Spiegel has this article on how Bush supporters are becoming ambassadors including William Robert Timken, an Ohio industrialist, who will assume the ambassador post in Germany in the fall.
In the coming months, Rangers, Pioneers (starting at $100,000) and Super Rangers ($300,000 and up) will be beginning their new jobs as diplomats all over the world. According to the most recent count, 30 of the Republican Party's biggest donors have been rewarded with posts in sun-drenched island nations like Mauritius and the Bahamas, or in prestigious European capitals.
snip
Indeed, according to the conservative political magazine National Journal, "Bush's first 35 political appointees to the diplomatic corps gave an average of $141,110 to him and other Republican campaigns and committees during 1999-2000." The practice is continuing during his second term, and even members of Bush's new administration are beginning to doubt whether using successful fundraisers as diplomats is such a good idea, especially in light of the current global mood.
More on Timken:
Timken also makes his money manufacturing parts for combat helicopters and jets. According to press reports, Timken has been awarded 60 percent of the Pentagon's no-bid contracts for these types of parts ever since Bush Junior first came into office.
No bid contracts AND an ambassadorship...it has certainly been good times for the Have Mores. Who says a $140,000 doesn't go far anymore.
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