"A conspiracy is rarely, if ever, proved by positive testimony. Unless one of the original conspirators betrays his companions and gives evidence against them, their guilt can be proved only by circumstantial evidence. It is said by some writers on evidence that such circumstances are stronger than positive proof. A witness swearing positively may misrepresent the facts or swear falsely, but the circumstances cannot lie."
Special Judge Advocate John A. Bingham, 1865, in "The Trial of the Conspirators."
CORRUPTION AT THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
One of the corrupt practices initiated by the Clinton administration are Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs).
State governments collect gas tax, a portion of which is sent back to the federal government. Previous to implementation of Clinton's MPOs, the state governments would receive a portion back and administer the funds as they saw fit, with oversight from the Federal Highway Administration through state transportation agencies. However, now with the MPO plan, the federal funds are allocated to local governing bodies so that they are ones that pick which highway projects to build. It is easier to fraudulently spend federal monies this way. The MPOs can have clandestine meetings so citizens don't know what's going on, and it's easier to corrupt some greedy local politicians, as illustrated by the TCA.
But more importantly, we need to examine who was behind this change. Throughout this paper evidence of the influence of the Olympians and Britain is documented. The MPO plan was actually part of a larger plan developed by the United Nations and Prince Charles (Veon, 1998). The goal of the UN and Prince Charles is to push all governmental policy down to the local level. On the surface this may sound like a great idea, but the catch comes in that the UN is promoting this using the excuse of "global sustainability." In other words, because they say the environment is suffering the afflictions of mankind, they are promoting "sustainable" development which must fit into the plans of the UN and Prince Charles. By this method, the local governments answer directly to the UN, totally bypassing state and federal authority. Thus the UN and Prince Charles can cleverly implement their one-world government wherein they will control every county in the world, including America.
State Infrastructure Banks
One of the funding mechanisms used for California highways was an invention of the Clinton administration called State Infrastructure Banks (SIBs). SIBs were established in 1995 by the National Highway System Designation Act. They consist of federal seed money given to the state to fund infrastructure projects such as roads, bridges and mass transit. The state collects funds through whatever mechanisms it sees fit, such as issuing bonds. All the state and federal money is pooled together to fund the particular projects in the state. SIBs are specifically geared towards the design/build concept, in which one or more contractors are chosen to design and build a project. As I stated earlier, this leaves the potential for rampant fraud because the same entities that designed the project are in charge of quality control on the construction. This was not the normal method of construction but became popular during the Clinton administration. SIB loans do not have to be repaid until 35 years after a road is open to traffic. The quickest profit can be made by the contractor, if he is in a corrupt situation where he can get in and out quickly while doing substandard work, especially using cheap, inferior, foreign materials.
Ten states were initially selected in 1996 to participate in the SIB pilot program: Arizona, California, Florida, Missouri, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia. A year later another 29 states were added. California created the Transportation Finance Bank (TFBank), under the direction of the California Economic Development Financing Authority (CEDFA), which received $100 million to start the bank. The Clinton Administration increased the "investment" in infrastructure from an average of $21.1 billion from 1990-93 to $27.6 billion in 1998-01. Now, doesn't this seem a little strange that a Democratic president would want to increase spending on government activities that will destroy the environment and help business development? That sounds more like a Republican. But maybe it's not so strange if his backers are the businesses that get the lucrative construction contracts. Just to show how much money we're talking about, the Department of Transportation predicted that by 1998, the first ten SIBs would support up to $1.6 billion in projects. When ISTEA (Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act) was reauthorized, they eventually sought to create almost $5 billion in projects. The Clinton administration predicted this would create over 150,000 new jobs. We only have to see how the economy has since tanked, thanks to Clinton purposely letting Muslim terrorists immigrate here to attack America, to see through this falsehood.
In light of the above, it's also an interesting coincidence that Ellen Tauscher (D-CA) introduced legislation to create SIBs for school construction, patterned after the SIBs for infrastructure.
Were SIBs Patterned After Arkansas Development & Finance Administration (ADFA)?
