A Tale of the Two Mezvinskys
The groom’s father Ed was in attendance, but clearly his problems were ones that the wedding party preferred to hide. His early career would not have predicted this outcome. I met Ed in 1959-60 at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, where Sol Stern and I recruited him into the Iowa Socialist Club. I recall him as a serious and cordial young man, who joined us in the picket lines we set up at the Woolworth chain in the city, to protest their segregated policies during the period of the first black sit-ins in the South.
Later, as his biography notes, after getting a law degree from the University of California, he began a political career. The culmination of it was his election to Congress in 1972, where as a member of the House Judiciary Committee, he made a name for himself as one of the liberal members of Congress who went after Richard Nixon, and who voted for impeachment.
Like the Clintons, his marriage to Marjorie Margolies was very much a political one. She left her job as a local New York newscaster and ran for Congress herself, serving one term from 1993 to 1995. She was going to try and get the Democratic nomination for the Senate, but her husband’s business problems forced them to file for bankruptcy, and she abruptly withdrew from the campaign. A few years later, they got divorced.
After failing to proceed further in a political career, Ed turned to business, and became involved in fraudulent activities. A local Iowa newspaper told the story. Talking about Nixon, he once wrote that he was choked up at the “spectacle of a man brought to a wretched end.” He might have been writing about himself.
He turned out to have stolen over $10 million from clients, and as the paper reported, “‘Fast Talkin’ Eddie wants to talk publicly for the first time since the day three years ago when 10 FBI agents stormed his mansion in a Philadelphia suburb and hauled out more than 80 boxes of incriminating documents.” Like Bernie Madoff, he cheated friends, friends of friends, and his own mother-in-law in his Ponzi schemes. Some called him a “one man crime-wave.”
He once met a best-selling author, convinced him to become his representative, and then — receiving the money for the author’s profits from the publisher — spent the entire amount himself. The author, Jason Theodaskis, thinks he lost over $1 million from Mezvinsky’s machinations. When later asked what happened, Ed attributed his actions to bi-polar disorder. Easily convicted by jurors, he served a term in prison from 2001 till April of 2008.
It is quite amazing that with all the press attention the wedding received, there was a blackout where the groom’s family was concerned. Maybe the press was being kind to the bride and groom or perhaps intimidated by the Clintons. Chelsea knew Marc from high school, and also attended Stanford with him. One can imagine that they gave one another solace in dealing with their embarrassing fathers: Ed in jail and Bill facing impeachment over the Monica Lewinsky scandal.
The Clintons have made peace, and still stand together as a family. The Mezvinsky family, it seems, followed a different course. One can only hope that Chelsea and Marc will face calmer waters and a happy life together.
Can you imagine if this had been Jenna Bush marrying into this family? Can you even imagine?
What a dismal and depressing family stew. I wish the newlyweds a sincere Mazel-tov. They will need it.
Birds of a feather flock together….
Oh, leave Levi Johnston and the Palins alone already!
HA-HA-HA
Joseph, still playing a blind fool?? Or did you stopped “playing”???
Oh leave Obama and Ayers alone already!
The Clintons and the Mezvinskys look down on rednecks, with their familial problems that is ironic. Take away their money and stick them in a trailer park and you have a Jerry Springer special right there.
Well, look on the bright side. Perhaps the family business will discourage Chelsea from following her parents into politics….
This illustrates perfectly what I’ve been saying for many years about the differential treatment in the judicial system – some poor sap (not defending anyone here) holds up a liquor store – netting him $100 and goes to jail for 25 years – some rich sap steals millions from friends family and whomever else he can – and gets what? Seven years. And even then he’s not a social pariah.
Lesson: Go for the millions.
Good heavens ! Chelsea’s husband to be was described as a “wealthy investment banker.” If I were friends of the family, I would be checking jewel boxes and safe deposit boxes right now !
Yeah, the media narrative about the groom was that his parents were both former congressmen. They didn’t think the world needed to know about his parents’ sordid past.
