SECURITY IN LOBBYING (Daschle's wife to work for Intelli-Check. A tie-in to a National ID?)

Political Money Line ^ | 11/24/01 | staff

[Jean S]

Thanks for the flag. I've read a little about this but mostly the media ignores this blatant use of political power.

[hoosierham]

What is the reson for being in Parliament(Congress) if not to become rich ?

Public service ? (just re-arrange the words and you'll know what most of them do.

[LarryLied]

Intelli-Check has sales of under $100,000 and losses of over $300,000 a month. Stock is at $16.25. 52 week low was $3.70. This is a company and Senator's wife to watch.

[uvular]

This indeed is something to watch; thanks for the ping.

Say, you don't suppose she was working for Northwest or American airlines when that safety study was done, that Algore downplayed after the airlines gave him a boatload of campaign $?? She said she would not lobby congress(haha), didn't hear her say anything about not lobbying the VP.

[Hillary 666]

Brazen, ain't they?

Yep. And since they're good Democrats, they will get away with it and the press will sing their praises. If a Republican's wife was involved with something like this, the press would be jumping up and down and screaming.

[LarryLied]

Guess what? Millions who never heard of Intelli-Check before will learn about the company tommorow morning when Parade magazine runs a puff piece on IDN. From Parade's 11/22 press release:

Todd Cohen of Dix Hills, N.Y., was a volunteer firefighter as a teenager. “I spent a lot more time extracting individuals from car wrecks than putting out fires,” he says of his experiences with the tragic side of underage drinking. When states began using magnetic strips on drivers’ licenses, Cohen began experimenting with a device that could ferret out fake IDs and check the validity of a driver’s license. In 1994, he founded Intelli-Check. Today, Cohen’s devices may serve as important weapons in the fight against terrorism. “Since Sept. 11, we’ve had orders from military bases and interest from airports, airlines and high-profile commercial buildings to screen access by the public,” says Intelli-Check’s CEO, Frank Mandelbaum. (Cohen left the company in 1999.)

A coincidence that IDN gets massive free publicity a week after hiring Linda Daschle?

[Dakota gal in Seattle]

Let's look at it this way....if she has only been working for this company since, let's say, September 20th then it is definately time for an investigation into this company. But, if she has been working for this company for years, then it's time to wonder why Mr. D hasn't been lobbying for this. More money now, Mr. D?

[LarryLied]

A photocopy of Linda Daschle's registration as a lobbyist for Intelli-Check is Here. The effective date of registration was Oct 12, 2001. It was delivered to the Senate and House on Nov 13, 2001. Albert B. Randall also registered as an Intelli-Check lobbyist.

Eva. . .This is definitely a tie-in to national ID.

Posters on the Intelli-Check Yahoo Message Boards believe it will work this way: There will be no new ID card. Too much resistence in Congress (House and Senate comments are here) and among the public. Instead, drivers licenses from all states will be linked to one main database and will become de facto national IDs. That is where Intelli-Check and Linda Daschle enter the picture. The company will provide the verification for what will be, in effect, a national ID.

Slick huh?

[NativeNewYorker]

A coincidence that IDN gets massive free publicity a week after hiring Linda Daschle?

That is actually TOO neat.

[upchuck]

Thanks for the FYI Larry. Dasshole's wife? Coming in through the back door? But, then, maybe she likes it that way. LOL

[MtnMover]

I think that you will find that this is a general practice in government, liberal or conservative. Politicians do it, government's do it, public universities do it. The longer they stay in public service, the more frequent it gets done. That's the pattern.

[MyCAH]

USA Today had an article on Linda Daschle this past June in their "Washington" section. ...A most interesting though brief biography: ** Mrs. Daschle, age 46, "won the Miss Kansas competition in 1976 before going to Washington to launch her career". ** "She became a "weather observer for the FAA while in college" (KSU). ** "She was a top manager at the Civil Aeronautics Board from 1980 to 1984". That means, between ages 25 and 29 Linda Hall Daschle was in a TOP MANAGEMENT position in Washington D.C. (and this was in the early 80's - long before the Clinton Kids trashed Washington). Some questions come to mind: What were her qualifications for a management position at the C.A.B.? How, and through whom did she get this job? When exactly did she meet Tom Daschle? And what role did she have - if any - in Daschle's 1983 divorce from his first wife? (meow!)

[Dakota gal in Seattle]

If it was "slick" they might have slipped past the FR radar. Thank God my birthplace was NORTH Dakota!

[LarryLied]

But Democrats are never called on it. Do you have any doubt that if Tom Delay's wife began working for a company invovled with National IDs at the exact time congress was looking at the issue that it would be front page news?

NativeNewYorker...I was wrong. Linda didn't begin working for Intelli-Check a week ago. That is when she told congress about it. She began 6 weeks ago--enough lead time to plant a story in Parade (they used to dummy up the mag 2-4 weeks ahead, don't know it that is still the case).

[LarryLied]

forgot to flag you on #35.

[NativeNewYorker]

Those inserts are put together weeks in advance, yes.

Her type of pull is far beyond placing puff pieces in prole mags. She's a DC insider.

I assume the apparent coordination means the folks running the ID firm are very smart, very well connected, and know how this particular game is played.

None of this makes me happy.

[LarryLied]

Maybe this will cheer you up: Shorts are suing Intelli-check. Details here.

But then these suits are filed everyday. We can hope that this one has merit.

[NativeNewYorker]

This is a TINY company, with an unattractive financial profile, from what I saw on Yahoo finance. (Too lazy to fire up the Bloomberg now.)

They DO have $3,000,000 in cash, however, and may just try to burn it all in one last shot at success.

[LarryLied]

South Dakota freeper bump! When will you rid us of this man?

(I should talk, you would think with the Florida state legislature dominated by Republicans and Jeb as governor, we could elect at least one Republican to the US Senate)