It may be possible that Clinton got the idea for SIBs from ADFA, which was run by fellow Arkansan Dan Lasater, called the "bond daddy" for his fraudulent financial schemes. The bill establishing ADFA was introduced and promoted by Webster Hubbell. There was no need for ADFA, which ostensibly was supposed to supply low-interest loans for things such as economic development and housing projects. Arkansas already had two other agencies to do this, the Arkansas Housing Development Agency and the Arkansas Industrial Development Corporation. The difference is that these two agencies answered to an independent board, whereas ADFA answered only to Bill Clinton.
ADFA was designed with the help of a Boston consultant and allowed Clinton to tap the huge reserve of the Arkansas Teachers Retirement System (Pritchards, 1997). ADFA essentially allowed Clinton to create money, writing $664 million worth of bonds in two years. It was also used to launder drug money, because no real individuals would buy the bonds, which could be replaced on paper with drug money.
It is hard to find any houses that were actually constructed with ADFA financing. In the housing spike of '84-'85, there was $300 million in housing bonds issued. The whole thing was a scam that worked as in this example: in December 1989, ADFA raised $50 million for building and buying houses for the needy. ADFA then wired the money to Fuji Bank, Grand Cayman Branch, account number 63119808. They raised the money under tax exempt status, then loaned the money to Fuji at 9.37%, which made them a $1 million profit over 10 months. When the bonds were remarketed in October 1989, the principal had fallen to $47,915,000. No one knows if any houses were ever constructed.
It would, of course, be harder to get away with everything ADFA did in Arkansas using SIBs, because we obviously see highways being built with construction bonds. Nonetheless, the similarities are self-evident.
USDOT Secretary Rodney Slater - Ron Brown, Jr.?
It just so happens that Rodney Slater, then the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) chief, was tasked with developing the SIBs. He was ultimately promoted by Clinton to the Secretary of USDOT, a seemingly obscure office but an ideal position to perpetrate all types of corruption. From allowing terrorist pilots to train here (via FAA) to sabotaging our highway system (via FHWA), this is a key office to control.
Slater's climb up the ladder of success is most revealing. From 1987 to 1992, he was a member of the Arkansas State Highway Commission, serving as its chairman in 1992. He helped Bill Clinton in his presidential campaign of 1992, serving as his deputy campaign manager. He served as the FHWA Administrator from 1993-96, whereupon he increased highway "investment" by 20%. His bio makes the claim that he "repaired thousands of America's bridges, putting them in the best condition they have been in years." (Please remember this "fact.") He lobbied Congress to increase federal highway spending to the highest level ever, increasing it by 12% in 1998. After his post at FHWA, he was promoted to Secretary of the Department of Transportation, where he succeeded Federico Pena (see below).
You may be asking yourself, "These are some interesting coincidences: highway fraud, Bill Clinton becomes president, brings in his campaign manager from Arkansas to manage highway funding. Hmmm." Well, let's see what another former FOB (friend of Bill), Clinton's former bodyguard L.D. Brown, had to say about Slater (from Brown's book Crossfire-emphasis mine):
"Bill had a capable staff of African-Americans on which he relied extensively. They were so reliable he took them all to Washington, DC with him and placed them in his cabinet or in the White House. Bob Nash headed up that team as the Governor's staff member for economic development...[Nash's criminal activities are well known-JS]
"Rodney Slater and Carol Willis were Clinton liaisons to the black community and knew their job well. Rodney has moved on to greener pastures far from those in rural eastern Arkansas and currently is Clinton's Secretary of Transportation. Carol earned a top job with the Democratic Party in Washington for his loyal efforts. Each of them were products of hardscrabble Arkansas and worked hard to maintain ties to the black electorate that were phenomenally Democratic in their voting preferences.
"But the key to getting blacks out to vote in Arkansas was the black preachers. The black community largely saw Bill as the new savior. I've heard many black preachers tell their congregations just that.
"Once we attended a fundamentalist black church in Little Rock that was packed with worshipers who were swaying to and fro in a frenzy as the preacher worked up the crowd. The theme was the need for the poor depressed black communities in Arkansas to rise from the ashes like the mythical Phoenix. Since Bill was the guest of honor, we sat in the front row of the church. The entire sermon was about Bill and his attributes as the finest leader and friend to the black race the preacher had ever known. The minister prophesied, 'And like Jesus, Bill Clinton will lead us into the Promised Land!...And very soon we will be calling him President Clinton,' he intoned as the crowd went wild...