Hmmmmm……makes me wonder if this wedding was arranged.
Nothing but a bunch of crooks, all of them.
“From the press reports, it was all about the Clintons — and although Chelsea did marry Marc Mezvinsky, he almost seemed not to have parents or family.”
ALL the major news outlets mentioned – but most did not harp on – the criminal past of the groom’s father (an example from the July 18 NY Times is below). But it sure makes a better story for the right-wingnut blogosphere to pretend that they didn’t.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/18/fashion/18CHELSEA.html?scp=1&sq=clinton%20wedding&st=cse
From the NYT piece linked by you:
“She is divorced from the bridegroom’s father, former Representative Ed Mezvinsky of Iowa, who was released in 2008 after serving a five-year prison term and is now living in western New York, his lawyer said, and working as a health advocate for low-income people and refugees.”
One wonders what he served a five-year prison term for.
And in regards to your post at #7, you obviously did not catch the irony that Mr. Radosh was alluding to.
“One wonders what he served a five-year prison term for.”
Yes, one wonders. By not going into such detail in a story about the wedding, the Times obviously hopes that its readers will think that he got five years for a misdemeanor. As for Mr. R’s irony, I think it’s really ironic that in a story that criticizes the MSM for its omissions, he deleted such a telling detail about Jenna’s bare-bones wedding.
Or maybe, just maybe, people would’ve like to have known a little history about the groom and his family, seeing as how they are marrying into a powerful family like the Clintons? Of course not, so we’ll just drop a tidbit here and then hope people gloss over it in the rest of the human interest story.
And the story was not about Jenna Bush’s wedding, which happened more than two years ago. But again, the irony eludes you. That’s okay, though; the point wasn’t about the wedding to begin with.
“And of course, there was speculation that the event cost anywhere from $900,000.00 to $5 million, an over-the-top cost in these hard times, especially when Jenna Bush’s wedding supposedly cost a rather modest $100,000.00.”
Jenna was married lakeside at her parents’ ranch in Crawford, Texas. It seems you can squeak by with a mere 100-grand for a wedding if you also happen to have 1,600 choice acres to play around with. Jenna said she wanted to keep it “organic and natural.”
You skipped the best part of this story, which is the fact that Ed handed over just about all the money he stole over to Nigerian e-mail scammers.
The “wedding of the century!”
Truth is, there was no more interest in this wedding in the POPULAR gossip media than there was in the wedding of Jenna Bush. You got a few pictures so the ladies (including me) could check out the gown and then you get some light-hearted copy. Not a big story. Certainly not cover material, like Carrie Underwood’s wedding.
And this interests me because I think calling Chelsea’s wedding “the wedding of the century” is one more instance of the ruling class confusing its own perspective with that of the country as a whole.
Were the Mezvinsky’s Orthodox and had 10 children? The 2 getting married in the link above look like a nice couple. They have a family history of being able to be empathetic and be knavish. It ought to be an interesting marriage.
“…I recruited him into the Iowa Socialist Club. I recall him as a serious and cordial young man, who joined us in the picket lines we set up at the Woolworth chain in the city, to protest their segregated policies during the period of the first black sit-ins in the South.”
You’ve come a long way, Ron, from fighting for the rights of minorities to blogging for a site that Joe McCarthy would be proud to write for – and that would welcome him with open arms. Maybe you should reconsider socialism; evidently, you did good things while you were under its sway.
I think CNN needs to revisit the John John funeral. Good for a few hours of watching waves and maybe a few hours of expert observations and nostalgia for Camelot. Pardon me while I look for a hankie.
Ronnie:other info (some mildly important, some not). Ed was my
congressman. Seemed like a nice guy. Was on the Nixon impeachment
( or whatever it officially was)committee. Mark’s mother was also
a congressperson, from around Philadelphia. She was the crucial
vote for Clinton’s tax increases, which some say was reponsible
for the good economic Clinton years. She was defeated in her
Republican district, for her pains.