Left-of-center Politico reported that “Obama donors net government jobs.”
“Telecom executive Donald H. Gips raised a big bundle of cash to help finance his friend Barack Obama’s run for the presidency,” said Politico which added the following from the same report, as the arrow illustrated quotes that follow highlight.
> “Gips, a vice president of Colorado-based Level 3 Communications, delivered more than $500,000 in contributions for the Obama war chest, while two other company executives collected at least $150,000 more.”
> “After the election, Gips was put in charge of hiring in the Obama White House, helping to place loyalists and fundraisers in many key positions. Then, in mid-2009, Obama named him ambassador to South Africa. Meanwhile, Level 3 Communications, in which Gips retained stock, received millions of dollars of government stimulus contracts for broadband projects in six states — though Gips said he had been “completely unaware” that the company had received the contracts.”
> “More than two years after Obama took office vowing to banish “special interests” from his administration, nearly 200 of his biggest donors have landed plum government jobs and advisory posts, won federal contracts worth millions of dollars for their business interests or attended numerous elite White House meetings and social events, an investigation by iWatch News has found.”
> “These “bundlers” raised at least $50,000 — and sometimes more than $500,000 — in campaign donations for Obama’s campaign. Many of those in the “Class of 2008” are now being asked to bundle contributions for Obama’s reelection, an effort that could cost $1 billion.”
That Politico report is dated 06/15/2011. This bit of history has much to do with Pamela Beck Danner, Triad Financial Services, other aspects of affordable home ownership and manufactured housing, and the so-called “Deep State” that President Donald J. Trump faced the day he took the oath of office. More on those further below. But now, let’s segue back to the Politico and iWatch narrative in order to complete the background for what follows that historic Obama-Biden Administration period.
> As a candidate, Obama spoke passionately about diminishing the clout of moneyed interests. Kicking off his presidential run on Feb. 10, 2007, he blasted “the cynics, the lobbyists, the special interests,” who had “turned our government into a game only they can afford to play.”
> “We’re here today to take it back,” he [Obama] said.
> But just like other presidential aspirants, Obama relied heavily on megadonors to propel his campaign across the finish line, and many fundraisers have shared in the spoils of victory.
> The White House insisted its appointees are eminently qualified. “In filling these posts, the administration looks for the most qualified candidates who represent Americans from all walks of life,” White House spokesman Eric Schultz said. “Being a donor does not get you a job in this administration, nor does it preclude you from getting one.”
> The iWatch News investigation found:
- Overall, 184 of 556, or about one-third of Obama bundlers or their spouses joined the administration in some role. But the percentages are much higher for the big-dollar bundlers. Nearly 80 percent of those who collected more than $500,000 for Obama took “key administration posts,” as defined by the White House. More than half the 24 ambassador nominees who were bundlers raised $500,000.
- The big bundlers had broad access to the White House for meetings with top administration officials and glitzy social events. In all, campaign bundlers and their family members account for more than 3,000 White House meetings and visits. Half of them raised $200,000 or more.
- Some Obama bundlers have ties to companies that stand to gain financially from the president’s policy agenda, particularly in clean energy and telecommunications, and some already have done so. Level 3 Communications, for instance, snared $13.8 million in stimulus money.
> … the deference shown major donors contradicts its claims to have changed business as usual in Washington.
That last phrase by Politico, generally favorable to the left and progressive causes, bears repeating. Because they flatly stated that “the deference shown major donors contradicts its claims to have changed business as usual in Washington.”
Returning to more pull-quotes.
> “Any president who says he’s going to change this is either hopelessly naive or polishing the reality to promise something other than can be delivered,” said Paul Light, a New York University professor and an expert on presidential transitions. “At best, it’s naive and a little bit of a shell game.”
> Bundling is controversial because it permits campaigns to skirt individual contribution limits of $2,500 in federal elections. Bundlers pool donations from fundraising networks and, as a result, “play an enormous role in determining the success of political campaigns,” according to government watchdog Public Citizen.
> When the new administration set up shop in the White House on Jan. 20, 2009, the money raisers soon followed. Visitor logs show about 800 bundler visits during the formative early months of the administration, and overall, the top-tier bundlers tended to visit far more often than those at the bottom rung.
Again, let’s emphasize that point from Politico: “Visitor logs show about 800 bundler visits during the formative early months of the administration, and overall, the top-tier bundlers tended to visit far more often than those at the bottom rung.” Isn’t it reasonable to think that a Biden Administration would continue this sort of practice?
The Pam Danner and Affordable Manufactured Housing Tie-Ins to the Above
Among those who made campaign finance donations to the Obama campaign was attorney and manufactured housing industry interested attorney Pam Danner.
Danner, as regular and attentive industry readers know, was ‘parachuted’ into her role at HUD as the administrator got the Office of Manufactured Housing Programs (OMHP). That posting of Danner was purportedly arranged with help from the so-called Omaha-Knoxville-Arlington axis, despite agreements between the Manufactured Housing Institute (MHI) and the Manufactured Housing Association for Regulatory Reform to place Vic DeRose, J.D., into the OMHP administrator role as a non-career administrator, which is technically what the Manufactured Housing Improvement Act (MHIA) of 2000 required.
