-Caveat Lector-
"Federal and state campaign records show that, as his troubles
escalated, so too have Braswell�s campaign contributions. "
- - -
The Bush Family and the Medicine Man
A Florida �natural remedies� magnate and convicted felon is now a
big financial supporter of the GOP
By Michael Isikoff
NEWSWEEK WEB EXCLUSIVE
September 29 � As Florida Gov. Jeb Bush mobilizes for an
all-out push to carry his state for brother George W.�s
presidential bid, his cause has gotten a big financial boost�from
a controversial direct-mail promoter of �alternative� health care
products whose business practices are under scrutiny by federal
law-enforcement officials. A. GLENN BRASWELL, a
Florida-based mail-order magnate who once served seven months in
federal prison for perjury and mail fraud, has contributed
$220,000 to Republican causes during the past two years�including
$25,000 to George W. Bush�s gubernatorial re-election campaign in
1998 and another $125,000 in �soft money� donations to the
Florida Republican Party, federal and state records show.
During the same period of time, Braswell has gotten some
unusual promotional help for his health care business-from Jeb
Bush. A recent edition of the Journal of Longevity�a monthly
magazine that serves as an advertising vehicle for anti-aging
formulas, sex-drive enhancers and other Braswell health
products�featured an article that ran under the byline of the
Florida governor.
Moving quickly to quell any controversy about the
relationship between Braswell and the Bush family, a spokesman
for Texas Gov. Bush told NEWSWEEK today that Bush�s gubernatorial
campaign is returning the $25,000 contribution that Braswell made
in 1998. The spokesman, Dan Bartlett, said Bush had a standing
policy of refusing campaign contributions from �convicted
felons.�
In the July, 2000 article in the Journal of Longevity, Jeb
Bush touts his commitment, and that of George W. Bush, to new
health-care approaches that meet the needs of senior citizens.
One of the most important, he writes, is greater emphasis on
�alternative� medical treatments, citing the �growing popular
demand� for natural �therapies and nutrients��the same sort of
products that Braswell markets in his direct-mail business. The
article is accompanied by a color photo of the Florida governor
standing side by side with a beaming George W. Bush.
�This is unfortunate�it�s endorsement by association,�
said Dr. Stephen Barrett, the chairman of Quackwatch, a group
that monitors health industry claims. Barrett noted that, over
the past two decades, Braswell�s companies have been repeatedly
chastised by federal regulators for their advertising and
labeling practices. By agreeing to appear in Braswell�s magazine,
the Florida governor was implicitly lending his name and prestige
to his companies� product lines, Barrett said. �Here you have a
prominent and popular governor who is appearing to endorse these
products,� said Barrett.
But Katie Baur, Jeb Bush�s communications secretary,
said that the Florida governor hadn�t done any special favors for
Braswell�and may even have been misled himself by the GOP
campaign donor. �This office receives hundreds of requests for
articles like that and we attempt to answer all of them,� said
Baur. �This request was like every other.�
Baur said that after the article appeared, Bush�s office
complained that the Journal of Longevity had altered the version
approved by the governor�s staff and inserted passages that
seemed to more directly promote some of Braswell�s health
products. �We were very disappointed that they would take liberty
with the article we sent them,� she said. �There was an implied
endorsement of products that in no way shape or form was
intended.�
But exactly when, and why, Bush�s office complained about
the alterations is unclear. Asked for a copy of any letter of
protest the governor�s office sent the Journal of Longevity, Baur
instead faxed NEWSWEEK a copy of a brief memo that was written by
Ron Tepper, editor of the Journal of Longevity. In the memo,
Tepper apologized for an �editing error� that resulted in the
magazine publishing a version of the article �that was not the
version approved by Governor Bush.�
The letter was dated August 23, 2000, the day after a
NEWSWEEK reporter showed up in the offices of the Journal of
Longevity in Marina Del Ray, Calif. and inquired about Braswell�s
ties to Jeb Bush and George W. Bush. Tepper said he had not
received any complaints from Bush�s office prior to that. He also
described the changes as small, involving the insertion of one
paragraph. Bush�s reference to �therapies and nutrients��the
kinds of products offered by Braswell�was contained in the
original version of the article supplied to Newsweek by Jeb
Bush�s office.
The Jeb Bush article ran under the heading �Health Care
Reform.� But the story of how it came about appears to say as
much about Braswell�s financial generosity to the GOP as it does
about the health care positions of either of the Bushes.
Journal of Longevity editor Tepper told NEWSWEEK that
Braswell sought out Jeb Bush to write the article because both he
and his brother, George W. Bush, �are sympathetic to alternative
medicine��a position that he says stands in stark contrast to the
Al Gore�s �silence� on the issue. Several months ago, Tepper said
he inquired with a member of Jeb Bush�s staff about having the
governor write an article for the magazine. When the staff member
gave the green light, Tepper said he assigned one of his own
staff members at the Journal of Longevity to prepare a draft for
the approval of the Bush staff aide. �We wrote that here,� Tapper
said. �Then it was given to them for their approval.�
When asked the name of the Jeb Bush staff member he dealt
with on the matter, Tepper identified a woman named Ann Herberger
and offered a reporter her phone number. But a quick check
established that Herberger doesn�t work for Jeb Bush�s
gubernatorial office at all. Nor does she have any particular
responsibilities for health-care issues. She helps Jeb Bush in
another capacity�as finance director of the Florida Republican
Party.
