Open in TheBrain

Lindner, C

<p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">hightower;&nbsp;</font></p>

<table><tbody><tr><td><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Chiquita Brands International</b>

<em>Chiquita, Fresh Express</em></font></td><td><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$110,950</font></td><td><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">96%</font></td></tr></tbody></table>

<p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://www.hightowerlowdown.org/node/2603#energy</font>

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<a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/president/players/lindner.html"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/president/players/lindner.html</font></a>

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<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As chairman and chief executive of American Financial Group, Lindner presides over business assets worth $14 billion by his own reckoning. He is a former part owner of The Cincinnati <i>Enquirer</i>. He controls, among other businesses, <b>Chiquita</b> Brands bananas. Lindner has made a name for himself on Wall Street as an astute investor. He has a reputation for "bottom fishing" -- that is, buying a financially troubled or undervalued company at a bargain price and transforming it into a profitable enterprise.<b> He was an important customer of "junk" bond king Michael Milken,</b> who worked for the now-defunct investment banking firm of Drexel Burnham Lambert. For years American Financial employed a Cincinnati lawyer, Charles <b>Keating</b>, as corporate counsel and executive vice president. Lindner and Keating parted company, and Keating moved to Phoenix and gained notoriety in the 1980s as the man behind the multibillion-dollar failure of Lincoln Savings & Loan.</font>

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<a href="http://www.zcommunications.org/battling-the-banana-baron-rural-hondurans-fight-chiquita-by-anders-corr"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://www.zcommunications.org/battling-the-banana-baron-rural-hondurans-fight-chiquita-by-anders-corr</font></a>

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<u><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Slippery Politics of Chiquita Republic</font></u>

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<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The current struggle between fired workers and Honduras' biggest landowner continues a steady United Fruit/United Brands tradition of sordid dealings in <b>Honduras that began with the overthrow of President Miguel Davila in 1911.</b> The replacement president paid his political debts with massive quantities of free land for banana plantations, and ever since observers have called Honduras the quintessential banana republic.</font>

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<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style=" background-color: #FFF200;">In an attempt to escape United Fruit's shameful record, executives changed its name to United Brands in 1970. But then in</span><b><span style=" background-color: #FFF200;"> 1975 the Chairman of the Board, Eli Black, got caught bribing President Arellano and other Honduran officials $1.25 million to lower banana export taxes</span></b><span style=" background-color: #FFF200;">. With the lower tax, United Brands saved 7.5 million in the first year alone. When the bribes became public, the Honduran legislature deposed Arellano. Eli Black flung his briefcase through his sealed office window. He followed it 44 floors to his </span><span style=" background-color: #FFF200;"><span style=" color: #ED1C24;">death on the pavement </span></span><span style=" background-color: #FFF200;">of New York City.</span></font>

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<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The Cincinnati-based Lindner family took control of United Brands in </b><b><span style=" color: #ED1C24;">1987</span></b><b> and in 1990 changed the name to Chiquita Brands International. The Lindners, worth over $500 million, now hold 46% of Chiquita's stock</b>. But the company will have to change its name again shortly if it wants to polish its image, which seems to be of the lackluster variety that quickly tarnishes. Twenty-five-thousand plantation workers from 12 developing countries are currently suing Chiquita and other companies for using DBCP, a<span style=" color: #ED1C24;"> pesticide</span> that causes cancer, birth defects, and sterility, years after the U.S. banned it from the United States. According to a lawyer representing the workers, Chiquita's use of the pesticide sterilized 3,500 male banana workers in Costa Rica, Panama, and the Philippines. Last year, <i>Multinational Monitor</i> rated Chiquita fourth on its top-ten list of worst corporations.</font>

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<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Though Chiquita no longer uses DBCP, they have substituted other harmful pesticides, one reason not to buy bananas with the distinctive blue label. Another reason not to buy Chiquita is that a fraction of the proceeds of each banana you buy may go to purchase corrupt politicians. According to a Council on Hemispheric Affairs occasional paper released on November 21, the head of the Lindner family and Chiquita's Chairman of the Board, Carl Lindner, has used steady donations to both Democrats and Republicans as a way to pedal political influence. In addition to hedging his bets with $525,000 donated to Democrats in 1994, including congressman<b> Richard Gephardt (D-MO), and Senator John Glenn (D-OH), Lindner donated $430,000 to his favored Republican Party. He was the biggest 1994 contributor to the GOP Action Committee, headed until recently by Newt Gingrich</b>, and gave generously to Senator Dole's 1994 reelection campaign for the Senate. Lindner has reportedly given at least as much since, including the unrestricted use of his private jet for Dole's presidential campaigning in 1996.</font>