Danner also contributed to the Obama campaign. She was also a Democratic candidate for public office. “PAMELA BECK DANNER registered as a Independent Voter in VA. Location: 1364 … DANNER, PAMELA contributed 1000.00 to Obama Victory Fund in 2012,” per xlek.com. MHProNews has previously reported on her political ties to the Democratic Party.
For newcomers or those who need a reminder, Danner was a thorn in the side of much of the manufactured housing industry. The report below recounts key points from the left-of-center Washington Post report that featured Danner.
The total numbers of such campaign contributors, bundlers for Obama, and others in scenarios like Danner’s isn’t known. But the Politico and iWatch report makes it clear that it occurred often and that those individuals routinely got special access and sweetheart deals. As Politico indicated, so much for the Obama pledge for changing how Washington works. Indeed, that only underscores the point about ObamaCare made by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) economist Jonathan Gruber who made it clear that the only way that ObamaCare – the so-called Affordable Care Act – would pass into law was by lying about it.
As Obama’s former Vice President Joe Biden and his announced 2020 running mate Democratic Senator Kamala Harris – who her detractors claim had a rather public affair with Democrat Willie Brown, that Brown acknowledges and which helped boost her career – deception and the ‘pay for play’ concerns that may arise in a should take on a whole new meaning. The facts laid out above, mostly from left-wing sources, make it plain that this isn’t a conservative cheap shot or slam. Rather, they are the evidence-based reality of how the Obama-Biden Administration functioned.
Companies like Triad Financial Services manages to weather the storm of the Dodd-Frank era in the Obama-Nation. But it should be stressed that onerous and high-regulations harms independents and the formation of new, smaller businesses. That was part of the lesson of the from the pull quote shown below.
High taxes and high regulations are barriers for entry as well as barriers for persistence and exit. They don’t harm big businesses, they are part of the stealthy moat that Warren Buffett and others in his feudalistic circle rely upon.
Barriers to Entry, Persistence, and Exiting in Business, Affordable Housing, and Manufactured Homes
As longer-term and astute MHProNews readers know, Warren Buffett was a donor and big supporter of the Obama-Biden campaign. The money trail and public support are clear. Additionally, Buffett’s grandson served in the Obama White House. Buffett was given the Medal of Freedom directly from then President Obama.
Warren Buffett Declared “Class Warfare,” Buffett Says Fellow Billionaires – “We’re Winning”
That’s how Democratic politics are done. Paraphrasing Politico, promises and assurances were made to the public and not kept. Gruber made it plain in that video above that lying was useful to the Obama Administration to get ObamaCare passed. They counted on the “stupidity” or “ignorance” of the American people in order to pass laws that benefited the insiders, postured benefits for others, but de facto harmed the masses.
Cronyism was rampant during the Obama-Biden Administration. Biden’s son Hunter is widely known for sweetheart deals from Ukraine and China.
Welcome to the “Deep State” where insiders and contributors get benefits that most Americans are largely unaware of, but which tended to make life more difficult for the incoming Trump Administration.
The above is not to imply that such things haven’t occurred in Republican politics. They have.
Rather, it is to stress facts which point to a pattern of political corruption that has occurred for far too long. They are all a part of what has brought our nation to this trying moment in time.
Merely wishing them away, or pretending that Democrats are pure but Republicans are corrupt or the reverse is sheer nonsense. When Peter Schweizer wrote the bestselling book the Corruption Chronicles (2020), he named corruption in both major parties. The Corruption Chronicles followed Secret Empires (2018), and Clinton Cash (2015).
Here is how left-leaning Wikipedia describes the best-selling author. “Peter Franz Schweizer is an American writer and political consultant. He is the president of the Government Accountability Institute, senior editor-at-large of far-right media organization Breitbart News, and a former William J. Casey Research Fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution.”
One would have to be naïve or ill-informed to not see the direct relationship between business opportunities, the potential for smaller to mid-size firms, and power politics. The powers that be that are described and linked from this report certainly grasp and take full advantage of the business edges gained through insider politics.
With this background, let’s pivot to some insights from Triad, now a subsidiary of ECN Capital, which will set the stage for an upcoming deeper dive into Triad that lies ahead.
Triad Financial Services’ Official Data
What follows are quotes from their portion of publicly-traded ECN Capital’s May 14, 2020 Investor presentation.
