Greg Palast is a
New York Times-bestselling author and a
journalist for the
British Broadcasting Corporation as well as the
British newspaper The Observer. His work frequently focuses on
corporate malfeasance but has also been known to work with
labor unions and
consumer advocacy groups. Notably, he's 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. He is considered to have begun reporting for the BBC/Observer due to media bias/reporting restrictions in the US.
Palast lectured at
Cambridge University and the
University of São Paulo. He lives in
London and
New York City. Palast is originally from
Los Angeles, and was educated at the
University of Chicago, where he studied with the "
Chicago Boys".
In September 13, 2006, after filming a camp of
Hurricane Katrina refugees in
Louisiana near a massive
Exxon oil refinery, Palast reported that a complaint had been filed against him for the unauthorized videotaping of a "critical infrastructure asset." Palast's office later indicated that Exxon had "called off the dogs" and that no charges would be filed.
A
graphic novel adapting Palast's newest book,
Armed Madhouse, is currently in progress.
Election concerns
Palast's reporting asserted that
ChoicePoint was biased towards the
Republican Party and used inaccurate data during the 2000 Election. He alleged that tactics included listing voters as
felons for crimes said to be committed in the future (Thomas Cooper, convicted
January 30 2007); that people convicted of a felony in different states and rights restored by said states were not allowed to vote, despite the restoration of their rights; and that people were listed as felons based on a coincidence of name, despite data (such as date of birth) showing a criminal record didn't apply to the voter in question, with "scrub lists" 90 percent wrong.
Schlenther v. Florida Department of State (June
1998) rules Florida can't prevent a felon in
Connecticut who kept his voting rights in Connecticut from voting in Florida. But Florida insisted felons, granted rights, receive clemency from Governor Jeb Bush, possibly needing two years.
NAACP filed suit arguing Florida violated the
Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the
US Constitution, while others argued Florida violated the
National Voter Registration Act of 1993. The case was settled out of court.
Palast has also written that Sen.
John Kerry, D-Mass., not Pres. George W. Bush, won Ohio and New Mexico (two states with electoral margins close late in the October polls) citing
exit poll results. As exit polls are used to judge the honesty of elections worldwide, Palast argues, the same should be true in the U.S..
He appeared in the 2004 documentary
Orwell Rolls in His Grave, which focuses on the hidden mechanics of the media, its role as it should be and what it actually is, and how it shapes (to the point of almost controlling) U.S. politics.
Palast alleges that
Andrés Manuel López Obrador and not
Felipe Calderon won the last Mexico presidential election.
In May of 2007 Palast said he'd received 500 emails 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.
Long Island Lighting Company
In
1988, Palast directed a
US civil racketeering investigation into the
nuclear power plant builder
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 the grounds that
Suffolk County lacked authority under the
Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act and that the allegations of a history of racketeering didn't qualify as a continuing criminal enterprise.
Exxon Valdez
Palast has also taken issue with the official story behind the grounding of the
Exxon Valdez, claiming that the sobriety of the
Valdez’s captain wasn't an issue in the accident. According to Palast the main cause of the
Exxon Valdez accident in 1989 wasn't human error but was, instead due to an Exxon decision to not fix the ship's radar in order to save money. The
Raytheon Raycas radar system wouldn't have detected
Bligh Reef itself - as radar, unlike sonar, is incapable of detecting objects under the waterline of this 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 that this penny pinching was particularly noteworthy when one considers the fact that the original owners of the land, the local native American tribe, took only $1 in payment for the land other than a promise not to pollute it and spoil their fishing ground.
Reliant Energy
Palast asserts that
Reliant Energy maintains a file on him, including false data regarding his sex life, which they distribute as
propaganda against him
(1-p.112).
Criminal Complaint by the Department of Homeland Security
On September 11 2006, Palast announced that he'd been charged by the United States Department of Homeland Security, for filming an
Exxon oil refinery.
Palast doesn't deny that he was involved in filming the facility (as part of a documentary on the mishandling of
Hurricane Katrina). However he asserts that there was no danger of this aiding terrorists (Palast stated that aerial photographs of the facility are freely available on
Google Maps
).
He argues that the Exxon corporation was motivated by his past criticisms of them in relation to the
Exxon Valdez disaster, rather than a concern with terrorism. This case is therefore claimed to be an example of 'terrorism' legislation being used to protect the economic interests of powerful American corporations.
[
Representatives from the Palast office later that day indicated that Exxon had "called off the dogs" and the Homeland Security had changed their tune, suggesting that the first phone call was "merely an inquiry" and that no charges would be filed.
]Writings by Greg Palast
Columns
Films
American Blackout
Big Easy to Big Emtpy [Part1](External Link), Part 2 (External Link)
Bush Family Fortunes (External Link)
External results
Click here for more details on Greg Palast
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