Mitchell, Geo Sen

=...As a result, it was with a certain trepidation that we tuned the car radio to the local public radio station as we headed back out on the highway Monday morning, July 13.Under rules adopted by the two select committees, most questioning of witnesses was done by committee members, not by the committee's lead attorneys; and each questioner was limited to one hour of time.  One of North's more successful tactics the previous week had been to, in effect, filibuster hostile questions, going on at great length under the guise of providing full answers.  The practical result---combined with another committee rule that dictated alternating between Democratic members and Republican members---was to deflect and evade questions about the criminal conspiracy that apparently involved much of the administration's senior foreign policy apparatus, and to allow North to launch numerous sermons and admonitions, instructing members of Congress in their duties and in the meaning of true patriotism.As the junior senator from Maine, George Mitchell, <a href="http://www.c-span.org/video/?9536-1/irancontra-investigation-day-27" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(184, 4, 169); padding-bottom: 0.125em; transition: all 200ms ease;">began the day's questioning</a>, it sounded like North's last day in the witness chair would be no different.  Mitchell, a soft-spoken former federal judge with thinning hair and oversized glasses, began by saying, in a voice dry as dust, "The questions last week were mostly about the facts. They're important, but it's also important to consider some of the broader policy and legal issues."  Then the familiar dance began---Mitchell attempting, with some success, to pin North down and North, also with some success, skittering away with an occasional rhetorical flourish.I was not a neutral listener.  I'd grown up in Mitchell's hometown.  I knew his nieces and nephews as babysitters, classmates, teammates, friends and neighbors.  I knew to varying degrees his sister and his three brothers, all of whom had remained in Waterville and were respected members of the city's business, educational and social fabric.  Although I'd been introduced to Sen. Mitchell on occasion, and my parents knew him from their longstanding involvement in Democratic party politics (dating back to when my mother chaired the 1964 Democratic city committee and Mitchell was a top aide to Sen. Ed Muskie), I didn't know him well.  He was the Mitchell who had moved away, first to Portland and then to Washington, to pursue a career in law and politics.So as the minutes ticked away and the end of Mitchell's allotted hour approached, I felt a sinking sense of despair that North---remember, I was sure I'd been able to hear all his lies that the millions watching his shiny uniform and handsome face hadn't been able to see during his previous four days of testimony---was going to slip away unscathed.Then it happened.Using the same calm, understated, reasonable (some might say, boring) tone of voice he had maintained throughout his questioning, Sen. Mitchell said, "My time is nearly up and I want to make some closing observations because you have, as I indicated, expressed several points of view with respect to which there are other points of view, and I think they ought to be expressed."Despite that unpromising preface, what followed was one of the best, most timely and most eloquent statements about patriotism, the rule of law, the American ideal, and the role of God in American politics from a public official I've ever heard.  At the heart of Mitchell's statement to Col. North was this paragraph:<blockquote style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 1.4em 0px; padding: 1em; background: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 1.4;">Of all the qualities which the American people find compelling about you, none is more impressive than your obvious deep devotion to this country.  Please remember that others share that devotion and recognize that it is possible for an American to disagree with you on aid to the contras and still love God and still love this country just as much as you do.  Although He's regularly asked to do so, God does not take sides in American politics, and in America disagreement with the policies of the government is not evidence of lack of patriotism.</blockquote>Listening as we rolled down the highway, I could feel my spirits slowly being restored.  Without directly criticizing the man or his views, Mitchell had taken the air out of the bubble that was Oliver North's narrow, sanctimonious patriotism---and also out of the bubble that was North's soaring reputation with the American public.To this day I remain grateful---as an American, as a Catholic, as someone who grew up in Waterville, Maine---for Sen. Mitchell's words and example during the Iran-contra hearings.  There's a moment almost exactly 5:00 into the video clip embedded above where Col. North nods in agreement as Mitchell describes the "most exciting thing I've ever done in my life", administering the oath of allegiance to new citizens when he had served as a federal judge.  It's the one time North's fixed expression changes during the entire speech.  I like to think that maybe, if only for that brief moment, Mitchell's description of a wider and deeper vision of patriotism, of the importance of equal justice under law, of what it means to be an American had reached across the divide Col. North had spent the previous week erecting; and that North, perhaps to his own surprise, found himself agreeing....Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), based in Nashville, Tennessee, and the GEO Group, a global corporation based in Boca Raton, Florida are the nation’s two largest prison companies. They run highly integrated operations to design, build, finance and operate prisons. GEO rakes in $1.17 billion in annual revenue, and CCA tops that at $1.69 billion. Together these companies are principal moving forces in the behind-the-scenes organization of the current wave of anti-immigrant legislative efforts, which, if successful, would dramatically increase the number of immigrant prisoners in over 20 states.