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<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In exchange, leading lights of Washington from Dole to Secretary of Commerce Mickey Kantor have taken up the cudgels in trade wars over the European banana market. The Clinton administration brought suit in the World Trade Organization against the European Economic Community, which has granted small banana producers in former colonies like St. Lucia and Dominica a modest 10% entrance quota into the EU market. Even with the quota, Chiquita and the other big companies have access to 70.5% of the European banana market. Chiquita Brands International controls close to 70% of the world banana market, and is worth an estimated $3 billion.</font>

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<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...?</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The Caribbean producers, who pay high wages to strongly unionized workers and have high-cost cultivation methods, cannot compete with banana giants like Chiquita, who recently broke the back of unionized banana labor on its plantations. </b>Without the quota, according to John Sheehan, Commander of U.S. forces in the Atlantic and Caribbean, independent and family-centered banana growers could face economic disaster. With no quota, Sheehan predicts the cultivation of cocaine on former banana plantations and increased illegal immigration into the United States. The World Trade Organization will probably rule on Chiquita's complaint in January.</font>

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<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In a much more deadly sort of influence pedaling, some have speculated that Lindner used his financial might to support the Nicaraguan Contras<b>. Notebooks of <span style=" background-color: #FFF200;">Oliver North</span> show Lindner making "grants" to known Contra fund-raisers, and Lindner held a key Contra-support meeting at his Ocean Reef Club in Florida i</b>n March 1984, one month after the Lindner family increased their holdings in United Brands from 29.3 percent to 45.4 percent. Some speculate that convicted drug trafficker Jack DeVoe, who had connections to right-wing politicians, used the hangars at the Ocean Reef Club for drug smuggling.</font>

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<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Perhaps taking a cue from the Contras or its own past as United Fruit/United Brands, Chiquita has blatantly<b> bribed Honduran officials, </b>and according to the Council on Hemispheric Affairs (COHA), has extended its tactics to the use of assault of competitor executives, and the theft and destruction of competitor banana stocks. Several years after Chiquita sold its former subsidiary, Fyffes Group Ltd., the smaller company began offering $4.40 per box to independent Honduran banana producers who previously sold to Chiquita for $3.16. Within five years, Fyffes was shipping 7 million boxes of bananas annually to Europe, compared to Chiquita's 11 million boxes. To retain its low-paid banana sources, Chiquita began a campaign of harassment against defected growers and Fyffes. COHA says Chiquita bribed judges to doctor court documents, later used to embargo bananas bound for Fyffes boats and warehouses. Armed with automatic weapons, employees boarded ships owned by Fyffes, confiscated or destroyed bananas, derailed Fyffes banana trains, and attempted the kidnapping and possible murder of Otto Stalinski, Fyffes' head agent in Honduras.</font>

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<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In litigation over these banana battles, COHA says that Chiquita continued its policy of bribing judges, police, and witnesses.<b> One judge indicted for bribery in the case in 1994, Mario Matias Galindo, got a large sum of cash, a new car, and an expedited visa to the United States. He now lives in Miami. </b>After Fyffes suffered an estimated $10 million in operational damages, and because executives lacked confidence in the skewed judicial and political system, they sold their operation to Dole for $26 million. Fyffes will withdraw from Honduras on January 1, 1997.</font>

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<u><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">IMF Increases Rural Poverty</font></u>

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<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Carl_H.Lindner,Jr."><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Carl_H.Lindner,Jr.</font></a>

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<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Carl Henry Lindner, Jr.</b> is Chairman and CEO of the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Financial_Group&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="American Financial Group (page does not exist)">American Financial Group</a> (AFG) of Cincinnati, Ohio; Majority Owner and CEO of the Cincinnati Reds, Cincinnati, Ohio; and Former Board Chairman of <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Chiquita_Brands_International" title="Chiquita Brands International" class="mw-redirect">Chiquita Brands International</a>. <a href="http://www.commoncause.org/site/pp.asp?c=dkLNK1MQIwG&b=196963" class="external autonumber" title="http://www.commoncause.org/site/pp.asp?c=dkLNK1MQIwG&b=196963" rel="nofollow">[1]</a></font>

