Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Largest Barbour supporter worked closely with Barbour's lobbyist partners while Barbour in office; linked to efforts to profit from Iraq War

The story behind a whopping $100,000.00 contribution to former Governor Haley Barbour (R - Mississippi) through Barbour's Georgia-based PAC is going to be an interesting one.

It turns out that Jamal Daniel, the contributor, has worked closely with Barbour's former-and-once-again lobbying partners, Lanny Griffith and Ed Rogers.  (The "G" and the "R" in BGR Group.)  In fact, as Barbour was campaigning for Governor in 2003 Daniel, Griffith, and Rogers joined with others to form a company called "New Bridge Strategies", which sought to make a buck off of the reconstruction of Iraq. The introduction to a story about the formation of New Bridge Strategies in the New York Times reads:
A group of businessmen linked by their close ties to President Bush, his family and his administration have set up a consulting firm to advise companies that want to do business in Iraq, including those seeking pieces of taxpayer-financed reconstruction projects.
It's hard to tell if New Bridge Strategies was a success or not.  It appears that New Bridge Strategies, of which Daniel was an "advisory board member", is no longer a going concern.  Its former website, for example, now contains some rather odd writing about "finding love."  More to come....

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