"The 'black money' campaign financing scheme was taken all the way to the White House-and in Arkansas I was the bag man...
"It was all really very simple. Cash money was placed in the hands of black ministers charged with making sure black voters reached the polling booth knowing how to vote and who to vote for. The preachers would even pass out what I called 'crib sheets' with 'Bill Clinton' on them for the illiterate voter to use in finding the correct lever to pull, a sort of voting 'match game.'"
"I never carried more than $5,000 at a time. Betsey would bring the money out to the Mansion for some trips to the counties where Bill would be traveling. At times, Bob Nash, Rodney or Carol would already have the money on them. When we arrived once in Lee County, traditionally the poorest county in Arkansas with unemployment near 20%, Bill met with a group of black ministers who had one hand out to shake Bill's hand while the other was being fed cash from the bag I had passed to Bob. That's how open and frankly how well known and accepted the practice was."
Now, if the future Secretary of Transportation would commit such serious criminal activity as this in Arkansas, wouldn't he do likewise in Washington? He was in a position to increase highway funding, formulate and lobby for the SIB law, direct which corrupt states were approved as recipients of SIB monies, and could influence which projects received funding. Furthermore, in an extremely important factor I shall reveal later, he could influence the quality of materials used in highway construction, i.e. allowing the use of inferior foreign steel.
In the spirit of Ron Brown, in February 2000 Slater visited Hong Kong, Singapore, Beijing and Tokyo to promote policies that "foster the goals of prosperity." Slater had focused on China as the next great tourism location. (What does that have to do with the DOT?) On another trip, to Europe in March 1999, he said it was his job to "build bridges of goodwill" with his European Union counterparts. During this visit he stated (please note the following as it is extremely important):
"And I should get into one other issue here, and that is--and we are starting to make this point more and more, frankly--we have ongoing debates within the U.S. about the appropriateness of our activities on the international stage. To give you two examples, one is the whole debate about our involvement in Kosovo and whether there is a U.S. interest. Again, the President has said that he sees a clear U.S. interest, because of the vision he had for the U.S.-EU, or the U.S.-European relationship upon becoming President...[Note: Here's the DOT Secretary telling the EU about the President's vision for them, while EU companies are getting lucrative DOT contracts in the U.S.-JS]
"So, that is but one example, but another involves how we are dealing with the whole issue of steel within the United States. As you know, with the downturn in the Asian economy, the steel industry has been the industry most adversely impacted by that. And so you've got interests within the U.S. who say, 'Build a protective wall around U.S. steel interests and step back from the whole global liberalization effort.' We have resisted that as an Administration. And the reason we have resisted it is because, frankly, it is inconsistent with our three-pronged economic strategy that was expressed by the President from day one:...[mentions 2 bureaucrat-speak items]...and also putting forward a concerted and progressive effort to enhance our relationship with our international partners around the world..."
Please note the above: why was the DOT Secretary even talking about steel with the Europeans?
I would also like to mention a few other seemingly unrelated news items about Slater. As previously mentioned, using a longstanding provision of federal law, Slater told the U.S. Navy in October 2000 that they had to transfer ownership of land they owned on Yerba Buena Island to the state of California for the construction of a new bridge next to the existing San Francisco-Oakland bridge. This was not the only example I found of the Clinton administration giving military property away to a more local entity under questionable motives. And on July 19, 2000, Slater challenged the auto industry to provide "smart" technology in 10% of all passenger vehicles, which includes tracking devices designed to prevent accidents. Clinton's 2001 DOT budget request contained $1.2 billion for R&D, including 60% for intelligent transportation systems. I'll discuss this in more detail later.
