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View Full Version : This Is How Much It 'Costs' To Get An Ambassadorship: Guccifer Leaks DNC 'Pay-To-Play' List




twomp
09-13-2016, 09:03 PM
After addressing a cybersecuirty conference in London, notorious hacker 'Guccifer' shared over 500Mb of documents detailing 100,000 DNC donors contact info and donations. A large number of the largest donors received senior diplomatic or political positions following the donations, ranging from UK Ambassador to Assistant Attorney General. The DNC released a statement pre-emptively claiming that this was the work of Russia (and reigniting Trump's links to Putin).

Probably just coincidence...

Here is the first cut of the alleged major donors on the leaked documents and the positions they received (via Magafeed.com)

#1 Matthew Berzun … Ambassador to UK
#2 Julius Genachowski … Former chairman to FCC
#3 Frank Sanchez…. Under secretary of commerce
#8 Kirk Wagner… Ambassador to Singapore
#9 Alan Solomont … Ambassador to Spain
#11 John Roos… Ambassador to Japan
#12 Nicole Avant… Ambassador to Bahamas
#13 Eileen Chamberlain Donahoe … Ambassador to the UN
#16 Steve Westly – CFO of California
#17 Don Beyer – Ambassador to Switzerland
#21 Don Gips – Ambassador to South Africa
#22 Howard Gutman – Ambassador to Belgium
#24 Cynthia Stroum – Ambassador to Luxembourg
#27 Mark Gilbert – Ambassador to New Zealand
#31 Norm Eisen – Ambassador to Czech Republic
#37 Bruce Oreck – Ambassador to Finland
#43 Tony West – deputy Attorney General
#45 Bill Kennard – Ambassador to EU

The DNC responded to the latest hack claim Tuesday through its Interim Chair Donna Brazile, who stated that the “DNC is the victim of a crime,” which she blamed on “Russian state-sponsored agents,” while also cautioning that the hacked documents were still being authenticated by the DNC legal team, as “it is common for Russian hackers to forge documents.” DNC pre-emptively published a statement in an attempt to change the narrative...

http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/images/user3303/imageroot/2016/09/07/20160913_DNChack3.jpg

read the rest here:
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-09-13/how-much-it-costs-get-ambassadorship-guccifer-20-leaks-dnc-pay-play-donor-list

spudea
09-13-2016, 09:42 PM
Political party, literally appointing your money friends in order to party together on the taxpayer's dime.

I wonder how many total appointment positions exist.

Zippyjuan
09-13-2016, 10:15 PM
Prime donors often do get desirable Ambassador positions. It has always been like that- even back to the start of the country. The ambassador was somebody who could afford to be one. Europe, tropical locations being the most desirable. Afganistan? That is usually left to the career diplomats. However, they cost money even after they get the job since they are expected to pick up the tab for "entertaining" any guests. Estimated costs of being ambassador to London for example: $1 million a year of your own money. They do get free housing and paid up to $179,700 a year. 31% of Obama's ambassadors were donors- not career diplomats.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2012-12-13/the-economics-of-being-a-u-dot-s-dot-ambassador


The Economics of Being a U.S. Ambassador

Plum foreign postings come at a price for wealthy donors

To land a high-profile ambassadorship, it helps to have raised a ton of money for a successful presidential candidate and know how to throw a good party. That’s one reason why President Obama is considering Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour as the next U.S. ambassador to the Court of St. James’s in the U.K. Wintour raised more than $500,000 for Obama and inspired the “Runway to Win” fashion line that brought in upwards of $40 million for his campaign.

But that’s just the price of admission. The funds embassies receive from the U.S. Department of State don’t begin to cover the high costs of the frequent parties and dinners ambassadors are expected to host. Some wind up paying more than $1 million a year out of their own pockets, according to one of the president’s top donors who requested anonymity because he didn’t want to discuss private conversations.

