Here is some info on Bush’s record of cronyism while he was governor of Texas.
"Austin, TX: A new study finds that members of the
Texas Chemical Council (TCC) trade group
released 187 million pounds of toxic wastes into
Texas’ environment in 1996, according to
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) data. TCC
members also released more than $2 million in
political contributions in the last two election cycles
and spent up to $8 million on lobbyists in 1999,
according to Toxic Exposure: How Texas
Chemical Council Members Pollute State
Politics and the Environment. The study was
produced by Texans for Public Justice and the U.S.
PIRG Education Fund.
http://www.thedubyareport.com/record.html#toxic
“So the public perception that Bush administration decisions
are influenced by business ties has some basis in his recent
history and that of his family. From using the State
Department to make business connections for relatives,
polluters allowed to regulate themselves, and an investment
charlatan given virtually free rein to dispense public funds, the
picture that emerges is one of close-knit business associates
who regard government as just another tool in the quest for
personal gain.”
http://www.thedubyareport.com/centidiary.html
"George W. Bush keeps saying he wants to do for the national government what he’s done for Texas government. Dial 9-1-1 right now!
Bush’s state government is a wreck, full of mismanagement and ethics scandals. The Texas governorship is one of the weakest in
America, yet W. has proven inadequate to handle even this light load.
Start with the Texas department of housing. “It’s a genuine, certifiable mess,” says a Bush financial backer who has dealt with it. He says he brought the agency’s problems to the attention of Bush’s office two years ago, but was ignored. Other officials are not ignoring it, however --the state auditor, a bipartisan legislative committee, the FBI, the IRS, and a grand jury have been probing into this department. Even the head of the department, a developer hand-picked by Bush, resigned amid charges that he was ramming through inferior projects and giving preference to a select few developers, including some of his former business cronies.
In 1999, another top official in the housing agency steered a million dollar contract to a company … and shortly thereafter got a job with this very same company. Then came Florita Bell Griffin, a Bush appointee to the housing board, who was arrested and indicted in June for awarding lucrative agency tax credits to a company in which she secretly was a partner – a deal worth half a million bucks to her."
http://www.tompaine.com/feature2.cfm/ID/3806
This is what is coming out now from Bush’s tenure as governor of Texas. There is no reason to expect that his pattern of cronyism will be any different while he is President. It takes years for these investigations to develop. They investigated James Watt for 10 years before he was convicted. Incidentally, Gale Norton, now presiding over the looting of the Indian Trust Fund, is James Watt’s protege. Not a good sign.