Following the Money

GEO CEO, George Zoley, was a Bush “Pioneer” who bundled more than $100,000 in contributions for the Bush-Cheney campaigns in 2000 and 2004. In October 2003, GEO was successful in securing the contract to run the Guantánamo Bay Detention Camp, in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

GEO hired the services of lobbyists who had held influential positions in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Bureau of Prisons, Office of the Attorney General, and the office of then-Senate Majority Leader, George Mitchell, to lobby their former employers and Congress. Throughout 2005 and leading up to the largest immigration raid in U.S. history in December 2006, GEO and CCA spent a combined total of over $6 million on lobbying efforts.

George J. Mitchell is believed to be a member of the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Council_on_Foreign_Relations" title="Council on Foreign Relations">Council on Foreign Relations</a>. Mitchell served as a U.S. Senator and in the U.S. Army Counterintelligence Corps.

<ul>

<li>Chairman, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=DLA_Piper" title="DLA Piper">DLA Piper</a></li>

<li>Chairman Emeritus. <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=International_Crisis_Group" title="International Crisis Group">International Crisis Group</a></li>

<li>Member, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Task_Force_on_the_United_Nations" title="Task Force on the United Nations">Task Force on the United Nations</a></li>

<li>Honorary Chair, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=World_Justice_Project" title="World Justice Project">World Justice Project</a> <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=George_J._Mitchell#cite_note-0" title="">[1]</a></li>

<li>Honorary Director, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=VisionSpring" title="VisionSpring">VisionSpring</a> <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=George_J._Mitchell#cite_note-1" title="">[2]</a></li>

<li>National Honorary Advisory Council, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Council_for_America%27s_First_Freedom" title="Council for America's First Freedom">Council for America's First Freedom</a> <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=George_J._Mitchell#cite_note-2" title="">[3]</a></li>

<li>Advisory Board, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Bipartisan_Policy_Center" title="Bipartisan Policy Center">Bipartisan Policy Center</a> <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=George_J._Mitchell#cite_note-3" title="">[4]</a></li>

<li>Advisory Council, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Children%27s_Health_Fund" title="Children's Health Fund">Children's Health Fund</a> <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=George_J._Mitchell#cite_note-4" title="">[5]</a></li>

</ul>

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wiki

George John Mitchell, Jr., <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_the_British_Empire" title="Order of the British Empire">GBE</a> (born August 20, 1933) is an <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States" title="United States">American</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politician" title="Politician">politician</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Businessman" title="Businessman" class="mw-redirect">businessman</a>. A <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Party_%28United_States%29" title="Democratic Party (United States)">Democrat</a>, Mitchell was a United States <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Senate" title="United States Senate">Senator</a> from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maine" title="Maine">Maine</a> from 1980 to 1995 and was <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Party_leaders_of_the_United_States_Senate" title="Party leaders of the United States Senate">Senate Majority Leader</a> from 1989 to 1995.

Since retiring from the Senate, Mitchell has taken up a variety of positions in politics and business. He has taken a leading role in negotiations for peace in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Ireland_peace_process" title="Northern Ireland peace process">Northern Ireland</a> and the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peace_process_in_the_Israeli%E2%80%93Palestinian_conflict" title="Peace process in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict">Middle East</a>, being specifically appointed <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Special_Envoy_for_Northern_Ireland" title="United States Special Envoy for Northern Ireland">United States Special Envoy for Northern Ireland</a> (1995-2001) by President <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Clinton" title="Bill Clinton">Clinton</a> and as United States Special Envoy for Middle East Peace (2009-2011) by President <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barack_Obama" title="Barack Obama">Obama</a>. He was a primary architect of the 1996 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitchell_Principles" title="Mitchell Principles">Mitchell Principles</a> and the 1998 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_Friday_Agreement" title="Good Friday Agreement">Good Friday Agreement</a> in Northern Ireland, and was the main investigator in two "Mitchell Reports", one on the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitchell_Report_%28Arab%E2%80%93Israeli_conflict%29" title="Mitchell Report (Arab–Israeli conflict)">Arab–Israeli conflict</a> (2001) and one on the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitchell_Report" title="Mitchell Report">use of performance enhancing drugs in baseball</a> (2007).

Mitchell served as chairman of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Walt_Disney_Company" title="The Walt Disney Company">The Walt Disney Company</a> from March 2004 until January 2007, and later as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chair%28official%29" title="Chair (official)" class="mw-redirect">chairman</a> of the international <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_firm" title="Law firm">law firm</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DLA_Piper" title="DLA Piper">DLA Piper</a>. He was the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chancellor%28education%29" title="Chancellor (education)">Chancellor</a> of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen%27s_University_Belfast" title="Queen's University Belfast">Queen's University</a> in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belfast" title="Belfast">Belfast</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Ireland" title="Northern Ireland">Northern Ireland</a>, from 1999 to 2009. Mitchell currently serves as a co-chair of the Housing Commission at the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bipartisan_Policy_Center" title="Bipartisan Policy Center">Bipartisan Policy Center</a>.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_J._Mitchell#cite_note-1">[2]</a>