This is why the high-profile postings to places like France and Italy typically go to wealthy donors, rather than career diplomats. The current ambassador to the U.K., Louis Susman, a former Chicago investment banker, holds three to four social events a week, says an embassy spokeswoman, who declined to give a cost estimate for these soirees. “Political ambassadors have more resources and are able to entertain a little bit more lavishly,” says Mel Sembler, a Florida Republican fundraiser and former ambassador to Australia under George H.W. Bush and to Italy under George W. Bush. “We did spend more than our budget, because that’s the way we entertain.”

In exchange, appointees get perks—beginning with the sought-after title of “ambassador.” In some Western European countries, they live in sprawling estates such as London’s Winfield House. Its 12-and-a-half acres of private gardens are exceeded only by those of Buckingham Palace. The ambassador to Italy can avail himself of a three-story, 5,000-bottle wine cellar at the Villa Taverna in Rome. American and Italian vintners and wine enthusiasts funded the $1.1 million cellar—accessible via catacombs—in hopes of encouraging conviviality and commerce between their countries. And through the State Department’s art-in-embassies program, ambassadors can surround themselves with the finest works of art belonging to U.S. museums.

The American Foreign Service Association reports that about 31 percent of ambassadorships are held by political appointees, the rest by career foreign-service officers. The appointees typically request the richest countries. “If you have a choice between France or Botswana, it’s no choice,” says Tex Harris, the association’s former president. Over the years, efforts have been made to offset the costs of living at the pricier embassies so that a broader variety of people can serve there. After his tour as ambassador to the Court of St. James’s in the Nixon administration, Walter Annenberg established a fund to help pay for the upkeep of the diplomatic mansion. “Just filling the flower vases for the embassy in London is very expensive,” Harris notes.

More at link.

SewrRatt
09-13-2016, 11:56 PM
Thanks for working so hard to inform us of the plight of these poor ambassadors, Zippy. Those 10 cents a day I used to send to children in Africa are going to go to those who are really deserving now, instead.

AZJoe
09-14-2016, 07:32 AM
Prime donors often do get desirable Ambassador positions. It has always been like that

So its OK to auction off cushy high level well-connected government jobs because such corrupt kickback activity was done in the past.

Perfect sense. OK got it. So that would mean all police abuse and government is fine because, well we've always had police abuse. Government bribery is fine because well, we've always had government bribery. Corruption, bribery, graft, pay to play, kickbacks, favors, extortion, intimidation, cover ups, war crimes, economic fraud, market rigging, political font running, false flags, lying to public, smuggling, drug running, legal protection, black ops, .... We've always had all these activities in government also so they must all be just fine things to do.

specsaregood
09-14-2016, 07:53 AM
Prime donors often do get desirable Ambassador positions. It has always been like that- even back to the start of the country. The ambassador was somebody who could afford to be one. Europe, tropical locations being the most desirable. Afganistan? That is usually left to the career diplomats. However, they cost money even after they get the job since they are expected to pick up the tab for "entertaining" any guests. Estimated costs of being ambassador to London for example: $1 million a year of your own money. They do get free housing and paid up to $179,700 a year. 31% of Obama's ambassadors were donors- not career diplomats.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2012-12-13/the-economics-of-being-a-u-dot-s-dot-ambassador
More at link.

I'm fairly certain that with all the inside information, tips, connections and kickbacks made in such a position make it extremely profitable even with those types of expenses.

Valli6
09-14-2016, 09:06 AM
I wonder what/if Chris Stevens paid for his position as an "ambassador"?

Zippyjuan
09-14-2016, 01:13 PM
I wonder what/if Chris Stevens paid for his position as an "ambassador"?

He was a career diplomat. Libya isn't a highly desired post for fat cat donors. One complaint by careerists is that they don't get a shot at any of the quality postings abroad.

Slave Mentality
09-14-2016, 07:02 PM
I'm fairly certain that with all the inside information, tips, connections and kickbacks made in such a position make it extremely profitable even with those types of expenses.

No rich person is going to do shit on their own dime. It has to be lucrative, or they would not do it. Believe that.