Whenever your humble correspondent dips a strawberry into the chocolate fountain at the Golden Corral, one thought always comes to mind: Mark Warner bribery. Why? Because back in 2006 when Warner was governor of Virginia he attempted to influence the Daily Kos convention in Las Vegas, then known as the YearlyKos, into favoring his possible bid for the presidency with a lavish party at the Stratosphere. As we shall see, the Kossacks absolutely loved the idea that they were being bribed as they feasted on the sushi, drank down alcoholic concoctions, and dipped into the chocolate fountain.
Therefore it is not surprising that there are now new allegations of bribery being made against Mark Warner. This time it involves the charge that he attempted to bribe a Virginia state senator not to leave his post by making job offers for his daughter. You can read the details in this Washington Post article and in this local Richmond NBC video. After reviewing the latest bribery charges we shall take a trip back in time to 2006 to party down with the Kossacks at the Stratosphere in Las Vegas to enjoy the goodies provided by Mark Warner.
RICHMOND — The son of a former Virginia state senator has told federal investigators that U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner discussed the possibility of several jobs, including a federal judgeship, for the senator’s daughter in an effort to dissuade him from quitting the evenly divided state Senate.
Warner was part of a string of high-powered Virginia Democrats who in early June pressed then-state senator Phillip P. Puckett not to go through with plans to give up his seat in the middle of a bitterly partisan battle over health care.
A Warner spokesman acknowledged Friday that the conversation occurred, but he emphasized that the senator had made no explicit job offer.
...On June 6, three days before the state senator’s resignation became official, Warner called Puckett’s son, Joseph, and discussed an appointment to the federal bench as well as a potential corporate position for Martha Puckett Ketron, according to Joseph Puckett’s attorney, Charles E. “Chuck” James Jr. of Williams Mullen.
James said that Warner suggested a post for Ketron at CGI, at high-tech firm Warner helped lure to Southwest Virginia when he was governor a decade ago.
“My client, Joseph Puckett, received a phone call from Senator Warner, in which there was discussion of a CGI [ job] or a federal judgeship for the sister,” James said Friday.
Warner spokesman Kevin Hall said that the U.S. senator “brainstormed” with Joseph Puckett about potential private-sector jobs for Ketron. Hall also acknowledged that Warner discussed a judgeship, but he added: “He did not offer any job nor would he nor could he, frankly.”
...The day after the conversation, Joseph Puckett recounted it in a text message to someone else.
“Talked to Warner for an hour last night,” Joseph Puckett wrote in the message, read to The Washington Post by two people close to the matter. He went on to report, “He had no answer for how Democrats could deliver for Martha except for a potential corporate gig of some kind, which is not what she wants.”
If this was indeed a bribery attempt, we already know the Kossacks would have absolutely no problem with it. So let us enter the time machine to travel back to 2006 and party down with the Kossacks at the Las Vegas Stratosphere as they happily savor the Mark Warner bribery attempt amidst the sushi, booze, and the absolutely awesome chocolate fountain which although ubiquitous at buffet lines now was something of a novelty back then:
You've seen it already, people criticizing the Mark Warner operation for their tony party at the Stratosphere during YearlyKos. Apparently, people think 1) Warner is trying to buy their support (everyone knows we're not that cheap), and 2) Warner could've spent the money ($50-100K) better.
Seeing the Forrest's Dave Johnson (who isn't endorsing Warner) counters that as a marketing event, Warner's party was brilliant.
For any Kossack who might have had some slight sense of moral qualm about accepting Mark Warner's goodies, Dave Johnson of Seeing the Forrest is there to assure you that greed...and bribery is good:
Governor Warner has not just established himself with the blogosphere. By placing himself as a top blogosphere contender, he has positioned himself as a top contender, period. Let me explain. In my marketing life I always worked for "little guy" companies - small companies up against major established, entrenched competitors like Microsoft or Sony. So I developed what I a call "leapfrog" marketing, or "parallel channel" marketing strategy.
