Greg Palast

Greg Palast

Palast in his New York City office
Born Gregory Allyn Palast
(1952-06-26) June 26, 1952
Los Angeles, California
Residence New York City, New York
Occupation Author, journalist
Website GregPalast..com

Gregory Allyn "Greg" Palast (born June 26, 1952)[1] is a New York Times-bestselling author[2] and a freelance journalist for the BBC[3] as well as the British newspaper The Guardian.[4] His work frequently focuses on corporate malfeasance but has also been known to work with labor unions and consumer advocacy groups. Notably, he has claimed to have uncovered evidence that Florida Governor Jeb Bush, Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris, and Florida Elections Unit Chief Clay Roberts, along with the ChoicePoint corporation, rigged the ballots during the US Presidential Election of 2000 and again in 2004 when, he argued, the problems and machinations from 2000 continued, and that challenger John Kerry actually would have won if not for disproportional "spoilage" of Democratic votes.[5]

Greg is the brother of Geri Palast.[6]

Education

Palast was born in Los Angeles. He attended John H. Francis Polytechnic High School and transferred to San Fernando Valley State College (now California State University, Northridge) in 1969 before his senior year of high school. Palast said about high school: "Basically they were melting my brain, and I had to save myself. Before I finished high school, I talked my way into college. Before I finished college, I talked my way into graduate school."[1] Palast then attended the University of California, Los Angeles, University of California, Berkeley, and University of Chicago, from which he graduated in 1974 with an Bachelor of Arts in economics and in 1976 with a Master's of Business Administration. Palast majored in economics at Chicago from the advice of a Weather Underground member he met at Berkeley who suggested Palast "familiarize himself with right-wing politics and learn about the 'ruling elite' from 'the inside.'"[1]

Palast spoke at a Think Twice conference held at Cambridge University[7] and lectured at the University of São Paulo.[8] He lives in New York City.

Selected stories

Presidential elections

Palast's investigation into the Bush family fortunes for his column in The Observer led him to uncover a connection to a company called ChoicePoint. In an October 2008 interview Palast said that before the 2000 Election ChoicePoint "was purging the voter rolls of Florida under a contract with a lady named Katherine Harris, the Secretary of State. They won a contract, a bid contract with the state, with the highest bid."[9]

After subsequently noticing a large proportion of African-American voters were claiming their names had disappeared from voter rolls in Florida in the 2000 election, Palast launched a full-scale investigation into voter fraud, the results of which were broadcast in the UK by the BBC on their Newsnight[10] show prior to the 2004 Election. Palast claimed to have obtained computer discs from Katherine Harris' office, which contained caging lists of "voters matched by race and tagged as felons."[9]

Palast appeared in the 2003 documentary film, Florida Fights Back! Resisting the Stolen Election, along with Vincent Bugliosi, former Los Angeles Deputy District Attorney and author of The Betrayal of America. Palast also appeared in the 2004 documentary Orwell Rolls in His Grave, which focuses on the hidden mechanics of the media.

Palast alleges that Andrés Manuel López Obrador — and not Felipe Calderón — won Mexico's 2006 presidential election.[11]

In May 2007, Palast said he'd received 500 emails that former White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove exchanged through an account supplied by the Republican National Committee. Palast says the emails show a plan to target likely Democratic voters with extra scrutiny over their home addresses, and he also believes Rove's plan was a factor in the firing of U.S. Attorneys.[12]

After Palast was invited by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. to appear on his Air America talk show to discuss, among other things, election fraud, the pair teamed up to find out if democracy was in a better state in 2008. In their report, which was published in October 2008 in Rolling Stone, they concluded that the 2008 election had already been stolen. "If Democrats are to win the 2008 election, they must not simply beat John McCain at the polls -- they must beat him by a margin that exceeds the level of GOP vote tampering", Palast and Kennedy summarized.[13]

To combat the extensive acts of voter suppression that Palast and Kennedy uncovered, the duo launched a campaign called Steal Back Your Vote,[14] which features a website and free downloadable voter guide / adult comic book.

Long Island Lighting Company

In 1988, Palast directed a U.S. civil racketeering investigation into the Shoreham Nuclear Power Station project, under construction by Stone & Webster and Long Island Lighting Company. A jury awarded the plaintiffs US$4.8 billion; however, New York's chief federal judge reversed the verdict. The racketeering charges stemmed from an accusation that LILCO filed false documents in order to secure rate increases. LILCO sought a dismissal of these charges on the grounds that Suffolk County lacked authority under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act and that the allegations of a history of racketeering did not qualify as a continuing criminal enterprise.[15]

Exxon Valdez

Palast has also taken issue with the official story behind the grounding of the Exxon Valdez, claiming the sobriety of the Valdez's captain was not an issue in the accident. According to Palast the main cause of the Exxon Valdez accident in 1989 was not human error, but an Exxon decision not to use the ship's radar in order to save money. The Raytheon Raycas radar system would not have detected Bligh Reef itself - as radar, unlike sonar, is incapable of detecting objects under the waterline of a ship. However the radar system would have detected the "radar reflector", placed on the next rock inland from Bligh Reef for the purpose of keeping boats on course via radar.