This data is useful in the broader context of manufactured housing recovery since the spring of 2020’s post-pandemic shutdowns. Quoting:
- After 15% growth in March, April fundings declined ~5% largely due to slower completions as a result of Covid-19
- Applications down ~20% in April Y/Y but improved each week
- Applications up 25%+ in May Y/Y through May 8; traffic improving Industry
- Manufacturers temporarily closed ~50% of plants in response to quarantines [Triad estimate]
- Most plants have reopened by late April/early May
- Most dealers remain open with improving traffic
On behalf of bank partners, Triad implemented short-term payment deferment plans beginning in March
- Typically a 2-3 month extension, which is added to the end of the loan
- After spiking initially, deferment requests have improved each week and leveled off significantly
- Cumulative deferment requests represent ~5% of loans compared to ~8% for traditional mortgages per the MBA1
- 30+ day delinquency has increased by ~1% since YE 2019
- No change in loan losses to date
- Most bank partners have suspended repossessions for the time being”
The screen captures that follow are the balance of the key portions of Triad’s information, per ECN. They come with the typical disclosures made by publicly traded companies.
The information above should be viewed through the lens of the latest production and shipment reports and analysis, which reveal that 2020 is not enjoying the type of bump that RVs and conventional housing is post-shutdowns.
Manufactured Housing Industry Production Dip, Top Shipment States Data – June 2020
That production and shipment data in turn should be understood through the prism of the report linked above and below. All of these are threads that tie together with the headline topic.
MHProNews Analysis and Commentary
It remains to be seen what Triad’s leadership will be like since Don Glisson Jr. took the role as the firm’s “Chairman” and Mike Tolbert became their President. Per their website, “Prior to becoming President, Mike’s celebrated longevity with Triad Financial Services began in 2006 in Jacksonville, Fl. followed by 10 successful years in California serving in the roles of VP, SVP an EVP. Mike has over 20 years’ experience in the finance and banking sector with a specialized focus in business development and operations optimization.”
There are reams of research that should point to a surge in affordable housing, with manufactured homes leading the way.
That research includes sources that have discernable financial ties to Warren Buffett as well as his long-time ally, Bill Gates and fellow traveler, George Soros.
The unrest in many Americans cities, often run by Democrats, also has ties to lily white billionaires Buffett, Gates, Soros and company.
As Trevor Loudon and others have documented, there are discernable ties between dozens of Democrats and those with Marxist, Socialist, and even Communist ties.
For the financial elites that run our country, per Democrats like former Governor Jerry Brown, money, information, political power, and other influences are prevalent.
Dozens of voices, often from anti-Trump left-wing sources, have raised alarms in 2020 about the effort to silence opposition and narrow debate.
Manufactured housing is just one industry out of many in America. While there are differences, there are some similarities. Among them is this. The principle of the moat is arguably being applied to other industries, not only affordable manufactured housing.
That means that independents in our industry and others are slowly being squeezed out. The giants get bigger, the smaller firms often fail or are forced to sell out for discounted valuations.
Antitrust is but one of the tools that need to be brought to bear to end this tragic pattern that has occurred for over 20 years.
Based upon past behavior, what is certain is that a Biden-Harris administration would kowtow to the rich that have bankrolled their campaigns, and which helped make family members magically wealthier.
In the natural order, there is only one political movement that currently has the traction that could head off a Biden-Harris administration that would arguable pick up where the Obama-Biden Administration left off in their tax-regulatory policies that thwarted smaller businesses in favor of bigger ones. That would be President Donald J. Trump and Vice President Mike Pence.
The manufactured housing industry, and much of America, has been dealing with a decades-old problem of paltering, spin, misdirection, and outright deception. That pattern is arguably well evidenced by Warren Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway owned Clayton Homes, the Manufactured Housing Institute (MHI) that they and their allies dominate. It is part of what has slowly strangled job opportunities, because smaller businesses routinely create and sustain more jobs than big firms which consolidate and reduce employment when they acquire a company. In order the fix a problem, one must grasp it clearly That is what positive-thinker Zig Ziglar and others have said.
Our industry and America could easily fall into the ObamaNation version 2.0. That is a goal for the powers-that-be. That logically means that it should be avoided by those who love free enterprise, personal property, free speech and other God-given and constitutionally protected rights.
To learn more, see the related reports.
Stay tuned for more of what is ‘behind the curtains’ as well as what is obvious and in your face reports. It is all here, at the runaway largest and most-read source for authentic manufactured home “Industry News, Tips, and Views Pros Can Use” © where “We Provide, You Decide.” © ## (Affordable housing, manufactured homes, reports, fact-checks, analysis, and commentary. Third-party images or content are provided under fair use guidelines for media.) (See Related Reports, further below. Text/image boxes often are hot-linked to other reports that can be access by clicking on them.)
By L.A. “Tony” Kovach – for MHProNews.com.
Tony earned a journalism scholarship and earned numerous awards in history and in manufactured housing.
For example, he earned the prestigious Lottinville Award in history from the University of Oklahoma, where he studied history and business management. He’s a managing member and co-founder of LifeStyle Factory Homes, LLC, the parent company to MHProNews, and MHLivingNews.com.
This article reflects the LLC’s and/or the writer’s position, and may or may not reflect the views of sponsors or supporters.
Connect on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/latonykovach
Related References:
The text/image boxes below are linked to other reports, which can be accessed by clicking on them.
Warren Buffett Would be Okay With Clayton Homes Losing Money, Says Kevin Clayton – But Why?
