http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/story?oid=oid%3A78792
Naked City
Stark Rove-ing Mad
BY ROBERT BRYCE
The case of the purloined videotape is far from
over, but fingers are already pointing at Karl
Rove, Gov. George W. Bush's chief political
strategist. There's no proof that Rove or any
other of the Bush campaign insiders sent the tape
of Bush preparing for his upcoming debate to an
ally of Al Gore's two weeks ago. But many pundits
are suggesting Rove did it, pointing to a 1986
bugging incident at Rove's office to bolster their allegations.
In October of 1986, Rove was working for
Republican Bill Clements in his race against
then-Gov. Mark White. A few days before the
candidates were to debate, Rove discovered a
listening device that had been planted behind a
needlepoint picture of an elephant hanging on his
wall. The FBI investigated. Accusations and
counteraccusations were made. But no charges were
ever brought, and the matter slowly dissipated,
amid general speculation that Rove had planted the bug himself.
The latest dirty trick took place earlier this
month, when a videotape was apparently taken from
the offices of Bush media advisor Mark McKinnon.
The tape, along with copies of other debate
briefing materials, was then mailed to the office
of Gore ally, lobbyist, and former U.S. Rep.
Thomas Downey, where it arrived on Sept. 13. Only
a handful of Bush campaign staffers had access to
the materials, including Rove, McKinnon,
communications director Karen Hughes, campaign
manager Joe Allbaugh, campaign chairman Don
Evans, and policy director Josh Bolten.
Although no suspects have been named, the FBI,
which is investigating the matter, has told
several media outlets that it believes the tape
was sent by someone inside the Bush camp,
presumably in an attempt to entrap the Gore
campaign. And given Rove's history, which
includes more than a passing familiarity with
dirty tricks, many pundits believe Rove is the
chief suspect. Rove did not return calls from the Chronicle.
Adding interest to the video shenanigans are a
few other fun facts. In 1986, when Rove was
working for Clements, the chief spokesperson for
White was an idealistic young turk named Mark
McKinnon. It is "outrageous and sad that Rove
would suggest the White campaign would be
involved in a matter like this," McKinnon told
the Austin American-Statesman at the time.
Calling the bugging incident "bizarre and
incredible," McKinnon said the Clements campaign
was "desperate and frayed at the edges."
There's more. The bug was reportedly responsible
for tipping Democrats that the Clements campaign
had recently hired a Washington-based consultant,
whom Rove and Clements campaign manager George
Bayoud had discussed hiring over the phone
shortly before the matter was mysteriously
leaked. The consultant was a sometime blues
guitar player renowned for his facility with
attack ads and dirty tricks. His name: Lee Atwater.
Oh, one other fact about the 1986 incident stands
out: Rove's candidate won that year.
http://www.razorcake.org/site/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=415
[snip]
I'll provide two examples. You'll have to watch
the documentary to get the rest. In a 1986
campaign for Texas governor, Rove represented
Republican Bill Clement. Nearing election time,
when the race was almost at a dead heat and a
gubernatorial debate was about to occur, Rove
found a bugging device in his office. The timing
of the diversion was immaculate. Reporters,
instead of covering the debate en masse, focused
on the bug. As evidence was being collected, more
and more of it pointed to Rove planting the bug
himself. He still denies it to this day.
According to an FBI report, the battery in the
bug would have had to be replaced daily, so a
person would have to have open access to Rove's
personal office to replace it. Upon further
investigation, the battery in the bug had only
about fifteen minutes of battery life expended
when it was removed from the wall by the FBI.
Rove inferred that Mark White, Clement's
opponent, had the most to gain from a bug in
Rove's office. Not true. Rove had the most to
gain. White looked like he was playing dirty - by
being accused of planting a bug - and lost the
election. It's classic diversionary tactics.
Rove's dangerous because he accuses his opponents
of foul play when he's the one pulling the dirty
tricks while keeping his own hands clean. That's as smart as it is devious.
[snip]
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0418-26.htm
Published on Tuesday, April 18, 2006 by TruthDig
Karl Rove's Early Machinations
by Molly Ivins
An interesting semi-historical footnote
concerning Dick CheneyÂ’s oft-reiterated
references during the 2000 presidential campaign
to President Clinton’s weaseling under oath. “He
knows what the meaning of ‘is’ is,” says Cheney
in his campaign stump speech to show the moral
superiority of the Republican camp.
Which leads us to this story about Karl Rove,
Bush’s campaign manager and the man they call “Bush’s brain.”
Rove, as all the world knows, has been a longtime
Republican political operative in Texas prior to
heading to Washington with Bush. During that
time, Texas Democrats noticed a pattern that they
eventually became somewhat paranoid about: In
election years, there always seemed to be an FBI
investigation of some sitting Democrat either
announced or leaked to the press.
After the election was over, the allegations
often vanished, although in the case of
Agriculture Commissioner Jim Hightower, three of
his aides were later convicted. The
investigations were conducted by FBI agent Greg
Rampton, who was stationed in Austin in those years.
