THE CONGRESSMAN AND THE PRINCE

A PRINCE OF A PAL
JAMIE SENSENBRENNER
FINDS A ROYAL BUDDY

IN LIECHTENSTEIN

Special to the Readers of Milwaukeeworld.com

By Michael Horne

And The Milwaukee World Hound Dog Team, Royal Pedigree Division

Hon. F. James Sensenbrenner, Jr. [l] and His Serene Highness Johannes "Hans" Adam Ferdinand Alois Josef Maria Marko d'Aviano Pius von und zu Liechtenstein, Duke of Troppau and Jägerndorf, Count of Rietberg, Reigning Prince of Liechtenstein and Sovereign of the Princely House of Liechtenstein, pictured at Vaduz Castle, the Royal Residence, [below] in 2004.

Vaduz Castle, Liechtenstein
Site of Royal entertainments for Jim Sensenbrenner; its walls are bedecked with priceless treasures from the Princely Art Collection, accounted among the world's finest such holdings to remain in private hands

Dear Reader: It seems like Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner has found a kindred spirit in Prince Hans-Adam II, the leader of the tiny principality he likes to visit, most recently last weekend.. Both appear to be staunchly conservative, exclusive in their company and like to be in charge of things. And both can be most provocative in their statements and passions.
Shall we therefore take a little visit to the House of Liechtenstein (at Milwaukeeworld's expense) and see what has brought these two statesmen so close together? --Ed.

Although his country is puny -- about 60 sq.mi., the sovereign of Liechtenstein has great powers: His Serene Highness Hans-Adam II can dismiss his government and ministers and can veto any law (except one calling for a Republic).
The country has 75,000 registered businesses, yet only 36,000 residents. It has 15 individual banks, the largest of which belongs to the Princely Family.
The country's motto is (in precisely this order): "For God, Prince and Country."
It sounds like the kind of place Sensenbrenner would like, seeing as he has visited there so often, most recently (as usual) in the third week of February, when the country celebrates an annual bacchanal. [See photo at end of story for an example of the traditional Liechtensteiner pre-lenten festival costumery.--Ed.]

The Prince and the Great Commoner Sensenbrenner also seem to have a number of things in common, including their elitism and incomparable public communications abilities.
We already know about Sensenbrenner's people skills and political savvy -- let's consider his pal the Prince.

• Hans-Adam said he'd sell his country to Bill Gates if his public refused to grant a new constitution in 2003 greatly expanding his powers, and run his businesses from Vienna.

(The Prince got his wish, but later said he was just joking about the Gates sale. He is now Europe's most powerful ruler.)

• The Prince is head of LGT Group - "The Wealth and Asset Management Group of the Princely House of Liechtenstein," which bills itself as "the largest private wealth & asset management group in Europe to be fully owned as a family business."

Clients who are interested in "Investing like the Prince ... have access to the same services as the Princely Family, and you can invest in the same investment instruments." Could Sensenbrenner resist such a sales come-on? Could a Palm Beach Country Club widow resist Bernie Madoff?

• Prince Max, the Munich-based second son of Hans-Adam and the president of the family bank is now under investigation by German authorities for tax evasion there. German authorities also have received secret bank records that may lead to the identification of some of the 77,000 account holders in Liechtenstein who may have opened accounts to take advantage of the country's lack of effective tax treaties.

These records have also been provided to U.S. authorities searching for Americans with illegal accounts in Liechtenstein.

• Late last year the prince managed to offend Jews (his country has 30 of them left), Germans and art collectors when he refused to lend one of his artworks -- a Franz Hals he had recently purchased -- to a show of art formerly held by Nazis. He told former U.S. Treasury Secretary Michael Blumenthal, head of the Jewish Museum in Berlin in a June, 2008 letter that he would not support the exhibition with a loan, citing Germany's investigation of its citizens holding secret Liechtensteiner bank accounts.

• That's bad enough to begin with, but the Prince complicated his error by comparing the current German government to the Nazis themselves. "As far as German-Liechtenstein relations are concerned, we are waiting for better times, which I am hopeful for, as we have already survived three German Reichs in the past 200 years and I hope we will also survive a fourth one."
  

Even Sensenbrenner couldn't have put it better.

• In fact the prince is the most active art collector in Europe, an indication of how lucrative are the numerous Princely Family enterprises. Having been out of view since the end of World War II, the incomparable treasures of the Lichtenstein Museum in Vienna reopened to the public in 2004 after a $27 million remodeling of one of the royal homes. The building includes items from both the national and his personal collection -- the finest privately held collection in Europe.
  

• Prince Hans-Adam II also funds the Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination at Princeton University, possibly in an attempt to find intellectual justification for his nation's existence. (The family bought the country and a princely title in the early 1700s, but no family member as much as set foot in the nation for over a century, and did not take up permanent residence there until World War II.
  

SENSENBRENNER'S PRIVATE TRIPS

Sensenbrenner's insatiable appetite for travelling accounted for expenses of $35,000 in 2007 and $33,000 in 2008 filings, representing travel taken in the previous years. He is often sponsored by the Washington-based International Management and Development Institute, which has a name very similar to a legitimate business school in nearby Switzerland, but is no relation.
The IMDI has privately funded all but $1400 of the $222,000 spent on congressional travel to Liechtenstein this decade, with Sensenbrenner's share amounting to $46,465 and counting. (This is only one-tenth of the $464,406 total from all sources spent on the 123 trips taken by Sensenbrenner and his staff during that time.)
The institute was founded in 1970 and is financed by such organizations as Daimler Chrysler and the Federation of German Industries. Its president, former Representative Don Bonker, says folks like Sensenbrenner "get a better sense of the corporate view" from the global perspective on the trips funded by the group.
There is absolutely no lobbying involved, he said.
--Michael Horne

EVERYTHING IS UP-TO-DATE IN VADUZ CITY!



Actual, unretouched photo of Liechtensteiners at the "Crazy Ball," held February 20th 2009 in Vaduz, their capital, during the visit of Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner, Jr. to that city during its festival season.