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<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">According to his <a href="http://www.forbes.com/lists/2005/54/S22J.html" class="external text" title="http://www.forbes.com/lists/2005/54/S22J.html" rel="nofollow"><i>Forbes 400</i> profile</a> in 2005, Lindner was then 86 and listed as #133: "Dropped out of school age 14, worked as a milk delivery boy for family dairy during Depression. Opened ice cream shop with 2 brothers and $1,200 in 1940, grew into <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=United_Dairy_Farmers&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="United Dairy Farmers (page does not exist)">United Dairy Farmers</a> chain. Now run by brother Robert, today operates more than 200 stores. Acquired S&Ls 1959; diversified into insurance 1971. With sons owns 42% of American Financial Group. Co-owner of pro baseball's Cincinnati Reds donates tickets to students, civic workers. Still no plans to retire. 'My main hobby is working. I love what I do.'"</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In 1996, L.J. Davis <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/news/special_reports/coinop_congress/96mojo_400/lindner.html" class="external text" title="http://www.motherjones.com/news/special_reports/coinop_congress/96mojo_400/lindner.html" rel="nofollow">wrote</a> in <i>Mother Jones</i> that Lindner, besides being a "big" Senator <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Bob_Dole" title="Bob Dole">Bob Dole</a> backer, "served as a<span style=" background-color: #FFF200;"> mentor and colleague to two of the best-known financial crooks of our time, </span><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Charles_Keating&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Charles Keating (page does not exist)"><span style=" background-color: #FFF200;">Charles Keating</span></a><span style=" background-color: #FFF200;"> and </span><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Michael_Milken" title="Michael Milken" class="mw-redirect"><span style=" background-color: #FFF200;">Michael Milken</span></a><span style=" background-color: #FFF200;">.</span>" Lindner was then chair and CEO of Chiquita Brands and <span style=" color: #ED1C24;">Dole</span>, a "frequent flier on Lindner company jets," had been "a vocal critic of trade agreements that cut Chiquita out of the foreign banana market."</font>

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<table id="toc" class="toc" summary="Contents"><tbody><tr><td>

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<h2><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Contents</font></h2>

<span class="toctoggle"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[<a href="javascript:toggleToc()" class="internal" id="togglelink">hide</a>]</font></span></div>

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<li class="toclevel-1"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Carl_H.Lindner,Jr.#Political_Contributions_.26_Influence"><span class="tocnumber">1</span> <span class="toctext">Political Contributions & Influence</span></a>

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<li class="toclevel-2"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Carl_H.Lindner,Jr.#Common_Cause"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="tocnumber">1.1</span> <span class="toctext">Common Cause</span></font></a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Carl_H.Lindner,Jr.#Progress_for_America_Voter_Fund"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="tocnumber">1.2</span> <span class="toctext">Progress for America Voter Fund</span></font></a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Carl_H.Lindner,Jr.#Economic_Freedom_Fund"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="tocnumber">1.3</span> <span class="toctext">Economic Freedom Fund</span></font></a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Carl_H.Lindner,Jr.#Israel"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="tocnumber">1.4</span> <span class="toctext">Israel</span></font></a></li>

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<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Carl_H.Lindner,Jr.#American_Financial_Group"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="tocnumber">2</span> <span class="toctext">American Financial Group</span></font></a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Carl_H.Lindner,Jr.#Financing_Paramilitary_Organizations_in_Colombia"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="tocnumber">3</span> <span class="toctext">Financing Paramilitary Organizations in Colombia</span></font></a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Carl_H.Lindner,Jr.#Related_SourceWatch_Resources"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="tocnumber">4</span> <span class="toctext">Related SourceWatch Resources</span></font></a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Carl_H.Lindner,Jr.#External_links"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="tocnumber">5</span> <span class="toctext">External links</span></font></a></li>

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<h2><span class="mw-headline"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Political Contributions & Influence</font></span></h2>