Herberger did not return repeated phone calls seeking
comment. Bush communications director Baur disputed Tepper�s
account of how the article came to be published. Bauer said the
article was prepared �inside the communications office� of Gov.
Bush. She also said she could not explain why Tepper said his
contact had been Herberger, the Florida GOP fundraiser. �Maybe
she just forwarded the request,� Baur said.
A tall, retiring businessman who shuns the public
spotlight, Braswell is considered one of the country�s biggest
mail-order marketers of �natural� medicines. Operating through a
company called Gero Vita International, and several related
firms, his products are promoted for their abilities to relieve a
wide range of ailments, ranging from arthritic pain to memory
loss. Some of his most popular products claim to boost sex drive.
�The Key to Great Sex for Men Over 50!� reads an ad for one such
product called Andro-Teston. �You no longer have to wait when
you�ve got serious loving to do,� reads an ad for another
Braswell product called Intimex, described as an �oral spray�
that contains �nature�s most powerful prosexual nutrients.�
Braswell�s promotions have drawn repeated complaints by
federal regulators and consumer groups over the years. In 1983,
federal court records show, Braswell was convicted in Atlanta of
perjury and mail fraud stemming from a Postal Service
investigation into allegations that he had promoted a purported
baldness cure by using faked �before and after� photographs of
hair growth on a man�s head.
During the past decade, Braswell has once again tangled
with federal regulators and consumer groups over his advertising
techniques. In 1995, the National Advertising Division of the
Council of Better Business Bureaus concluded that Gero Vita
International could not substantiate claims for one of its
products, a GH3 Anti-Aging Pill. A company advertisement
proclaimed that the pill �improves memory...Sex Drive! and
reduces chance of Heart Attack by 83%!� The group called the
claims �exaggerated and overstated� and �misleading to
consumers.�
Because Gero Vita products were ordered from a Canadian
postal address, the Food and Drug Administration that same year
imposed an �import alert� on some of the products. The agency
acted after determining that certain Gero Vita products were
being promoted as �drugs� that could cure various
ailments�without receiving FDA approval. Stone said the alert is
still in effect. �We deem these products to be unapproved drugs,�
Brad Stone, an FDA spokesman told NEWSWEEK. Sheldon Lustigman, a
lawyer for the company, says Gero Vita has since changed the
formulas on the products and has asked the FDA to lift the ban.
�The company believes all of its products are accurately labeled
and marketed in full compliance,� with federal rules, Lustigman
says.
Braswell did not return repeated phone calls seeking
comment for this article. But Tepper, editor of Braswell�s
magazine, vigorously defended the Gero Vita�s advertising and
said any findings of misleading claims were all in the company�s
past. �We never make a claim that we�re going to cure anything,�
Tepper said. �We do not sell drugs. We sell nutritional products
and every claim we make is substantiated by the research. We have
regulatory attorneys to make sure we don�t say anything that
would disqualify any of these products.� Tepper and another
company official acknowledged that there may have been problems
with advertising in the past, but say they have been corrected.
�As of now, the company is very careful to make sure its
statements in any brochure are backed up by research and
scientific studies,� said Dr. Nancy Johnson, a lawyer for the
company.
Tepper also emphasized that any consumer who is
dissatisfied with any of the company�s products gets a full
refund. He said many of the criticism of the company�s practices
come from groups like Quackwatch which have ties to
�pharmaceutical and chemical companies� that are threatened by
alternative medial therapies and nutrients and see them as a
threat to profits.
Meanwhile, Braswell�s legal troubles have mounted on
other fronts. Two of the top executives in his principal holding
company, G.B. Data Systems, left the company after a bitter
falling-out with Braswell. Newsweek.MSNBC.com
Acting on information supplied by the executives, a team
of IRS agents raided the Marina del Ray office of G.B. Data in
June, 1999, seizing documents and company computers, according to
two former employees. Court records reviewed by NEWSWEEK show
that federal prosecutors in Los Angeles last year opened a
criminal investigation with the IRS into some of Braswell�s
companies, including allegations involving the �transfer of
funds� from G.B. Data to �off-shore accounts.� According to the
documents, prosecutors said they were also investigating
allegations involving an off-shore trading company and alleged
efforts by Braswell and his employees �to conceal documents� from
the government. �I�m not at liberty to discuss any of that with
you,� said Gerald Feffer, a lawyer with the Washington based firm
of Williams & Connolly, who is representing Braswell in
connection with the tax investigation.
Federal and state campaign records show that, as his
troubles escalated, so too have Braswell�s campaign
contributions. Although he had given modest donations in the
past, Braswell only became a significant player in the world of
unregulated �soft money� during this election cycle. Braswell
donated $100,000 to the Florida Republican Party in July 1999,
$50,000 to the Republican National Committee in November, 1999
and another $25,000 to the Florida GOP in March, 2000.
Tepper said that Braswell had gotten to know Jeb Bush
well. �They�ve had lunches and meetings,� he told NEWSWEEK. He
also said that Braswell had met George W. Bush through the
Florida Governor. But Jeb Bush spokeswoman Baur disputed that,
saying �to the best of our knowledge, they [Jeb Bush and
Braswell] have met once or twice at a fundraiser.�
=================================================================
Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh, YHVH, TZEVAOT
FROM THE DESK OF: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
*Mike Spitzer* <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
~~~~~~~~ <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
The Best Way To Destroy Enemies Is To Change Them To Friends
Shalom, A Salaam Aleikum, and to all, A Good Day.
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