Suppose you want to introduce a product into the Microsoft Windows market. Getting noticed and establishing your brand is an extremely expensive - and time consuming - proposition. Throwing a huge $100,000 event at a major trade show doesn't even get you noticed, it's just expected. It hurts you if you don't do it, but doesn't help you much when you do. And then advertising and brand building is going to cost you millions, takes time, and you will still be barely noticed amidst the noise.
But maybe someone else is reaching the target audiences. Suppose you introduce a Linux version of your product first. Doing this, you are marketing into a parallel channel that has much lower marketing costs. But, in reality, much of your marketing activities are reaching the same audiences. The computer press, IT management, opinion leaders, sophisticated users, and many other target segments also pay attention to the Linux market so the result is that you are establishing mindshare in the Windows market. And there is an amplification not available in the Windows market. The Linux market is not saturated with products, so there is great demand. By introducing a serious product you leapfrog past the saturation obstacle of the Windows market.
So, as I said, by establishing himself as a leader of the pack of candidates in the blogosphere he is increasing his stature with the national political press and opinion leaders at the same time, because they are also paying close attention to the blogosphere as a leading indicator of public opinion.
So upon reflection, I think Governor Warner has pulled off a brilliant maneuver all the way around. By making himself important to the blogs, and at the same time increasing the importance of the blogs to the national political process, he is making himself a front-runner. At the same time, by increasing the credibility of the blogs now, he is strengthening their power and effectiveness as a channel for use by the eventual nominee.
Now that Dave Johnson has conveniently established the moral underpinnings for bribery, back to the guilt-free Stratosphere party:
All politics costs serious money. It's not a bad thing for us, or them, to have them spend some of it talking to us.
Bribe me! Bribe me!
I was looking forward to the parties to. I just never thought someone would try to impress me by throwing their $$$ around. Or maybe that is just the way Warner routinely conducts his business?
I am so happy that Mark Warner thought I was important enough to bribe!
CNN thought it very funny that we could be bought off so easily.
Sushi, booze, and a chocolate fountain. That seems to do the trick for Kossacks.
I loved the party -- and Gov. Warner is a very nice guy -- but my first choice for Pres in '08 is still Feingold. The chocolate fountain didn't change that.
Since Feingold was later voted out of the Senate, would a vanilla fountain now change your mind?
I heard from Warner himself that he thought the ice sculptures were a little over the top.
Would he have preferred chopped liver sculptures as more low key?
I really liked the sushi. Some microbrew would have been nice.
Next you will be demanding to be bribed by single malt Scotch.
We spent a fair amount of time mildly drunk talking about ways to get the other candidates to provide us with more sushi and chocolate fountains.
The more bribery, the better!
Partying it up with Mark Warner while slamming back vodka and carved meat sounds like a blast. Man, I should have went to YearlyKos so I could get Mark Warner and Wes Clark together so we could all do shots. Or beer pong.
And keg stands!
ok, I am recurperating... all I'll say right now is I asked for scotch on the rocks and got the tallest scotch I've ever had. Before going it seemed that Mark might be trying to buy us off, but my attitude was "try Mark! Try harder"... I don't think the issue can be ignored, we need to stay on our feet.
You won't stay on your feet long after a couple more of those tall scotches.
...and there is no way this party cost $100K - as a multiple year veteran of Big Pharma ice sculpture 'hooplas' - the Warner event had to cost at least $200K, what with chocolate fountain, Elvis impersonators, open bar and sushi etc. I agree with dkmich: if Warner's personal money paid for event, fine and drink up; I would NOT want my $10 contribution to have gone to a 'slosh-fest.' Warner would have been better off without the Elvi and to have come across as more Spartan in character.
No Las Vegas bribery party is complete without the obligatory "Elvi."
I didn't think it was outstanding sushi. I was really hungry, I hadn't eaten dinner so it tasted darn good! The chocolate fondue fountain was awesome!
Always a food critic at every bribery party.
If you want to continue partying it up with Mark Warner and the Kossacks, you can join the party in progress at the DUmmie FUnnies.