<p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Another, financier and Cincinnati Reds owner Carl H. Lindner Jr. has donated more money -- $2.6 million -- to federal candidates, parties and <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Political_action_committee" title="Political action committee">political action committees</a> in the past four years than any other American." <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/news/special_reports/2004/04/MJ100_201.html" class="external autonumber" title="http://www.motherjones.com/news/special_reports/2004/04/MJ100_201.html" rel="nofollow">[2]</a> Between 1999 and 2002, Lindner made $2,777,000 ($2,030,000 to Republicans; $747,000 to Democrats) in <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Soft_money" title="Soft money">soft money</a> contributions for a total of $3,277,000. <a href="http://www.commoncause.org/site/pp.asp?c=dkLNK1MQIwG&b=196963" class="external autonumber" title="http://www.commoncause.org/site/pp.asp?c=dkLNK1MQIwG&b=196963" rel="nofollow">[3]</a></font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In March 2001, Michael Scherer <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/news/special_reports/mojo_400/6_lindner.html" class="external text" title="http://www.motherjones.com/news/special_reports/mojo_400/6_lindner.html" rel="nofollow">reported</a> in <i>Mother Jones</i> that in 1998 Carl H. Lindner and his wife Edyth contributed $1,216,000 to the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Republican_Party" title="Republican Party" class="mw-redirect">Republican Party</a>.</font>

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<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Since 1994, Carl Lindner and his Chiquita banana empire have been Exhibit A in the fight to reform campaign finance. Through his insurance company, American Financial Group, Lindner controls nearly 40 percent of Chiquita. And through his millions in campaign contributions to both parties, he has persuaded the nation's top politicians to marshal U.S. foreign policy to fight Chiquita's trade war against the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=European_Union" title="European Union">European Union</a>" <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/news/special_reports/2004/04/MJ100_201.html" class="external autonumber" title="http://www.motherjones.com/news/special_reports/2004/04/MJ100_201.html" rel="nofollow">[4]</a></font>

<a name="Common_Cause" id="Common_Cause"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></a></p>

<h3><span class="mw-headline"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Common_Cause" title="Common Cause"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Common Cause</font></a></span></h3>

<p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Common Cause <a href="http://www.commoncause.org/site/pp.asp?c=dkLNK1MQIwG&b=196963" class="external text" title="http://www.commoncause.org/site/pp.asp?c=dkLNK1MQIwG&b=196963" rel="nofollow">reported</a> in 2004 that Lindner raised at least $200,000 for President <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=George_W.Bush" title="George W. Bush" class="mw-redirect">George W. Bush</a> for <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Bush-Cheney%2704_Inc." title="Bush-Cheney '04 Inc.">Bush-Cheney '04 Inc.</a> and contributed $200,000 for the Bush-Cheney inauguration ($100,000 from Lindner and $100,000 from American Financial Group), "double the $100,000 contribution limit (the inaugural committee refunded the excess money, only to have Lindner funnel the money through AFG). During the 2002 Senate elections, Lindner and his family contributed $450,000 to Republicans. In the 2004 presidential campaign, Lindner was one of the first 23 <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Bush%27s_Rangers" title="Bush's Rangers">'Rangers'</a> who raised at least $200,000 in <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Bundling" title="Bundling">bundled</a> contributions for Bush. He hosted a September 2003 fundraiser at his home in the Cincinnati suburb of Indian Hill, which raised an estimated $1.7 million for Bush."</font>

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<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In return, Common Cause <a href="http://www.commoncause.org/site/pp.asp?c=dkLNK1MQIwG&b=196963" class="external text" title="http://www.commoncause.org/site/pp.asp?c=dkLNK1MQIwG&b=196963" rel="nofollow">says</a>, Lindner got: "The <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=World_Trade_Organization" title="World Trade Organization"><span style=" background-color: #FFF200;">World Trade Organizatio</span>n</a> forced European Union nations to open their markets to Chiquita bananas, while Lindner gave substantial financial support to the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Democratic_Party" title="Democratic Party" class="mw-redirect">Democratic Party</a> under former President <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Bill_Clinton" title="Bill Clinton">Bill Clinton</a> and to President George W. Bush. The move by the WTO accelerated a trade dispute between the EU and the United States that, in 2003, threatened to add more than $6 billion in tariffs on U.S. products, including $2.2 billion in tariffs on products manufactured in political battleground states."</font>

<a name="Progress_for_America_Voter_Fund" id="Progress_for_America_Voter_Fund"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></a></p>

