"Bailey was a founder and active participant in Lead21, a fund-raising and networking operation for affluent young Republicans, some of whom have gone on to serve in the Bush administration. Click on the links to Lead21's site today and no mention of Bailey is to be found. But on a subscriber business and social networking site, there's an archived e-mail of Bailey discussing setting up a New York branch of Lead21, and his "personal network," which lists a half-dozen members of the organization's current board, including the chairman of the California Republican Party and the senior policy adviser to the Justice Department's chief information officer. "These are going to be the big supporters, the big donors to the Republican Party in five years' time," Bailey told The New York Times in an Aug. 31, 2004, video interview during a Lead21 party at the Republican convention in New York."I havent been able to find that email, but the Chair of the CRP is Duf Sundheim. At the Lead21 website, they refer to Duf as "one of people who inspired Lead21's founders to move forward with the organization."
The reason Duf joined the CRP? It's all about shovelling money to the party:
"McCain Feingold put restrictions on the role of the national party. Proposition 34 put caps on what could be contributed in California. The state parties were the only entities left that could take unlimited funds. Hence, with respect to finances, I sensed the role of the state parties could (not necessarily would) increase dramatically."Duf's previous gig? It's all about shovelling money to the party:
"Prior to joining the CRP as Chair, Sundheim served as Chairman of the Lincoln Club of Northern California, where he wrote a remarkable success story - not only transforming the club into a powerful fundraising operation but also into an effective grass roots organization. As a result, the Lincoln Club of Northern California is now recognized as one of California 's most effective political support organizations, having raised more than $7 million for Republican causes and candidates, including President George W. Bush."It may or may not be a coincidence that Christian Bailey's shadowy company was originally called Lincoln Alliance, and is now called Lincoln Group - and Bailey's mentor comes from a fundraising group called the Lincoln Club. From the Club's website:
"The membership of The Lincoln Club is a “who’s who” of business and community leaders who have had a powerful impact on Republican politics for the past 20 years."You'll remember that Bailey's company morphed from Lincoln Asset Management into Iraqex
"with the assistance of a cadre of investors, to pursue private sector opportunities in Iraq. Iraqex brings a unique combination of expertise in collecting and exploiting information; structuring transactions; and mitigating risks through due diligence, legal strategies and security. Iraqex has developed subsidiaries and private equity investments in Iraq spanning commercial real estate, manufacturing, metals, transportation, and communications."that's a pretty big portfolio for a startup. before long, iraqex was "involved in a range of activities from manufacturing construction materials to `providing logistics' for US forces" - and then iraqex subsequently morphed into Lincoln Group, which appprently only does pure propaganda.
in any case, i wonder if the Lincoln Group is named after the Lincoln Club - and i wonder if there arent any other links? one thing is for sure, Lincoln got a leg-up from somewhere. It went from vapour-ware to successfully competing with multi-billion dollar defense contractors.
interestingly, i also saw this: "The Lincoln Group also has Republican links. Among lobbyists registered to represent it are Charles Black". the wheels on the bus go round and round. Lincoln subcontracts to BKSH, and then BKSH represents Lincoln!
(incidentally, another founder, Price Roe, of Lead21 "worked for the Bush 2000 presidential campaign in Karl Rove's "strategery" group")
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