WASHINGTON, D.C. January 18, 2000 — When George W. Bush first embarked on a deal to buy the Texas Rangers professional baseball team in 1988, he already had his eye on the governor's mansion in Austin. But he knew that to have a shot at winning, he would need better credentials than a string of unsuccessful oil companies and a failed bid for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. In 1989 he told Time magazine, "My biggest liability in Texas is the question, 'What's the boy ever done?' He could be riding on Daddy's name."
WASHINGTON, D.C. January 11, 2000 — On Sept. 7, 1995, Vice President Albert Gore Jr., stood on the White House lawn and talked in sweeping terms about ending the era of big government. He touted a list of recommendations formulated by the National Performance Review, an initiative Gore directed that he claimed streamlined the federal bureaucracy, cut unnecessary waste and helped make the government "work better and cost less." Gore said that his report, delivered to President Clinton that day, would continue the drive to "reinvent government."
January 6, 2000 — Democratic presidential candidate Bill Bradley laid out his plans for tax reform on Jan. 4, attacking corporate tax shelters and special interest provisions. Bradley is certainly an expert on the subject; in 1986, he was the driving force behind the biggest tax giveaway to special interests ever.
WASHINGTON, D.C. January 5, 2000 — Each of the leading presidential candidates for the 2000 election has done public- policy favors for his campaign contributors, according to a new Center for Public Integrity book, The Buying of the President 2000 (Avon). Every major White House contender who has held past elective office has "career patrons," or longtime financial sponsors, who have underwritten his political career. And every major aspirant has used his government position to help his patrons.