<h3><span class="mw-headline"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Progress_for_America_Voter_Fund" title="Progress for America Voter Fund"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Progress for America Voter Fund</font></a></span></h3>

<p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In 2004, according to <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Federal_Election_Commission" title="Federal Election Commission">Federal Election Commission</a> records, Lindner <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/527s/527indivsdetail.asp?ID=h1001223832&Cycle=2004" class="external text" title="http://www.opensecrets.org/527s/527indivsdetail.asp?ID=h1001223832&Cycle=2004" rel="nofollow">contributed $1.5 million</a> to the Progress for America Voter Fund, a <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=527_committee" title="527 committee" class="mw-redirect">527 committee</a>. <a href="http://www.campaignmoney.com/political/527/progress_for_america_voter_fund.asp" class="external autonumber" title="http://www.campaignmoney.com/political/527/progress_for_america_voter_fund.asp" rel="nofollow">[5]</a></font>

<a name="Economic_Freedom_Fund" id="Economic_Freedom_Fund"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></a></p>

<h3><span class="mw-headline"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Economic_Freedom_Fund" title="Economic Freedom Fund"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Economic Freedom Fund</font></a></span></h3>

<p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On September 21, 2006, Lindner <a href="http://images.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/fecimg/?C30000541" class="external text" title="http://images.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/fecimg/?C30000541" rel="nofollow">became</a> the 527 committee Economic Freedom Fund's second largest contributor.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Lindner joined former "sole backer" <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Robert_J._Perry" title="Robert J. Perry">Robert J. Perry</a>, "who founded the infamous <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Swift_Boat_Veterans_for_Truth" title="Swift Boat Veterans for Truth">Swift Boat Veterans for Truth</a> group during the 2004 elections," Rood wrote. <a href="http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/001519.php" class="external autonumber" title="http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/001519.php" rel="nofollow">[6]</a></font>

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<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Perry contributed $5 million in seed money and Lindner "ponied up <a href="http://disclosure.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/dcdev/forms/C30000541/239543/f92" class="external text" title="http://disclosure.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/dcdev/forms/C30000541/239543/f92" rel="nofollow">$50,000</a> to EFF. More precisely, EFF has recorded a $50,000 donation from the <a href="http://images.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/fecimg/?26940095173" class="external text" title="http://images.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/fecimg/?26940095173" rel="nofollow">same address</a> as Lindner uses in other FEC reports," Josh Marshall <a href="http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/009932.php" class="external text" title="http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/009932.php" rel="nofollow">wrote</a> October 4, 2006.</font>

<a name="Israel" id="Israel"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></a></p>

<h3><span class="mw-headline"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Israel</font></span></h3>

<p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Lindner, a Baptist, is the biggest non-Jewish buyer of State of Israel bonds, which <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Israel" title="Israel">Israel</a> has used to raise $25 billion for everything from agriculture to shipping to communications," Cliff Peale <a href="http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2004/05/17/loc_loc1alind.html" class="external text" title="http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2004/05/17/loc_loc1alind.html" rel="nofollow">reported</a> in the May 17, 2005, <i>The Cincinnati (Ohio) Enquirer</i>. "Supporters raised more than $71.5 million" at an event honoring Lindner "for his contributions to one of the signature programs to help the Israeli government, ... including pledges of $10 million from Western & Southern Financial Group and more than $5 million from Lindner and his wife, Edyth."</font>

<a name="American_Financial_Group" id="American_Financial_Group"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></a></p>

<h2><span class="mw-headline"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">American Financial Group</font></span></h2>

<p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"From his seat as chairman and CEO of American Financial Group (AFG), Carl Lindner oversees nearly $20 billion in assets. AFG, which serves as a holding company for the Lindner family’s financial interests – which once included Chiquita Brands International, the world’s largest banana distributor – controls vast insurance operations and real estate across the country. Its holdings include the Great American Insurance Company, Great American Financial Resources, Inc., and Provident Financial Group Inc., which <b>National City Corp</b>. recently bought [2004] in a $2.1 billion stock deal. (That deal is expected to give Lindner and AFG nearly $1 billion in bank stock.) Its real estate holdings include luxury hotels and New York’s Grand Central Station." <a href="http://www.commoncause.org/site/pp.asp?c=dkLNK1MQIwG&b=196963" class="external autonumber" title="http://www.commoncause.org/site/pp.asp?c=dkLNK1MQIwG&b=196963" rel="nofollow">[7]</a></font>

