham brothers in the news. In 1999, Hugh and Tony entered into a $118 million joint venture to grow and export hazelnuts with Aslan Abashidze, a strongman in a semiautonomous region of the Republic of Georgia (who had allegedly murdered one of his top deputies in the early 1990s). Abashidze and the Rodhams weren't just partners—Tony Rodham agreed to become the godfather to Abashidze's grandsons. Abashidze interpreted his deal with the brothers as a de facto endorsement by the president himself, and he told reporters that the American branch of the hazelnut-importing business would be located "next to the White House." This was news to the Clinton White House, which was allied with Abashidze's rival, Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze. Ultimately, the Rodhams called off the deal because of the controversy. Abashidze would later flee to Russia shortly before a Georgian court sentenced him to 15 years in prison for embezzlement.
The Rodhams continued to trade on their family connection. In 2000, Tony Rodham successfully lobbied President Clinton to pardon a Tennessee couple convicted of bank fraud, over the objections of the Justice Department. Tony insisted that he took up the couple's cause pro bono. But congressional investigators later found the couple had paid him a $244,769 salary as a consultant. And Hugh Rodham was paid $434,000 to lobby—successfully—for pardons for a cocaine trafficker and a fraudster who peddled an anti-baldness treatment. (He later gave the money back.)
n recent years, the Rodham brothers have largely kept a low profile. But as the recent report by the inspector general of the Department of Homeland Security illustrated, their dealings could once again become a headache for their sister. The company Tony works for, Gulf Coast Funds Management, specializes in obtaining special visas for foreigners interested in doing business in the United States. The company is owned by a Virginia businessman named Charles Wang, who with Terry McAuliffe cofounded the electric-car company GreenTech automotive. According to Politico, Tony has worked to line up investors for the car company in China. Hugh Rodham is a partner in the Florida law firm Rodham & Fine. Neither of the Rodham brothers responded to interview requests.
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/04/hillary-clinton-hugh-tony-rodham
= new reply since forum marked as read
... and ended up with multiple buckets of fail.
@ you.
