Orrin Hatch, cocaine, Dubai, and Dallas Austin

[TomInTib]

"This involved multiple ambassadors, a prime minister, a prince, Lionel Richie, the senator and religious leaders in Atlanta," Mr. Reeder said.

What the Heck??

That's What Friends in High Places Are For
By JEFF LEEDS and SHARON WAXMAN
LOS ANGELES, July 7 — Although collaborations happen all the time in pop music, they do not generally involve R & B hitmakers and Senator Orrin G. Hatch.

But the release of a music producer from a Dubai jail this week, quick on the heels of his conviction for drug possession, turns out to be a story of high-level string-pulling on the part of Mr. Hatch, the conservative Utah Republican and songwriter, along with Lionel Richie, the singer; Quincy Jones, the music entrepreneur; and an array of well-connected lawyers, businessmen and others, spanning cities and continents.

Dallas Austin, 35, who has produced hits for Madonna, Janet Jackson and others, flew home to Atlanta on Wednesday, after being released after midnight on Tuesday from a holding cell in a Dubai jail. Hours earlier Mr. Austin had been sentenced to four years in prison for carrying just over a gram of cocaine with him when he entered the country on May 19 to attend a birthday celebration for Naomi Campbell.

Senator Hatch made numerous phone calls on Mr. Austin's behalf to the ambassador and consul of the United Arab Emirates embassy in Washington — Dubai is one of the seven emirates — and served as an intermediary for Mr. Austin's representatives, the producer's lawyers said.

a good bit more of this lunacy can be found at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/08/arts/music/08pard.html?ex=1310011200&en=f08bf70dd85c49b0&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss

[Greyhound]

1. In amerika you get the justice you can afford.

Nice catch, I was reading this at Starbuck$ this morning and nearly dropped my coffee. This ought to prove to anybody with anything resembling an open mind that it ain't about black & white, re:puke: & Dem, or men & women, it's all about the rich and the rest of us.

They are prepared, are you?

[TomInTib]

2. "Mr. Katz, of the firm Greenberg Traurig,"

Sound familiar?

Four former Greenberg Traurig lobbyists besides disgraced former colleague Jack Abramoff took improper side payments in violation of company policy and have been referred to the Justice Department, a top law firm executive has disclosed.

http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1132144712858

[Fridays Child]

3. Money talks.

Everyone else rots.

[MADem]

4. Sadly, it has always been thus

Equality has always been a bit of a chimera when it comes down to situations where the only grease that works is money.

There's a patina of equality over everything, in that your gender or race aren't supposed to deny you any rights, and say, stop you from voting, for example, or getting treated fairly by the justice system, but in reality, if it comes down to legal actions, such as arrest, imprisonment, trial, if you have the gold, you can make the rules. Someone with money walks free on bond, someone without stays in the slammer. Someone with money gets the best defense, someone without gets a drunk who falls asleep during trial.

Unless the one without has incredible popular appeal, and gets a grassroots effort behind him to raise equal amounts of dough to press his case, the one WITH the money often does much better.

[eppur_se_muova]

5. Bizarre connection--Austin and Hatch have the same agent.

Hatch has composed and recorded a large number of "patriotic" songs. More from AP/CNN:

GOP senator helped hip-hop producer dodge coke sentence
Orrin Hatch: Dallas Austin 'will learn from this experience'

Saturday, July 8, 2006; Posted: 5:07 p.m. EDT (21:07 GMT)

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (AP) -- U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, a musician in his own right, helped secure the release of Atlanta R&B producer Dallas Austin from a United Arab Emirates jail after a drug conviction, the senator's office confirmed Saturday.

In a statement released through his staff, the conservative Republican said he was contacted by Austin's attorneys, then called the ambassador and UAE consul in Washington on Austin's behalf.
***
Hatch spokesman Peter Carr said he did not know whether the senator and Austin had ever met, but he confirmed that both employ Atlanta entertainment lawyer Joel A Katz. Hatch has written and recorded hundreds of religious and patriotic songs.
***
Carr said it was former Hatch staffer Nancy Taylor who contacted the senator about Austin, the Times reported. Taylor, who worked for Hatch on health care issues until 1991, now works with Reeder at Greenberg & Traurig.

Austin's attorneys said they enlisted Hatch's help because he has influence with Dubai, the paper reported. Hatch this year supported the Dubai-based DP World in its bid to manage several American ports.
***

more: http://www.cnn.com/2006/SHOWBIZ/Music/07/08/austin.arrest.ap/index.html

Very strange bedfellows, indeed.