| | 3. Bush Family Connections
• In the 2000 national election, the George W. Bush campaign used Amway’s voicemail network to broadcast its message to tens of thousands of Amway/Quixtar distributors with a "personal voicemail message" from Mr. Bush.
• A close personal friend and "spiritual advisor" to George W. Bush is a former high ranking (Diamond) distributor with Amway and regular Amway convention speaker, evangelist Doug Wead. Wead was President George H.W. Bush's liaison to the Christian Right. During the early 1988 George Bush presidential campaign, Wead reported to son, George W. Bush. He later served as Special Assistant to the President in the Bush Senior, White House. Time magazine referred to him as "the man who coined the phrase the compassionate conservative." The phrase, “compassionate conservative” is closely related to a Rich DeVos book title, “Compassionate Capitalism.” Wead also researched and wrote about the children of presidents, at the request of George W. Bush.
• As president, George W. Bush appointed Timothy Muris to head the FTC. Muris’ last job before chairing the federal agency that regulates multi-level marketing was as an attorney with the antitrust division of the firm Howrey, Simon, Arnold and White, LLP. The antitrust division of Howrey counts among its largest clients the Amway Corporation. While Muris was with Howrey and while he was in charge of the FTC, his former partners in the antitrust division at Howrey represented Amway Corporation in a class action lawsuit initiated by Joe Morrison, a former Emerald-level distributor, in the US District Court for the Southern District of Texas. The suit charged that the recruitment program of Amway is an illegal pyramid scheme.
• Amway's insider influence in the Bush administration FTC extends beyond the chairman, Timothy Muris. When the multi-level marketing company, Equinox International, an Amway clone, was prosecuted for pyramid scheme fraud by the FTC during the Clinton administration, one of Equinox’s expert witnesses, David Scheffman, testified against the FTC and on behalf of the scheme (which was later shut down as part of a settlement). Scheffman argued that the Equinox business model was legitimate, not a pyramid scheme. His claim was largely based on the assertion that Equinox operated just like Amway. Muris subsequently appointed this same David Scheffman as the FTC’s new Chief Economist.
• For large speaking fees, former Presidents George Bush, Ronald Reagan, Gerald Ford and former Vice Presidents Bob Dole and Dan Quayle have spoken at Amway-related functions, as have former Republican heavyweights Newt Gingrich, Oliver North, and the current SE Regional Chairman for Bush-Cheney '04, Ralph Reed, among others.
• Amway co-founder Rich DeVos dined with a friend this summer, and sat across the table from George W. Bush. “I’ve been a friend to the [Bush[ family for a long time,” DeVos says. “I give the max," DeVos said proudly. "People talk about buying access, but all I can tell you is that politicians know the people who support them”
See
You can view the entire report here:
| | Click On PDF Icon To Download The Industry Report On Amway, Protected Pyramid Scheme! | These recent quotes of President Bush came out on the PRNewswire Sept. 13th from transcripts of remarks by President Bush at the Victory 2004 Rally at the Ottawa County Fairgrounds in Holland, Michigan. The president stated, “And I want to thank my friend, Betsy DeVos, and her father-in-law, Rich. I want to thank all the grassroots activists who are here.”
Immediately after that President Bush stated, “...we've been through corporate scandals -- by the way, we passed new laws and it's now clear, abundantly clear, that we're not going to tolerate dishonesty in the board rooms of America.”
I am not implying that George W. Bush is “in on” the fraud. His party (my party for most of my adult life) has received as much as $4 million in a single year either directly or indirectly (via 527’s) from DeVos and VanAndel family members and/or Amway. I believe this gives this administration an incredibly high standard of accountability in enforcing all laws in the country, particularly those that regulate your largest donors.
There are a handful of people out there that have worked tirelessly and at great risk and personal expense to expose this fraud, for many years. Some have been crushed by Amway’s legal might and well funded team of attorneys. What is most interesting is that these people have a common cause but are very much bipartisan. Some are very strong Democrats while others very conservative, working independently for a common good. I say that as a disclaimer in that I voted for George Bush and his father. This is not a political attack. I have attempted to work with the FTC, as have others, through the last two administrations. The government has failed the public.
A critical case has been filed this year in the California court system. In California, if you are defrauded by a company you can file suit to have an injunction placed on the perpetrators of the fraud. This in effect permanently bars them from doing business in the state. A case was filed by Susan Spanos, a woman who alleges she was defrauded in an almost identical fashion as all the other victims of the last twenty years. This suit seeks not personal damages but an injunction to bar Quixtar, Internet Services (Dexter Yager’s company) and others from ever doing business in the state of California.
The case filed is far too lengthy to link to. Details on the parties involved in the case can be located at:
Regardless of your political convictions, I think we can all agree enough is enough. How much more burden and risk exposing the truth do private citizens have to bear in order to protect the public? It seems that Newt Gingrich may have some real explaining to do. It also appears that some serious house cleaning is needed at the Federal Trade Commission for the organization to retain a semblance of credibility. As I have been for years, I am prepared to fully cooperate with any Federal Regulatory investigation. At off site locations, I have a large number of banker boxes of documentation spanning a twenty year time frame.
In the last few years I have been fortunate in establishing a formidable, global network of victims, former plaintiffs, consumer advocates and many others who are willing to testify for any regulatory agency or law firm who would find such testimony useful. Most of us will have to be subpoenaed as Amway will attempt to gag us from speaking freely. It is my sincere hope that this will all come to an end soon and the consumer will be protected.
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