Although I am not trying to take up for Rodney Slater, it does appear that perhaps he was uncomfortable with what he was being asked to do in Washington. In a strange incident in 1996, Slater gave his resignation as FHWA director to Pena so that he could return to Arkansas to run for the U.S. Senate seat vacated by David Pryor. However, Slater "reversed his decision after consulting with friends in Washington and back home in Little Rock." Perhaps instead, he received "an offer he couldn't refuse?" In a speech to the Granada forum in California, L.D. Brown said he had seen Slater after he had followed Clinton to Washington, and he asked Slater how things were going. Judging from Slater's reply, he did not seem too happy working for Clinton, as though he was uncomfortable with the situation. If President Bush would get the FBI to open an investigation into these matters, or if an organization like Judicial Watch could get Slater subpoenaed, Slater might have enough of a conscience to be willing to talk, if he didn't end up like Ron Brown.
Another Arkansas/DOT Connection
Webster Hubbell, former FOB and head honcho at the Dept. of Justice, was given a $8,500/month, no-bid contract by the city of Los Angeles to lobby the federal Dept. of Transportation. He was given the job by Theodore Stein, former top aide to LA mayor Richard Riordan, after Hubbell was resigned in disgrace from his Washington post.
Current DOT Secretary Norman Mineta-More of Same
I should briefly mention the current DOT Secretary, Norman Mineta, who was appointed by President Bush, perhaps to appease the liberals. Mineta was involved in the Commerce Department trade scandal, which consisted of Clinton selling seats on the trade missions in exchange for campaign contributions. His reward was an appointment as Commerce Secretary. Chinese spy John Huang and many other participants in the Chinagate scandal were also involved in the Commerce scandal. Mineta was also the Clinton emissary to Wen Ho Lee's family during the investigation into his alleged stealing of U.S. nuclear secrets.
In October 1995, Mineta quit his California Congressional seat to join Lockheed Martin. Nine days before he left, he voted for a highway bill that gave $600 million to California for a 30-year toll contract to his new employer. The head of the Center for Public Integrity said, "Even by cynical Washington standards, this is extraordinary. It is not just extraordinary, it is disgusting."
On July 26, 2000 Mineta gave a brief speech on Global Steel Trade. He opened his talk with these confidence-inspiring lines: "I have been Commerce Secretary for only three days. And I am no expert on the global steel industry." Rest assured that Mineta will do nothing to help America's steel industry.
DOT Secretary Can Let Foreign Terrorists Infiltrate Airline Industry
The DOT Secretary's responsibilities include airline and airport security. Mineta appointed K. David Holmes to the position of investigating backgrounds of new federal airport guards. Holmes formerly worked at the Commerce Department, which included a stint as Mineta's bodyguard, where he earned a reputation of breaking rules in the vetting process. In 1999, Holmes sanitized a Y2K counterterrorism report by removing all Islamic threats. He was relieved of his position in July 2002 in response to public criticism.
After 9/11, a security consultant, Charles Slepian, submitted a plan to the government to use retired LEOs for airport security (Newsmax, 8/02). Slepian says that Mineta vetoed his plan in favor of hiring noncitizens. This is illegal, because new laws require that the workers must be American citizens.
On 9/18/02, Eleanor Hill read a 30-page report to House and Senate members in the first joint investigation by standing congressional committees (AP, 9/18/02). Hill found 12 examples, mostly during the Clinton administration, of received intelligence warning of a possible WTC type of attack. For example, in 8/98 U.S. intelligence learned that some "unidentified Arabs planned to fly an explosive-laden plane...into the World Trade Center." The information was given to the FAA and FBI which did nothing.
In another example of FAA coverup, there has been much investigation into the training of terrorist pilots at two flight schools in Venice, Florida. Both of the owners of the schools, who have shady backgrounds, had suspicious aircraft crashes in what appear to be assassination attempts to keep them quiet. The FAA allowed the wreckage of one of the crashes to be carted off and compacted almost immediately, thus destroying evidence during the investigation and precluding a finding of sabotage.
Because the responsibilities of the Secretary of Transportation include the FAA, it is obvious in hindsight after 9/11 that this is a key position to facilitate terrorist activities like flight training, promulgate coverups, etc. Undoubtedly Slater and others used their position in such a manner.
