Wednesday, December 28, 2005

New Game: Government Run As A Business

Let's play another round of the old game "Government should be run as a Business" All the whiners can shriek about how bad GRod, Howard Dean, etc are doing and good old Reddbyrd --- Illinoize Voice of Reason --- will serve more examples of how the GOPs(as in MOPEs) have sold out the citizenry

ENTRY #1

Below is a slice of State Board of Elections Contributions Report (just to provide the Illinoize connection) and a heart warming tale from Tuesday's Wall Street Journal. The whole piece is not here. I did leave out how Bush's "Spies Like Us Justice Dept." opted not to intervene in the suit against Gabelli

Gabelli Funds, Inc Corp Center At RyeRye, NY 10580
$1,000.00 3/15/1995
Individual Contribution Citizens for Jim Edgar

In FCC Auctions of Airwaves,Gabelli Was Behind the Scenes
Firms Backed by Financier GotSmall-Business Discounts;Suit Labels Deals a Sham

He Says Case Is 'Extortion'

By JOHN R. WILKE Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNALDecember 27, 2005; Page A1

When the government auctioned off slices of radio spectrum for cellphone service, one big winner was Victoria Kane, an aerobics instructor who had no experience in the industry. Her start-up firm, Aer Force Communications, paid $18.9 million for five licenses that were later sold in a deal valued at $144 million.

Ms. Kane's firm entered the auction as a "very small business," a designation that brought it millions of dollars in federal subsidies. They included a 25% bidding discount and a low-interest loan through the Federal Communications Commission. But her small business was backed by a big one: that of wealthy money manager and mutual-fund impresario Mario Gabelli, one of the most prominent names on Wall Street.

Affiliates of Mr. Gabelli incorporated her firm, filed its FCC applications and handled its bidding, according to documents filed in a civil suit in federal court that names Mr. Gabelli, Ms. Kane and others. Through various entities, the documents say, he also held a large stake in her company, lent most of the money she bid and profited handsomely on the sale of the licenses. In all, Mr. Gabelli or his affiliates backed more than a dozen bidders for radio spectrum, which is a license to use a portion of the airwaves in a particular region.

Call it the friends-and-family plan: Each of the principals had social, business or family ties to Mr. Gabelli. They included Trent Tucker, a Gabelli client and former New York Knicks basketball player with a graceful outside shot; Alfred Angelo, a New Jersey accountant who had referred clients to Mr. Gabelli; Nara Cadorin, an 82-year-old retired administrative assistant for a Gabelli associate; and Kathy Stafford of Moose, Wyo., a property manager at one of his vacation homes.

They all got small-business discounts despite their dependence on Mr. Gabelli, whose extensive assets would have made him ineligible for such breaks. Many of the bidding companies were formed just weeks or days before the auctions.

None of those who told the FCC they controlled these firms had experience in building or running a cellphone service. None provided such service to customers after winning a license. Gabelli affiliates put up most of the money for the bids and took 49.9% stakes in most bidding firms. Then, when the licenses acquired at auction were sold, the Gabelli firms collected the majority of the proceeds.

The FCC didn't say small bidders couldn't borrow from big business, and many other bidders did. But to exclude speculation and fraud, the FCC said backers couldn't control the bidding firms. Bidders had to stand "not merely as fronts for other companies, but as active entrepreneurs," the FCC said. FCC rules also said winning bidders were expected to start building cellphone systems.

13 comments:

Anonymous,  6:08 PM  

LOL...thanks for the laugh RB...I needed that.

Good luck with the next post, blogging takes some time, you'll get the hang of it sooner or later.

Anonymous,  6:16 PM  

RB, if your "lead-off hitter" is a 10 year old contribution of $1,000 whole entire dollars, then unproven allegations ten years later in a federal matter that Edgar has nothing to do with, best to just stop now, wouldn't you say?

Anonymous,  8:12 PM  

Wow, that is sick. I thought the president had oversight of the FCC. Guess he's probably not to blame though.

To the tough posters: Way to support somebody you morons. People who post on the Internet all the time lack those much-needed social skills. WhA! Someone didn't blog right? Who gives a s***.

Anonymous,  7:16 AM  

GREG ignore reddbyrd he is the radical half truth blog wing of the democeatic party.He is always on these blog spouting off.Most of what he says like his hero Blago turns out to be horse manure.

Anonymous,  9:33 AM  

Greg, you hit the nail on the head.

Instead of exemplifying any problem with a "pro-business" approach to government, the reprinted story actually shows the pitfalls of the DaddyState: over-regulation, misdirected efforts to help the "under-privileged", and the fact that a government-managed system is highly prone to fraud and corruption. Open bidding and relying on the market would eliminate the corruption Reddbyrd pretends to abhor.

Anonymous,  12:12 PM  

Where is our state AG? Gabelli does business in Illinois. Is she too busy tanking the investigation against Rod so she won't embarass her father, who happens to be Rod's campaign chairman?

Anonymous,  1:07 PM  

I have a question, why are "anons" singled out for not using a name, RedByrd means nothing to me, why doesn't he/she use their real name? Otherwise, we're all really anonymous.

Go Bears

Anonymous,  2:09 PM  

And now our governor has made the list of the 10 worst americans of all time.My o my we have so much to be thank for in this state.

grand old partisan 2:23 PM  

Okay, I am certainly no fan of the Governor's, but let's try to stay reasonable. Anon 2:09, I did a google search to try and find this list of yours, and it doesn't appear to exist. Don't you understand that by going over the top you only risk discrediting the legitimate criticisms there are to be made against this administration?

Anonymous,  2:24 PM  

Please, share that list of 10 worse Americans...because there is no way he's on it. Get real.

Anonymous,  3:19 PM  

I don't get it. First, you lose your audience by calling the GOP mopes, then you have substantitive proof to your attempt at an argument. = Hack. This does not contribute to the dialogue.

Anonymous,  3:19 PM  

That was no substantive proof.

grand old partisan 4:28 PM  

"The Edgar donation was designed to give the post a little "Illinize flavor" --- just before game time --- don't worry about the date"

So you admit that the donation to Edgar is not evidence of any wrongdoing or impropriety by the former Governor or his campaign? And yes, I will worry about the date. Because as Gregg so aptly pointed out, the alleged wrong-doing occurred during a Democratic Presidency (it should be noted that Gabelli is being represented by a former White House lawyer in the Clinton Administration).

Where, exactly, in this sordid tale did the GOP ‘sell out the citizenry’?

Perhaps you’d like to give Entry #1 another shot.

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