A politician cashing in big-time not on any smarts for pleasing consumers but on his political connections. Virginia gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe is such a cronyist. He’s what the historian Burt Folsom calls a political entrepreneur (and not a market entrepreneur). Here’s a slice from the Washington Post report:
The prospectus, along with other documents reviewed by The Post, shows how GreenTech fits into a pattern of investments in which McAuliffe has used government programs, political connections and access to wealthy investors of both parties in pursuit of big profits for himself.
That formula has made McAuliffe a millionaire many times over, paving the way for a long list of business ventures, including his law firm, from which he resigned in the 1990s after profiting — along with his partners — from fees paid by domestic and foreign clients seeking results from the federal government.
How “Progressive.”
(Lest anyone mistake my criticism of the Democrat McAuliffe for partisanship, I point you to this post of mine from last month.)
