Arizona Republican Congressional candidate Ben Quayle wants to "knock the hell out" of Washington. The 33 year old son of Vice President Dan Quayle knows Washington well. He grew up there.
Ben Quayle was born two days after his father, Dan, was first elected to Congress, and remembers well tossing a football with him on Capitol Hill between votes. He could have lived without the constant mocking of his family — particularly the whole potato thing — but his memories of Washington are largely gauzy and pleasant.What credentials does Ben bring? One, he can rate hot Arizona women. Two, his voting fingers are fresh, i.e. used twice since 1997. Three, he's intimately connected to the Washington he dislikes so greatly. Quayle's donors include:
A childhood in Washington was all he really knew. “It was my life,” he said, “It was difficult at the center of attention but all in all it was a great experience.”
Andy Card, Chief of Staff for President George W. Bush
Nicholas F. Brady, Former Treasury Secretary
Bob Dole, Former Kansas Sen. and 1996 GOP presidential nominee
Elizabeth Dole, Former North Carolina Senator
John Sununu, White House chief of staff during Dan Quayle’s first three years as vice president;
William Cohen, Former Clinton Defense Secretary
Pete Wilson, Former Senator and California governor
Donald Rumsfeld, Former Defense Secretary
President George H. W. Bush and wife Barbara hosted a fundraiser for Ben in their Houston home
And four, Ben Quayle is managing director of Tyndale Capital, an investment firm he started with his brother Tucker. They founded the firm in 2007. Bloomberg described the firm as "engaging in capital markets." It is a virtual black hole of information with no website or logo.
Father Dan Quayle is Chairman of Cerberus Capital's Global Investments. Father and son joined at the Southwest CEO 2009 Summit where Dan spoke to 280 executives. How many CEO's lined up to meet Dan? How much "capital management" business did he steer to Ben?
Who provided the seed money for Tyndale Capital? Did members of the club pitch in to give Ben a few million to manage? Are these Ben's training wheels, like George W. Bush's Harken Energy and CaterAir board positions?
While Ben kicks the hell out of Washington, father Dan turns nonprofit community hospital systems into the for-profiteering variety. The world's gone flippy floppy.
For proof look at Dan's resume (from page 5 of Heckmann Corporation's 2009 proxy statement):
President George H.W. Bush named Mr. Quayle to head of the Council of Competitiveness, which worked to ensure America’s international competitiveness in the 21st century.
In 1999, Mr. Quayle joined Cerberus Capital Management L.P., one of the world’s leading private investment firms, with over $27 billion in committed capital and offices in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Atlanta, London, Baarn (The Netherlands), Frankfurt, Osaka and Tokyo, and currently serves as chairman of Cerberus Global Investments. As chairman of Cerberus Global Investments, Mr. Quayle has been actively involved in new business sourcing and marketing for Cerberus in North America, Asia and Europe.
The growth of private equity during the Bush II years coincided with the shedding of millions of American jobs. The head of the U.S. Council on Competitiveness is business sourcing in Mexico, Canada, Asia and Europe.
Heckmann's latest 10-K states:
Headquartered in Palm Desert, California, the Company was incorporated in Delaware on May 29, 2007. We began our corporate existence as a blank check development stage company. On November 16, 2007, we completed an initial public offering.
Heckmann has eight bottled water facilities in the People's Republic of China.
Father Quayle held roughly 600,000 shares of Heckmann. I smell a PEU, a politically-connected private equity underwriter. Early signs indicate, like father, like son.
Update 11-7-10: Ben Quayle will return to Washington. President George W. Bush and wife Laura contributed to Quayle's run. Condi Rice chipped in, as well.
Update 6-25-19: Father Dan Quayle's Cerberus Capital brought back securitized home equity loans.
