Roberts Wife Law Firm Targets Iraq Reconstruction

[orleans]

wowza--mike malloy just memtioned this.

snip
"July 21, 2005—Yet another first for our boundary-breaching White House: for the first time in American history, we're going to have a justice on the high court whose spouse facilitates financing and putting together global satellite systems.

"Also, the firm in which she is a partner, Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP, emphasizes among other things its expertise in facilitating business in Iraq:

"We offer one-stop service to clients pursuing projects in Iraq, from solicitation and RFP counseling to working with key government and multilateral agencies, and from initially penetrating the Iraqi marketplace to final project implementation. Our attorneys are recognized as leaders in their fields, and at the cutting-edge in a variety of disciplines relevant to Iraq reconstruction. A number have served in senior government positions in key agencies–including the Departments of Transportation, Navy, Justice and Commerce, as well as the Agency for International Development (USAID) and the World Bank."

http://onlinejournal.com/Special_Reports/072105Burns/072105burns.html

[Cha]

1. A Ghoul, eh?

Can't stand for a woman to choose but doesn't mind building on the dead bodies of Iraqi children?

[goforit]

3. OMG!!!.........Unbelievable conflict of interest!!!

Propaganda for all!!

[orleans]

10. good point! n/t

[Justitia]

2. WAR PROFITEER. Just freaking perfect. Bush knows how to pick em. -eom

[seabeyond]

4. bush f*s up with his appointments in amazingly stupid ways

more and more is coming out showing such a strong connection to bush. everyone dealing with bush is dirty. there is a story here.

always having to find the story with these people

[PartyPooper]

5. This makes perfect sense, doesn't it?

:puke:

[napi21]

6. USAID!!! That's the org the lady was working for when Bolton

chased her down the hall of a hotel, yelling and throwing things at her!

I'm not acusing Mrs. Roberts of anything associated with that incident, but there's yet another connection between the firm she works for and the dark side of this Admin.

[jean]

7. can she pull her weight at a law firm AND be a Stepford Mom to those

two little children?

How DOES she manage to juggle her family and her work?

AND - I posted this at the other thread on this topic -

Her resume reminds me of Poindexter and the Total Information Awareness Project:

"space-related goods and services, including companies involved in the development of multi-billion dollar global and regional satellite systems...

experience also includes representing clients in information technology outsourcing transactions; software licensing, development, and maintenance contracts; and professional services arrangements."


Overview of the Information Awareness Office
http://www.fas.org/irp/agency/dod/poindexter.html

Feds Open 'Total' Tech Spy System
http://wired-vig.wired.com/news/conflict/0,2100,54342,0...

[bloom]

8. hmmm...

"The Making of the Corporate Judiciary"

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4148864

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

9. Everybody knows that Rove's NOC is "Pillsbury."

A-ha!

[theboss]

11. You mean Hugo Black's wife didn't work on satellites?

Not for nothing, but I doubt we ever had a Supreme Court justice whose spouse was a urologist either.

Maybe I've been in DC too long, but someone needs to point out the problem here for me. She's an attorney for companies in Iraq? And that means...what exactly?

[annabanana]

12. there is currently very little

"unconnected" legitimate business going on there right now..

[theboss]

13. I should probably recuse myself on these issues

I automatically get defensive when attorneys get attacked for working for the "wrong" clients.

[orleans]

14. i guess it has to do with a conflict of interest

remember when the supreme court was going to decide if cheney should release the energy task force records? so cheney took scalia on a little hunting trip for a weekend. and when they got back scalia refused to recuse himself from the case--insisting he could be objective.

snip:
"He dismissed a call from the environmental group Sierra Club that he recuse himself because a January hunting trip he and Cheney took together gave the "appearance of impropriety."

"That trip came three weeks after the high court agreed to hear a case over whether the White House had to turn over documents relating to the energy task force Cheney headed in 2001.

"Under judicial rules, Supreme Court justices, unlike other judges, have the power to decide whether to remove themselves from cases. The justices have wide discretion since their decisions cannot be appealed."
http://www.cnn.com/2004/LAW/03/18/scalia.recusal/

and they decided cheney could keep his little records sealed.

if the supreme court starts making decisions on war/peace/the draft it might be a little conflict of interest that roberts has a wife whose law firm is making money off the war:

"Iraq Reconstruction

Pillsbury’s Iraq Reconstruction Practice is mobilized to offer clients strategic legal advice in their postwar reconstruction efforts. Comprised of lawyers from several offices and backgrounds with relevant legal, industry and regional experience, the team is well poised to support virtually every endeavor in post-war Iraq, including:

*Infrastructure development, construction and procurement
*Major project development and finance
*Energy (upstream and downstream)
*International trade (sanctions, licensing, export controls, customs, trade facilitation)
*Finance (bank lending, currency structuring, trade finance, sovereign debt, bank regulation, capital markets, structured finance, securitization, derivatives)
*Establishing legal frameworks, drafting statutes, regulations and bid procedures
*Privatization and regulatory advice
*Government contracting and relations
*Intellectual property, technology and outsourcing services
*Commercial law and general contracting
*Environmental compliance
*International tax
*Claims, litigation and arbitration
*Insurance
*Healthcare and pharmaceuticals"
http://www.pillsburylaw.com/go/areamaster.nsf/practices-all/International:%20Iraq%20Reconstruction

it's just a little too cozy to be given a lifetime appointment for decision making that effects the entire country and the world for the next thirty years.