Vulture Capitalist Owner of West Virginia Death-Trap Mine

Owner of West Virginia mine a big donor to Democratic Leadership Council-affiliated candidates. Wilbur Ross, Jr., the Chairman of the Board of International Coal Group, the operator of the safety hazard-ridden Tallmansville, West Virginia mine where 12 miners died after an explosion, has been a contributor to Democrats who are mostly associated with the anti-union, pro-business Democratic Leadership Council. Ross, described as a "vulture capitalist," is a bankruptcy expert for the Rothschild bank in New York. His Ashland, Kentucky-based International Coal Group specializes in buying up bankrupt mines like the Sago mine in Tallmansville where unions are now non-existent. For two hours, International Coal Group sat on information that the 12 miners died after it was announced to the media that they had survived. Sago had been cited on numerous occasions for safety violations, including repeat infractions, by the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration.

According to Federal Election Commission records, Ross donated to former Senators Bob Kerrey, George Mitchell, Patrick Moynihan, and current Senator Kent Conrad. Other recipients of Ross's largesse include New York Representatives Jerrold Nadler and Louise Slaughter, Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy, and unsuccessful 1994 Long Island GOP candidate William Manger, a former official of the G. W. Bush Transportation Department.

Ross is divorced from former Republican-Conservative New York Lt. Gov. Betsy McCaughey Ross, who later became a Democrat. Ross's W. L. Ross & Co. global equity and hedge fund firm counts Donald Trump among its clients. International Coal Group director William Cotacosinos, who received a dubious windfall compensation package as CEO of Long Island Light Company (LILCO) after its acquisition by Long Island Power Authority, contributed to former New York GOP Senator Alphonse D'Amato. Another International Coal Group board member, Cynthia Bezik, formerly senior Vice President of the Cleveland Cliffs iron mining company in Cleveland, donated to the National Mining Association, the lobbying arm of the mining industry and Michigan Democratic Rep. Bart Stupak, a core member of the Fellowship Foundation, a consortium of rich Christian evangelicals headquartered in Arlington, Virginia that uses Jesus Christ as a tax dodging advertising logo. Hillary Rodham Clinton, another top DLC member, is an associate of the Fellowship Foundation, often attending their prayer sessions and considering the group's leader, Doug Coe, her "spiritual adviser."

from http://www.waynemadsenreport.com/