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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:
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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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