Palast argues the original owners of the land, the local Alaska Natives tribe, took only one dollar in payment for the land other than a promise not to pollute it and spoil their fishing ground.

UK "LobbyGate" Scandal

In 1998, working as an undercover reporter for The Observer, Palast, posing as a US businessman with ties to Enron, caught on tape two Labour party insiders, Derek Draper and Jonathan Mendelsohn, boasting about how they could sell access to government ministers, obtain advance copies of sensitive reports, and create tax breaks for their clients.[16]

Draper denied the allegations.[17] At Prime Minister's Question Time July 8, 1998 British Prime Minister Tony Blair claimed that all the specific claims had been investigated and found groundless: "every allegation made in The Observer has been investigated and found to be untrue".[18]

Vulture funds

Starting in 2007 Palast published a series of investigations on what aid groups and investors call "vulture funds". Vulture funds are a private equity or hedge funds where companies or people buy the debt of poor countries and sue in courts to recover the funds, often at the expense of aid and debt relief. Prime Minister Gordon Brown commented on the practices saying "We particularly condemn the perversity where Vulture Funds purchase debt at a reduced price and make a profit from suing the debtor country to recover the full amount owed - a morally outrageous outcome".[19]

In 2014 Palast detailed the workings of vulture funds during the crisis of the American automotive industry:

Singer, through a brilliantly complex financial manoeuvre, took control of Delphi Automotive, the sole supplier of most of the auto parts needed by General Motors and Chrysler. Both auto firms were already in bankruptcy.

Singer and co-investors demanded the US Treasury pay them billions, including $350m (£200m) in cash immediately, or – as the Singer consortium threatened – "we'll shut you down". They would cut off GM's parts. Literally.

GM and Chrysler, with no more than a couple of days' worth of parts to hand, would have shut down, permanently forced into liquidation.

Obama's negotiator, Treasury deputy Steven Rattner, called the vulture funds' demand "extortion" ... Ultimately, the US Treasury quietly paid the Singer consortium a cool $12.9bn in cash and subsidies from the US Treasury's auto bailout fund.

Singer responded to Obama's largesse by quickly shutting down 25 of Delphi's 29 US auto parts plants, shifting 25,000 jobs to Asia. Singer's Elliott Management pocketed $1.29bn of which Singer personally garnered the lion's share.

— Palast 2014[20]

Newsnight

Since 2000, Greg Palast has made more than a dozen films for the BBC programme Newsnight with the Investigations Producer Meirion Jones, which have been broadcast in the UK and worldwide. In addition to the films on US elections they have investigated oil companies, the Iraq War, the coup against Hugo Chávez, and the vulture funds which target the poorest countries.

Criticism

In An Open Letter to Greg Palast on Peak Oil[21] Richard Heinberg offers friendly criticism of Palast who conflates the "amount of oil left" with "peak (maximal) flow rates" for oil, the latter being key to Peak Oil.

After Palast wrote an article critical of Respect politician George Galloway, Galloway responded by claiming "Palast conflates meetings, truths and half-truths, statements taken out of context to produce a toxic smear which would be actionable in the country he claims to work in, my country."[22]

In 2007, a columnist for the Daily Kos questioned Palast's research methods in a post entitled On Why Greg Palast is Dangerous: "He often makes fantastic claims based on his 'Sam Spade' detective work", drational wrote, "and then (along with his many devotees) complains when Mainstream media in this country do not report his stories. Legitimate journalists have a responsibility not to mislead people."[23]