In 1989, Rove was nominated for a position with
the federal Board for International Broadcasting.
He answered a questionnaire from the Senate
Foreign Relations Committee that was later
obtained by subpoena. One of the questions was:
Have you been interviewed or asked to supply any
information in connection with any administrative
or grand jury investigation in the past 18 months? If so, provide details.
Rove responded, “This summer I met with agent
Greg Rampton of the Austin FBI office at his
request regarding a probe of political corruption
in the office of Texas Agriculture Commissioner Jim Hightower.”
In 1991, Rove was undergoing state Senate
confirmation hearings for an appointment to the
East Texas State University board of regents.
Sen. Bob Glasgow was questioning Rove about his
work for Gov. Bill Clements in the 1986 campaign against Gov. Mark White.
A now-forgotten incident of that campaign
involved a listening device allegedly found in
RoveÂ’s office by a private security firm a few
days before a televised debate. The case made
headlines around the state. It was investigated
by Rampton, who never found the alleged perpetrator.
Glasgow: “Ah, Mr. Rove, would you now tell us
publicly who bugged your office that you blamed
upon Mark White publicly and the press statewide?”
Rove: “Ah, first of all, I did not blame it on
Mark White. If, ah, if youÂ’ll recall I
specifically said at the time that we disclosed
the bugging that we did not know who did it, but
we knew who might benefit from it. And no, I do not know. ...”
Glasgow: “And are you now satisfied that Mark
White and the Democratic Party did not bug your
office as you—as you released, ah, to the newspapers?”
Rove: “Senator, I never said Mark White bugged my
office, IÂ’m not certain he has an electronic
background. I never said the Democratic Party
bugged it either. ... As to who bugged it,
Senator, I do not know—and the FBI does not know. ...”
Glasgow: “How long have you known an FBI agent by the name of Greg (Rampton)?”
Rove: “Ah, Senator, it depends—would you define ‘know’ for me?”
Glasgow: “What is your relationship with him?”
Rove: “Ah, I know, I would not recognize Greg
(Rampton) if he walked in the door. We have
talked on the phone a var-—a number of times. Ah,
and he has visited in my office once or twice,
but we do not have a social or personal relationship whatsoever. ...”
Glasgow: “During the Rick Perry campaign (against
Jim Hightower), did you have any conversations
with FBI agent Rampton about the course and conduct of that campaign?”
Rove: “Yes, I did, two or three times. ...”
Glasgow: “Did you issue a press release in
Washington, at a fund-raiser, about information
you’d received from the FBI implicating—implicating, ah, Hightower?”
Rove: “We did not issue a press release. ... We
did not issue a news release. I talked to a member of the press ...”
Glasgow: “I’m gonna let you expound on anything
you want to. Ah, involved in campaigns that
youÂ’ve been involved in, do you know why agent
Rampton conducted a criminal investigation of
Garry Mauro at the time you were involved in that
campaign, pulled the finance records of Bob
Bullock at the time you were involved in that
campaign, pulled the campaign records of Jim
Hightower at the time you were involved in that campaign?”
Rove: “Well, Senator, first of all, as I said
before, I was not involved in either Bob Bullock
or Garry MauroÂ’s campaigns or the campaigns of
their Republican opponent. IÂ’d be hard pressed to
tell you who Garry MauroÂ’s opponent was in 1986.
Ah, and I’d—think I’d be hard pressed even to
remember who Bob BullockÂ’s opponent was in 1986.
So I canÂ’t answer that part of the question. I do
know that I became involved in Rick PerryÂ’s
campaign in November of 1989. At that point there
was already an investigation ongoing of the Texas
Department of Agriculture, prompted by stories
which had appeared in August and September, I
believe, in The Dallas Morning News regarding the
use of Texas Department of Agriculture funds.”
Glasgow shifts to the Board for International
Broadcasting appointment: “And in answering a
question for that perspective (sic) federal
appointment, did you make a claim in there that
you were involved in the Hightower investigation
at the request of special agent Rampton of the
Federal Bureau of Investigation?”
Rove: “No, sir.”
Glasgow: “You did not make that statement in response ...”
Rove: “I did not, and I was ...”
Glasgow: “Let me finish my question. Did you make
that statement in response to a written questionnaire?”
Rove: “Ah, Senator, ah, no, I did not make that statement, but I ...”
Glasgow: “Thank you very much.”
Rampton, who was subsequently involved with the
FBI operation at Ruby Ridge, said that he had not
talked to Rove about the Hightower case. Told
that Rove had so claimed in his federal questionnaire, Rampton said:
“Let me think. I couldn’t recall talking to him
on that particular case at all. My memory, if
there was a conversation we had on that case,
well, I canÂ’t recall it. He was not an integral
part of that case. I donÂ’t even remember bouncing
anything off him as somebody who was familiar with politics in Austin.”
Molly Ivins's latest book is “Who Let the Dogs In?”
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Received on Sat Mar 02 2024 - 00:57:26 CST