Federico Pena
A few words should be mentioned about Slater's DOT predecessor. Rodney Stich, author of Defrauding America (1998) had this to say about how Clinton put people in power in his administration who would do his corrupt bidding:
"After Clinton was elected president of the United States by about forty-two percent of the votes [fraudulently-JS] cast...his administration and its Justice Department halted all investigations and prosecutions of the crimes related to Inslaw, October Surprise, CIA drug trafficking and money laundering, BNL, BCCI, and Iraqgate. He stacked key government offices, especially the Justice Department, with people who would protect him...
"One of Clinton's first acts was to remove key people in the Justice Department, including the FBI, who could charge him or his friends with criminal acts. The first to go was FBI Director William Sessions...Clinton took the unprecedented step of firing all U.S. Attorneys, thereby halting prosecution of people close to the president, including the president himself.
"He appointed Webster Hubbell deputy attorney general, a position in which was de facto head of U.S. Department of Justice...
"Clinton appointed Patsy Thomasson, who had connections to drug trafficking activities, to be director of White House administration. She had been a top aide to Clinton's friend and drug-trafficker, Dan Lasater, assisting in the operation of Lasater's bond activities...[see above-JS]
"To control the U.S. Department of Transportation, Clinton appointed the former mayor of Denver, Federico Pena. Pena's primary credential was that he helped promote the new Denver International Airport. That airport project was riddled with corruption, involving key players from the Denver area HUD and savings and loan scandals, and involved CIA in looting of financial institutions.
"Pena was appointed despite the many reports of influence peddling, payoffs, land flips, and fraud involving the Denver International Airport. The Republicans couldn't object to his appointment. To do so would threaten to expose aspects of the savings and loan scandal that have never been exposed by Congress or the mainstream media, and which occurred while the Republicans were in control of the White House and oversight administrative agencies.
"CIA sources told me that Pena was paid a million and a half dollars for his help in getting Denver voters to approve the Denver Airport project. Pena had been involved with MDC Holdings and related groups, in which U.S. Attorney Michael Norton was also financially involved."
So it seems pretty obvious from the above why Pena was appointed Secretary of Transportation (and Slater as head of FHWA). It was under Pena that all the highway fraud really took off. I never could find the reason why he left to head the Department of Energy. Of course, in that new job he was in a key position to allow our nuclear secrets to be passed on to China and other enemies from facilities such as Los Alamo.
Denver International Airport
As you will see later, there is a connection between the Denver International Airport and highway fraud. For now, I would like to quote Stich again in Defrauding America:
"My CIA contacts operating covert CIA corporations in the United States described the massive fraud involving the new Denver International Airport. They elaborated upon the tactics involved in the promotion and development of the airport, including influence-peddling, pay-offs, phony billings, phony land-swaps, sham loans, and other forms of fraud. Denver Mayor Federico Pena reportedly received a large bribe for promoting the airport. He was reported by my CIA contacts as conspiring with the key players in the Denver-area HUD and savings and loan corruption, including James Metz (Silverado's Chairman); Michael Wise (Silverado's President); Charles Keating (who cooperated in phony land-swaps and sham loans); Bill Walters and Ken Good (who defaulted on tens of millions of dollars in loans obtained through the help of Neil Bush); Phil Winn (indicted for bribing HUD officials); Larry Mizel; Norman Brownstein (attorney for Mizel and the MDC crowd and Pena's law partner)...
"Former CIA operative Trenton Parker told me what other CIA sources had also reported, that former Denver Mayor Federico Pena was paid $1.5 million by Leonard Millman to get voter approval for the new Denver Airport. Parker stated that Mayor Pena's office was bugged by the CIA Pegasus group, and that the audio tape shows Millman walking into Pena's office, stating: 'OK, here's the million and a half g--damn dollars; now we want the f... airport to go through. Now, get off your butts and get this thing going.'"
I think the above amply documents that the Denver International Airport was rife with fraud. I've read that the final cost of construction was $5 billion, whereas it was initially estimated to cost $1 billion. It was full of fraudulent cost overruns which pushed it over budget. The baggage carrier system never even worked. Well, here's another interesting fact: the man in charge of construction of the DIA was none other than Pat Stricklin, the president of Flatiron, the subsidiary of HBG.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Evans-Pritchard, A. The Secret Life of Bill Clinton. 1997.
Stich, R. Defrauding America. 1998.
