Mark Cuban’s Insider Trading
We are led to believe that the November 17, 2008 charges of insider trading levied against Mark Cuban are politically motivated. As the story goes, they are payback for his commission of the anti-Bush movie, Spare Change, which suggests that George W. Bush somehow conspired to affect 9-11. Cuban himself pushed this angle in a knee jerk public defense by leaking an email, sent to him in May 2007 by SEC Fort Worth office lawyer Jeffrey B. Norris, in which Norris slams Cuban’s movie for impugning the patriotism of the President. Norris CC’ed the email to SEC Chairman Christopher Cox. Connect the dots and voila!
- Inside Man, Mark Cuban (askmen.com)
But are all the dots connected? I believe not. The role of Major League Baseball (MLB) has been uncritically examined here. In so far as it’s mentioned in the mainstream media, MLB is connected with pronouncements that Cuban’s well-publicized bid to buy the Chicago Cubs is now scuttled. After all, who would take a chance on a guy who bears the stigma of insider trading? True, but the picture can be enlarged, if only speculatively on circumstantial evidence. Cuban in my opinion is the victim of destiny – the destiny of our 43rd President to realize a lifelong dream to be Commissioner of Major League Baseball.
Bush’s childhood friend, Doug Hannah, revealed this much in a July 2007 Vanity Fair interview that, when it comes to his former play mate, “Running for President is a resume enhancer for being the commissioner of baseball.” And the President’s second term slump seemed not to have dampened this ambition: Hannah was “still convinced that is his goal.”
Certainly, Bush’s career trajectory has at times pointed in that direction. In 1989 he became owner and managing partner of the Texas Rangers. In 1992, then commissioner Fay Vincent was forced out by owners. Milwaukee Brewers owner, Bud Selig succeeded him as acting commissioner. According to his 2002 book, The Last Commissioner, Vincent – a long-time friend of the Bush family – claims that W. asked him if he would make a good commissioner. Furthermore, Bush intimated to Vincent that Selig had told him he could “make it happen.” Selig himself went on to become permanent commissioner in 1998. By that time, Bush had moved on to other things: he was elected Governor of Texas in 1996; and then of course President of the United States in 2000. In late 2007, the window opened again: a 73-year-old Selig was due to retire in 2008 and it was reported that Bush would succeed him. But destiny again was thwarted as Selig renewed his contract until 2012. Who could blame Selig for trying to stall for time so he could clean up the mess he made from neglecting the Steroid Era.
Back to Cuban, it’s well known that Selig and most team owners don’t want the brash billionaire Cuban in their club. During this year, current Cubs owner Sam Zell has been trying to strong-arm Cuban through the door. Furthermore, SEC Chairman Cox, a former Texas congressman and Bush appointee, is on the hot seat with his boss for failing to prevent the subprime crisis. Taking Cuban out of the running may very well pave the way for Bush to the commissionership in the near future by currying favor with the baseball establishment, not least Bud Selig.
As a child George W. Bush wanted to be the next “Mountain” Keneshaw Landis, the paragon of moral virtue who cleaned up baseball in the 20s and 30s and commissioned it toward its golden age. In its post-Steroid Era slump, Baseball has new need for such a figure. Destiny could be fulfilled at Mark Cuban’s expense.
Explore posts in the same categories: UncategorizedTags: Chicago Cubs, Insider Trading, Major League Baseball, Mark Cuban
You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site.
