Searching for Halliburton’s Fingerprints along Washingtons’ K Street
The influential Washington lobbying group Citizens Against Just About Everything said today it will begin supporting the Iraq War and the Bush Administration’s controversial National Casino Gambling Initiative.
In a unusual reversal, CAJAE said its board had decided that “the Bush Administration does, in fact, know what it is doing when it comes to Iraq, that it has a solid plan to achieve victory and that all naysayers should just sit down, shut up, and place duct tape over their mouths until further notice.”
CAJAE. a virulent critic of President Bush and the Iraq War in the past, announced that its board had ousted Sebastian St. Marie as executive director and that founder and long-time chairman Roland Venturosa would assume executive duties while a new executive director is sought.
Venturosa is the founder of the Wall Street buyout firm, Venturosa Equity Partners.
Lobbying experts who track advocacy groups inside the Beltway were perplexed by CAJAE’s unexpected move and Venturosa’s role in engineering it.
“Clearly, Roland Venturosa must see some light at the end of the tunnel and has had a significant change of heart about the president and how the Iraq War is being conducted,” said Abby Weingarten, who tracks Washington lobbyists with her K Street Confidential Tell Everything newsletter. “Absolutely nothing happens at CAJAE unless Roland and his money are behind it.”
Weinstein said it was “a fair assumption” that Venturosa’s recent visit to Iraq, which included a helicopter tour conducted by Gen. David H. Petraeus, had lead to a change in his thinking. “I also assume that Roland and Sebastian St. Marie had a major disagreement about CAJAE’s Iraq War position and that Roland’s money trumped everything else,” Weingarten said.
Weinstein and other K Street lobbyist trackers also expressed surprise that Venturosa and CAJAE would support the Bush Administration’s National Casino Gambling Initiative.
The measure, widely seen as a Republican payback to the gaming industry, would give every family in the country a $2,500 credit on their income tax bill if they can document spending $1,000 at a casino on gambling losses, food, drink, lodging or entertainment. The leadership of the Democratic-controlled Congress expressed outrage over the gambling initiative when it was unveiled last month.
“It’s hard for me to see how CAJAE could support a tax measure that is so blatantly crafted to support a particular industry, particularly if that industry is gambling,” Weinstein said. “It makes you wonder about Roland Venturosa.”
But others, who live far beyond the insular confines of Washington’s Beltway, see the logic in CAJAE and Venturosa’s change in heart about Iraq and gambling tax breaks.
“The K street lobbying geniuses need to look beyond their noses and follow the money,” said Ernesto Mancuso, a Wall Street analyst. “Where does Roland Venturosa’s money come from? He’s the principal in an equity buyout firm. Why would he suddenly reverse course on something like Iraq?”
Mancuso said he plans to place his bets on Venturosa’s buyout firm and will be watching for an announcement that Venturosa Equity Partners is acquiring Halliburton, as well as a major casino company.
“You’ll see that all that business about Halliburton’s CEO moving to Dubai was just a smoke screen. Venturosa will end up owning Halliburton and that’s why CAJAE is now supporting the Iraq War and tax breaks for gamblers.”