While the media fell over itself to report the Clinton infoUSA plane scandal (an escalation of the sordid Clinton Lincoln Bedroom affair), it completely missed the Republican connection to the lawsuit.
This occurs right after the media dined with the Queen right next to Bush's high rollers. The story of high dollar influence buying sat across the finely appointed table from David Gregory of NBC and Robin Roberts of ABC and they missed it! (No wonder Elizabeth Hasselback couldn't say anything in defense of Rosie O'Donnell, she was still star struck from the light of Queen Elizabeth.)
Why are the Clinton plane trips huge news? It's a result of an "investor" lawsuit brought by a hedge fund upset about the use of company resources. The news completely omits the link between the hedge fund owner and Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney. It goes like this:
InfoUSA is being sued by Dolphin Limited Partnership for the use of its corporate jet to fly high profile political persons around the world. While the suit doesn't name the Clintons, this fact got leaked to the news media.
The Clinton's followed FEC rules and reimbursed the company for the use of the plane (at a level far below actual expenses). This rule applies to Republicans and Democrats
Dolphin Limited Partnership just lost an attempt to put Directors on the infoUSA board. In that proxy fight information came out about the head of Dolphin, Donald T. Netter.
Mr. Netter served in executive positions and on the Board of Directors of Damon Corp from 1989 to 1993. He served as Treasurer of the Board when the Department of Justice fined the company $119 million for Medicare fraud. The federal prosecutor called the case "corporate greed run amok". The company had conducted an internal investigation identifying Medicare billing irregularities but did not disclose this information to shareholders or investigators.
While searching the blogs I came across this:
Mitt Romney was a director and part owner of Damon Clinical Laboratories, a Needham-based medical testing company that in 1996 incurred what was then the biggest criminal penalty for health care fraud in US history. The company pleaded guilty to billing Medicare for more than $25 million worth of patient lab tests that were not medically necessary. When Romney sold his interest in Damon, he personally made $473,000; his company made a $7.4 million profit. But what specifically did he know about the fraud, when did he know it, and what did he and the board do to stop it? Mitt served next to Donald Netter on the Damon Board from 1990 to 1993.
A proxy statement from another company listed newspaper articles on this topic:
Source: "Needham Lab Fined $119m for Fraud," The Boston Globe, October 10, 1996.
Source: "Romney Says Board Didn't Alert Probers, Declares Firm Took Corrective Action," The Boston Globe, October 11, 2002; "Romney Confirms Findings Not Turned Over to the Feds," The Salt Lake Tribune, October 11, 2002.
One is still available on line and leads back to an earlier Clinton Romney tussle. Just as the media glossed over Bush's high dollar donors taking their corporate jets to D.C. for Dover Sole with the Queen at a White Tie affair, they miss the political connections driving this lawsuit.
Romney and Clinton aren't even nominated yet and their "associates" compete on their behalf...
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