This is the worse case of foggy memory
I've seen in all my 2 hours after joining the Tenet board
I guess this would explain his wanting to leave to be with his family.
And Crist's foggy memory and "Why is this not being investigated?"
Now we know why Mel was in such a rush to slide out of office -
The Miami Herald reports that:
"Mel Martinez's office repeatedly intervened in a 2007 legal dispute between the Defense Department and a company owned by a top Republican fundraiser who is now at the center of a campaign-finance investigation, according to records obtained by The Miami Herald.
In a series of phone calls and e-mails, a Martinez aide urged Pentagon contract officers to seek a "fair resolution'' to $14 million in contract claims sought by the International Oil Trading Co., a fuel-supply company co-owned by Harry Sargeant III of Boca Raton.
That being the same one who Coordinated campaign donations to McCain And Crist.
Which McCain returned Crist didn't.
"At one point, Pentagon officials told the senator's office it was 'not appropriate' to discuss any settlements while the company's lawsuit was pending in court, records show.
As Martinez's staffer was lobbying the Pentagon, Sargeant and his wife donated $50,000 to the Republican National Committee -- then headed by Martinez.
At the time, Sargeant was the finance chairman of the Republican Party of Florida. ...Sargeant's company ultimately received $3.2 million from the Defense Department -- settling claims the Pentagon had initially denied entirely.
The Pentagon says Martinez played no role in the settlement. ...Sargeant gained notoriety last year as a fundraiser for Republican presidential candidate John McCain, whose campaign returned $50,000 in suspicious donations solicited by a Sargeant business partner.
In February, an employee of a Sargeant company was indicted on federal charges of funneling illegal contributions to several candidates, including McCain and Florida Gov. Charlie Crist -- a college buddy of Sargeant's.
The employee, Ala'a al-Ali, is accused of using straw donors in California to steer about $55,000 in illegal contributions to candidates.
Get this:
In an interview with The Miami Herald last year, Martinez said he offered only "routine'' assistance to Sargeant's company.
In an interview with The Miami Herald last year, Martinez said he offered only "routine'' assistance to Sargeant's company.
He said his office helped IOTC obtain information, but he did not try to sway the Pentagon's stance in the case.
"I do this for hundreds of people throughout the state of Florida,'' Martinez said last year."Much more here: Records: Martinez aide intervened in dispute between Pentagon, GOP fundraiser".
... and LeMieux slides in"Amid charges of political cronyism and claims he was picked to be the governor's proxy in Washington, there is renewed scrutiny of LeMieux's dealings and those of his law firm, Gunster Yoakley & Stewart:"
• The law firm, chaired by LeMieux, helped foreign workers get visas last fall to help build a high-rise hotel and condos in Miami, depriving dozens of Florida workers of jobs at a time of rising unemployment. ...
• Two weeks before LeMieux left Crist's office, Gunster Yoakley landed a $500,000 contract representing the state Department of Transportation on two matters. ...
• After leaving Crist's office in December 2007, LeMieux earned about $150,000 over a 13-month period as an adviser to state Republican Party chairman Jim Greer, a lucrative sideline that has led some to label LeMieux a "political consultant." He will not discuss what he did to earn that money ...
• For the past 15 years, West Palm Beach-based Gunster Yoakley has represented U.S. Sugar Corp., which for months negotiated with Crist's office to sell much of its land to the state and federal government to clean up polluted runoff in the Everglades. ..."Sen. LeMieux faces scrutiny on his way to Washington".
Which makes one wonder, yet again -
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