Tyco International apparently doesn’t care how its shareholders’ money is spent:
Mr. Abramoff bragged of his “contact” with Mr. Rove when Tyco International Ltd. sought action on tax legislation in 2002, according to Senate testimony by Tim Flanigan, a former Tyco official. “At some point after he joined the engagement team, Mr. Abramoff told me that he intended to contact Mr. Rove directly or indirectly to communicate Tyco’s position” on the tax issue, said Mr. Flanigan, who also once worked as Mr. Bush’s deputy White House counsel.
A White House spokesman says Mr. Rove doesn’t remember talking to Mr. Abramoff about Tyco. A spokesman for Mr. Abramoff declined to comment on whether he lobbied Mr. Rove on the issue. A Tyco spokeswoman says the company doesn’t know what Mr. Abramoff did on its behalf. A tax provision Tyco opposed eventually was defeated.
If this were true, it would amount to a confession of managerial negligence. But of course it’s not true. Tyco knew what it was doing: it was buying influence with the GOP. And Karl Rove, on behalf of the President of the United States, was willing to help Abramoff sell influence.
Hat tip: Huffington Post.