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Tuesday, Oct. 19, 2004 1:09 p.m. EDT
Billionaires Secretly Met in Aspen to Defeat Bush

In the days following the Democratic National Convention in Boston this past August, several billionaire Democratic activists secretly met at the famed Aspen Institute in Colorado.

The purpose of their clandestine meeting was "to use their fortunes to engineer the defeat of President George W. Bush," The New Yorker magazine reports in its most recent edition.

Details of the meeting remain sketchy, but the magazine described the Aspen conference this way: "Five billionaires joined half a dozen liberal leaders in a lengthy conversation about the future of progressive politics in America."

For sure, there were differences of opinion in the group, but they all shared one goal: to get George Bush this November.

The Aspen meeting was supposed to have been a top secret within Democratic Party circles.

When The New Yorker inquired about the meeting, an assistant to one of the attendees was surprised by the call.

"No one was supposed to know about this," the aide told the magazine. "We don’t want people thinking it’s a cabal or some sort of Masonic plot!"

Apparently the leader of the secret cabal is billionaire Peter B. Lewis, chairman of the Cleveland, Ohio-based insurance company Progressive Corporation.

Like another attendee, wealthy financier George Soros, Lewis has poured millions into Democratic 527 groups, including Americans Coming Together and MoveOn.org.

One of Lewis’ top agenda items has been the decriminalization of marijuana, a policy position also shared by Soros.

Another billionaire who attended was John Sperling, founder of the online University of Phoenix.

Also present were Herb and Marion Sandler from California. The couple founded Golden West Financial Corporation, a California bank reportedly worth $17 billion.

The key agenda items for the Sandlers has been "preserving progressive income taxes and inheritance taxes," the magazine reported.

The wealthiest and most notable of those attending the meeting was George Soros, the 74-year-old Hungarian immigrant who desperately wants to defeat George Bush and has even compared him to the likes of Adolf Hitler.

Apparently, all was not roses at the billionaire confab, according to The New Yorker.

"The billionaires spent much of the time moaning the superior powers of the GOP," the magazine said, and the group even needed some cheerleading from Harold Ickes, a former top aide to Bill Clinton who is involved in the 527 efforts.

There was disagreement about some of the issues and policy positions the group should take.

Sperling, for one, argued that the main target of their efforts should be Wal-Mart. He wants to push for unionizing the giant retailer.

That idea was apparently vetoed by George Soros, who reportedly told the group he had no desire to support union initiatives and that his only single goal at this point was "ousting Bush."

Though not the leader of the group, Soros holds the largest bank account and as such is the 800-pound gorilla, having given more than $18 million to the 527s in an effort to defeat Bush.

The magazine said Soros had planned to keep a low profile in the closing months of the election, but suddenly changed course this summer when he decided to "jettison the strategy in favor of waging his own media-grabbing political campaign."

Soros hired a publicist and began a 12-city, $3 million personal crusade to defeat George Bush.

According to the magazine, Soros has nothing but contempt for Bush, who he considers "an ignorant fool."

More than that, he sees Bush as the face man for a secret cabal. "Bush was just chosen as a figurehead, an acceptable face for a sinister group," Soros told The New Yorker, adding, "Cheney is the Capo."

Clearly, Soros knows a thing or two about secret cabals and capos.

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