<a name="Financing_Paramilitary_Organizations_in_Colombia" id="Financing_Paramilitary_Organizations_in_Colombia"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></a></p>

<h2><span class="mw-headline"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Financing Paramilitary Organizations in Colombia</font></span></h2>

<p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Carl H. Lindner Jr. has also been implicated in the financing of terrorist organizations in Colombia. In fact, the financing began while he was the president of Chiquita Brands' board of directors. <a href="http://www.colectivodeabogados.org/article.php3?id_article=1364" class="external autonumber" title="http://www.colectivodeabogados.org/article.php3?id_article=1364" rel="nofollow">[8]</a></font>

<a name="Related_SourceWatch_Resources" id="Related_SourceWatch_Resources"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></a></p>

<h2><span class="mw-headline"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Related SourceWatch Resources</font></span></h2>

<ul>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Economic_Freedom_Fund" title="Economic Freedom Fund"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Economic Freedom Fund</font></a></li>

</ul>

<p><a name="External_links" id="External_links"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></a></p>

<h2><span class="mw-headline"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">External links</font></span></h2>

<ul>

<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Lindner,Jr." class="external text" title="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Lindner,Jr." rel="nofollow">Carl Lindner, Jr.</a> in the <i><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Wikipedia" title="Wikipedia">Wikipedia</a></i>.</font></li>

<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">L.J. Davis, <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/news/special_reports/coinop_congress/96mojo_400/lindner.html" class="external text" title="http://www.motherjones.com/news/special_reports/coinop_congress/96mojo_400/lindner.html" rel="nofollow">"Banana Republican: Carl H. Lindner (#4),"</a> <i>Mother Jones</i>, 1996.</font></li>

<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Michael Scherer, <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/news/special_reports/mojo_400/6_lindner.html" class="external text" title="http://www.motherjones.com/news/special_reports/mojo_400/6_lindner.html" rel="nofollow">"The Mother Jones 400 in 1998,"</a> <i>Mother Jones</i>, March 5, 2001.</font></li>

<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="http://www.commoncause.org/site/pp.asp?c=dkLNK1MQIwG&b=196963" class="external text" title="http://www.commoncause.org/site/pp.asp?c=dkLNK1MQIwG&b=196963" rel="nofollow">"Bush and Kerry fundraisers: What have they gotten, and what do they want?"</a> Common Cause, 2004.</font></li>

<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Jodi Enda, <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/news/special_reports/2004/04/MJ100_201.html" class="external text" title="http://www.motherjones.com/news/special_reports/2004/04/MJ100_201.html" rel="nofollow">"Welcome to Rangerville,"</a> <i>Mother Jones</i>, May 3, 2004.</font></li>

<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Cliff Peale, <a href="http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2004/05/17/loc_loc1alind.html" class="external text" title="http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2004/05/17/loc_loc1alind.html" rel="nofollow">"Jewish leaders honor Carl Lindner. Baptist aids Israeli government,"</a> <i>The Cincinnati Enquirer</i> (OH), May 17, 2004.</font></li>

<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="http://www.forbes.com/lists/2005/54/S22J.html" class="external text" title="http://www.forbes.com/lists/2005/54/S22J.html" rel="nofollow">"#133 Carl Henry Lindner Jr & family,"</a> <i>Forbes 400</i>, 2005.</font></li>

<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Leah Hoffmann, <a href="http://www.forbes.com/2006/02/11/carl-linder-money_cx_lh_money06_0214linder.html" class="external text" title="http://www.forbes.com/2006/02/11/carl-linder-money_cx_lh_money06_0214linder.html" rel="nofollow">"The Financier: Carl Lindner,"</a> <i>Forbes</i>, February 14, 2006.</font></li>

<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Jamie Holly, <a href="http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/03/18/following-the-money-not-always-an-easy-thing-to-do/" class="external text" title="http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/03/18/following-the-money-not-always-an-easy-thing-to-do/" rel="nofollow">"Following The Money - Not Always An Easy Thing to Do,"</a> <i>Crooks and Liars</i>, March 18, 2007.</font></li>

</ul>

<p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></p>