Hightower Lowdown

Make way for the Gucci
Gulch Gang! This band of
gunslingers, a former GOP
chairman, former congressmen
and senators of both
parties, and former White
House counsel to three
presidents, is galloping
through Washington as
hired guns for Microsoft.
Their Guccis are scuffed
and their briefcases are battered,
but they.re all grins,
for they.ve just won a big
shootout. They were paid
$6 million by the software
giant to use their influence
to get the government to
drop its antitrust lawsuit
against the monopolist.
Microsoft was a big funder
of George W..s presidential
campaign and paid
$100,000 to help finance his
inauguration festivities, but
even its political supporters
were amazed by how quickly
the Bush legal team capitulated.
In office barely eight
months, the Bushites “settled
“ the suit by dropping the
core charge and giving in on
the key remedy of breaking
up the abusive corporation.
It was such a blatant payback
that a White House
spokesman had to insist
that Microsoft’s campaign
largess had no influence in
the decision, even asserting
that George .played no role
in the decision..
But Bush played his role
by playing no role, showing
once again that corporations
can tip the scales of justice
if they just pony up enough
money on weigh them down.