Neil Bush’s family values

Two years ago, when Neil Bush and his mother, the former first lady Barbara Bush, were featured guests at a $1,000-a-table fundraiser for the Western Heights School District in Oklahoma City, proceeds from the event were specifically earmarked for the purchase of products from Neil’s company, Ignite! Learning. Late last year, when Neil’s mom agreed to make a contribution to a Hurricane Katrina relief foundation for those victims that had relocated to Texas, she stipulated that her donation had to be used by local schools to acquire Ignite products.

It must have been a long time ago that Neil Bush, the son of Bush 41 and the younger brother of Bush 43, discovered that the key to unlocking the entrepreneurial vault was to take full advantage of the Family. While entrepreneurial nepotism is as American as apple pie and Thomas Kinkade paintings, the Bush Family has made it a science.

Over the past two decades, while Neil Bush has made impressive amounts of money in all sorts of interesting business deals, he has always seemed like the kid who was caught red-handed throwing chalk at the teacher, got sent to the principal and yet returned to the classroom unscathed.

These days, with the help of the Saudi Royal Family, a former junk bond dealer, a Russian mobster, the Rev. Sum Myung Moon, and mom and dad, family string-pulling is again paying off. […]

“Bush’s Ignite! Inc. has sold 1,700 COWs [curriculum on wheels] since 2005, mainly in Texas, where Bush lives and his brother was once governor. In August, Houston’s school board authorized expenditures of up to $200,000 for COWs. The company expects 2006 revenue of $5 million. Says Bush about the impact of his name: ‘I’m not saying it hasn’t opened any doors. It may have helped with some sales.’ (In September, the U.S. Education Dept.’s inspector general accused the agency of improperly favoring at least five publishers, including The McGraw-Hill Companies, which owns BusinessWeek. A company spokesman says: ‘Our reading programs have been successful in advancing student achievement for decades; that’s why educators hold them in such high regard.’)”

According to the Los Angeles Times, “The law provides federal funds to help school districts better serve disadvantaged students and improve their performance, especially in reading and math.” However, Bush’s company “does not offer reading instruction, and its math program will not be available until next year.”

Unfortunately, the Department of Education “does not monitor individual school district expenditures under the No Child program, but sets guidelines that the states are expected to enforce, spokesman Chad Colby said.”

Ignite executive Tom Deliganis admitted that “some districts seem to feel OK” about using No Child money for the Ignite purchases, “and others do not.”

BusinessWeek also pointed out that the Washington Times Foundation, “A foundation linked to the controversial Reverend Sun Myung Moon has donated $1 million for a COWs research project in Washington (D.C.)-area schools. In 2004 a Shanghai chip company agreed to give Bush stock then valued at $2 million for showing up at board meetings. (Bush says he received one-fifth of the shares.) In 1988 a Colorado savings and loan failed while he served on its board, making him a prominent symbol of the S&L scandal. Neil calls himself ‘the most politically damaged of the [Bush] brothers.’”

The Rev. Moon, Saudi Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal and Milken aren’t the only controversial financial participants. Fugitive Russian billionaire Boris Berezovsky, who has been accused of having strong tries to the Chechen mafia, has been an investor in Bush’s Ignite! project since at least 2003. […]

This is a summary extract from the full commentary as it appeared in Online Journal, Nov 27 2006

Full Article [Cached]