Bibliography

Books

Films

Newsnight

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Greg Palast" (PDF). Current Biography. June 2011. pp. 73–80.
  2. ↑ "Paperback Nonfiction". The New York Times. 2007-05-20. Retrieved 2007-05-31.
  3. ↑ "BBC - Search results for Greg Palast". BBC News. Retrieved 2007-05-31.
  4. ↑ "Greg Palast Profile". Comment is Free (Guardian News and Media Limited). Retrieved 2007-05-31.
  5. ↑ Palast, Greg (2004-11-04). "Kerry Won". commondreams.org.
  6. ↑ San Francisco Chronicle, Friday, December 7, 2007 'Palast says his desire to expose class-warfare stories is rooted in his upbringing in the "ass-end of Los Angeles," a neighborhood wedged between a power plant and a dump. Kids in the neighborhood had two choices, he said: go to Vietnam or work in the auto plant. "We were the losers," he said. He was saved from the war by a favorable draft number. "A lot of people didn't make it out. Because I made it out, and my sister (Geri, a former Clinton administration assistant secretary of labor) made it out, I feel I have this obligation to tell these stories on behalf of all of those people who didn't make it out."
  7. ↑ "Think Twice 2002: list of speakers". Think Twice Conference at Cambridge University. Retrieved 2007-08-24.
  8. ↑ "Currículo do Sistema de Currículos Lattes (Ildo Luis Sauer)". University of São Paulo. Archived from the original on 2007-07-17. Retrieved 2007-08-24.
  9. 1 2 "Greg Palast: Steal Back Your Vote". suicidegirls.com. 27 October 2008. Retrieved 2008-10-27.
  10. ↑ Palast, Greg (26 October 2004). "New Florida vote scandal feared". BBC news. Retrieved 2008-10-27.
  11. ↑ Articles from June to August 2006 on gregpalast.com: Stealing Mexico; Dispatches from Mexico City – Part 1; Dispatches From Mexico City – Part 2; Grand Theft Mexico; Mexico: Awaiting the Final Count; “Senator Blank-o” Wins in Mexico; Mexico and Florida Have More in Common Than Heat; Mexico City: It ain’t Over ’til it’s Over; Amy Goodman Interviews Palast on Mexico Vote — and Dan Rather; Florida con Salsa; Why Democrats Don’t Count; Podcast: KPFT Interviews Matt Pascarella on Mexican Election; “We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Recount”
  12. ↑ Diehl, Jeff (2007-05-24). "The Future of America Has Been Stolen". 10zenmonkeys.com.
  13. ↑ "Block the Vote". Rolling Stone. 23 October 2008. Retrieved 2008-10-27.
  14. ↑ "Steal Back Your Vote". stealbackyourvote.org. 1 October 2008. Retrieved 2008-10-27.
  15. ↑ "Lilco Loses Bid to Dismiss Suit Charging Racketeering". nytimes.com. 1988-05-19.
  16. ↑ Greg Palast (1 May 2005). "Britain for Sale". Retrieved 2007-11-29.
  17. ↑ "Draper accuses Observer of entrapment". BBC. 7 July 1998. Retrieved 2007-11-29.
  18. ↑ "Prime Minister's Questions". Hansard. 8 July 1998. Retrieved 2007-11-29.
  19. ↑ "Vulture Fund Threat to Third World". BBC Newsnight via GregPalast.com. February 14, 2007. Retrieved December 16, 2011.
  20. ↑ Greg Palast (August 7, 2014). "Obama Can End Argentina's Debt Crisis with a Pen". The Guardian.
  21. ↑ Heinberg, Richard (July 6, 2006). "An Open Letter to Greg Palast on Peak Oil". Energy Bulletin. Retrieved December 16, 2011.
  22. ↑ Palast, Greg (20 September 2005). "Et Tu, Greg Palast?". Counterpunch. Retrieved 8 October 2015.
  23. ↑
  24. ↑ Interview with Greg Palast about his new book: Armed Madhouse, democracynow.org
  25. ↑ Vultures' Picnic Book Website, VulturesPicnic.org
  26. ↑ Billionaires and Ballot Bandits Book Website, BallotBandits.org
  27. ↑ "Big Easy to Big Empty". YouTube. Retrieved December 16, 2011.
  28. ↑ "Part 2- Big Easy to Big Empty". YouTube. Retrieved December 16, 2011.
  29. ↑ "Bush Family Fortunes (2003)". Gregpalast.com. Retrieved December 16, 2011.
  30. ↑ "Bush Family Fortunes". Gregpalast.com. Retrieved December 16, 2011.
  31. ↑ "The Election Files (2009)". Gregpalast.com. Retrieved December 16, 2011.
  32. ↑ "Palast Investigative Fund Store". Gregpalast.com. Retrieved December 16, 2011.
  33. ↑ "Palast Investigates (2010)". Gregpalast.com. Retrieved December 16, 2011.
  34. ↑ "Palast Investigative Fund Store". Gregpalast.com. Retrieved December 16, 2011.
  35. ↑ Liberian leader urges MPs to back action against vulture funds, The Guardian
  36. ↑ Newsnight: 'Vulture funds' threat to developing world, BBC News
  37. ↑ "Greg Palast on the Battle to End Vulture Funds". Democracy Now. June 11, 2007. Retrieved December 16, 2011.
  38. ↑ Newsnight 07-10-2008 - Greg Palast on US elections 1 of 2 on YouTube
  39. ↑ http://www.gregpalast.com/rove-pick-for-us-attorney-resigns-following-conyers’-request-for-bbc-documents/
  40. ↑ Newsnight: New Florida vote scandal feared, BBC NEWS
  41. ↑ Newsnight: Greg Palast on the Florida Elections - 16/2/01, BBC NEWS
  42. ↑ Newsnight: Greg Palest report transcript - 6/11/01, BBC NEWS
  43. ↑ Newsnight: Payback transcript - 17/5/01, BBC NEWS
  44. ↑ Newsnight: Amazon natives sue oil giant, BBC NEWS
  45. ↑ Newsnight: Secret US plans for Iraq's oil, BBC NEWS
  46. ↑ Newsnight: General Jay Garner, BBC NEWS
  47. ↑ Chavez rules out return to cheap oil, BBC NEWS
  48. ↑ Warning to Venezuelan leader, BBC NEWS
  49. ↑ World Bank creating poverty (BBC Newsnight) on YouTube
  50. ↑ Millions may be eligible for Microsoft refund, gregpalast.com

External links

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