Bush Hires One Of Dad's Worst Scoundrels

by Molly Ivins

In the Fleecing of America category, the special prosecutor in charge of the Henry Cisneros case is still at work, at a cost of over $2 million a year to the taxpayers. This same special prosecutor spent $10 million getting Henry C. to plead to a misdemeanor count for which Cisneros paid a $10,000 fine: his legal involvement in the case is now at an end, there are no more charges against him.

The prosecutor, David Barrett, has since spent another $5 million. Henry C. left his position as secretary of Housing and Urban Development in 1997: Barrett has now been investigating years longer than Cisneros served in the Cabinet. The case, you may recall, involved the fact that Cisneros had an affair, a matter that was public knowledge before he went to Washington.

He had also agreed to pay his former mistress to help support her daughter from a previous marriage, also a matter of public knowledge. The case revolved around whether Henry C. told the FBI how much money he had sent the woman in question. Four years after Barrett's investigation began, he copped the misdemeanor plea, so we have justice at last. Barrett prosecuted Cisneros' former mistress for bank fraud, and she served 18 months in prison. President Clinton pardoned both of them. Barrett even prosecuted her brother-in-law, but the case was thrown out.

So, here we are with this tireless Inspector Javert still in hot pursuit of evildoing two years after Congress killed the special prosecutor law that allows him to continue. Meanwhile, Cisneros is back in San Antonio creating innovative new public-private approaches to cure urban sprawl and to provide affordable housing. You may recall that even the most rabid Republicans thought he was an excellent secretary of Housing.

But just to prove that the Bush II administration believes in redemption, Elliott Abrams, whom you may recall from the glorious Iran-contra scandal (he's the one who looks like the Grand Inquisitor), was convicted for lying to Congress about the mess, which had slightly more impact on people's lives than Cisneros' affair.

For those of you who weren't paying attention at the time, the executive branch of the United States government was illegally selling arms to Iran and using the proceeds to illegally fund a right-wing insurrection in Nicaragua against a government we didn't like. A lot of people died.

Elliott Abrams was convicted on two misdemeanor counts of lying to Congress -- former Rep. Jack Brooks of Texas said at the time Abrams "took more pride in not knowing anything than anybody I ever saw." Abrams was also involved up to his eyebrows in funding the right-wing death squads in Guatemala (100,000 dead) and El Salvador (70,000 dead). He was one of several Iran-contra figures pardoned by George I at the end of his presidency.

Abrams now holds a senior position on the White House National Security Council, where it is to be hoped he won't take a dislike to anyone in Latin America. It is the first time a high government official pardoned for criminal activity by one president has been appointed to a high government position by another. Hope for Henry C.!

And lest we forget Florida, that state's Republican Party Chairman, Al Cardenas, was recently quoted in an article for The Weekly Standard on how he plans to handle the African-American vote in 2002: "We need to call into question the African-American leaders and what they are saying," and to "question the credibility" of the leadership. Cardenas also serves on the Republican National Committee's "New Voices, New Faces" program for minority outreach.

My favorite new Bushism: "I know what I believe. I will continue to articulate what I believe, and I believe what I believe is right." And if he continues to articulate it that well, how happy we all shall be. The problem, of course, is not what Bush believes but how well he can think.

The gush of stories that followed his minimalist decision on stem cell research dwelt on the deep cerebration involved, the heavy ideation, the breadth of his intellectualization. Karen Hughes even waved a book Bush had actually read (!) at the press. He studied, he talked to many experts! He thought! Actually, it is part of the minimal job description in his case.

And then, this elephantine procedure produced ... a mouse. A few people are going to make a lot of money out of this decision. I'm hoping for the best, but remember, his last decision before that was to come home to Texas for the month of August.