Former Texas lieutenant governor Ben Barnes (and major league John Kerry supporter) tells Dan Rather that he pulled strings to unfairly help a draft-age George W. Bush get in the Texas Air National Guard. Well, on Fox News tonight, veteran Texas politico Dick Armey, when he could get in a word over a hyped-up Geraldine Ferraro, said Barnes was well known in the state as an untrustworthy character.
Was Armey just being partisan? Hardly. An alert reader in Houston e-mails this:
I was in high school at the time but I remember every night on TV the Sharpstown scandal was the top of the news in 1971 & 1972.I used to drive by the Shapstown Mall and see the building, renamed, renovated but it was a landmark, the Sharpstown Bank, a monument to greed and bribery
that brought down the careers of many Texas politicians.When I heard the name Ben Barnes in relation to President Bush, I kept thinking...the Sharpstown crook? Must be someone else...nope, same guy. He has been submerged for 30 years and he pops up with this? Sad, very very sad.
For more information, inquiring minds can consult the authoritative Handbook of Texas concerning the "Sharpstown Stock Fraud Scandal," and read about the corruption involving "Lieutenant Governor Barnes, whose seemingly inexorable rise to political prominence was ended when his reputation was tainted by the scandal."
Texas went through one of its traditional and periodic governmental scandals in 1971-72, when federal accusations and then a series of state charges were leveled against nearly two dozen state officials and former state officials.... [T]he incumbent governor was labeled an unindicted coconspirator in a bribery case and lost his bid for reelection; the incumbent speaker of the House of Representatives and two associates were convicted felons; a popular three-term attorney general lost his job; an aggressive lieutenant governor's career was shattered; and half of the legislature was either intimidated out or voted out of office.
Ben Barnes's own daughter told WBAP radio in Dallas that her dad is not being truthful. You can listen to the audio (Windows Media).
Not the strong foundation on which smart politicians would build their attack strategy, is it?
Posted by Alan at September 10, 2004 01:33 AM