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The
Elections |
Dirty
Money 2000
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Cartoon
©2000, Gary Huck |
The 2000 elections are already the most cash-soaked in
American history. According to the Federal Election
Commission, in the first 15 months of the election cycle, the
two big parties raised $163 million, a record sum that is up
94 percent from the scandalous levels of 1996.
We know, of course, where the vast bulk of that money’s
coming from: corporations and the people behind them.
In the past few weeks, reform-minded think tanks and the
occasional journalist have done a good job documenting this
flood of corporate money. Below, some highlights.
CHINA TRADE
"It’s safe to say that tens of millions of
dollars" in lobbying expenditures and campaign
contributions have been spent in the cause of China trade,
reports the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP). The China
trade bill, which sailed through the House in May, is a pet
project of the Business Roundtable, a D.C.-based lobbying
coalition dominated by mega-corporations.
In March alone, CRP reports, Business Roundtable members
made nearly $4.2 million in soft money contributions to the
two parties. The biggest givers were companies with a stake in
China trade: UPS ($1.8 million) wants China to gain entry to
the World Trade Organization so that it can operate its own
delivery service there. Boeing ($857,000) wants to get its
hands on the $120 billion China is expected to spend on its
aircraft fleet.
HIGH TECH
As in all things, Microsoft leads the way when it comes to
soft money giving by new technology companies. By June, the
company had contributed more than $2.2 million to federal
parties and candidates, split almost evenly between Democrats
and Republicans. The Financial Times reported on a passel of
"New Democrats" wining and dining top high-tech
execs in San Francisco, trawling for campaign contributions.
Not far away, in Silicon Valley, the Wall Street Journal
reported, the head of Cisco Systems, John Chambers, threw open
his doors for a fundraiser benefiting the GOP and George W.
Bush. One day, the FEC received a report of a $100,000 check
from the CEO to congressional campaign committees. The next
day, two House leaders wrote to regulators urging them to
delay new accounting rules Cisco doesn’t like.
SWEET TOOTH
From the Public Campaign, which produces an informative
bulletin on money in politics called Ouch!: After a three-year
study on the effects of sugar on our health, a group of
leading nutritionists decided to recommend that the federal
government change its dietary guidelines to urge that people
"choose beverages and foods that limit your intake of
sugars." (The language had been milder: "Choose a
diet moderate in sugar.")
Fortunately for the sugar industry, it had paid for friends
in high places. The Senate’s number one and number four top
recipients of sugar industry money, Sen. Larry Craig (R-ID)
and Sen. Kent Conrad of (D-NE), came to the rescue,
circulating a letter to Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman
protesting the proposed change. Eventually, 30 senators signed
it. The new regulatory language: "choose beverages and
foods that moderate your intake of sugar."
JUST A LITTLE TIPSY
The restaurant and alcohol industries have another problem
with the feds. In June, the Senate passed a bill setting a new
federal blood-alcohol limit of .08 — lower than what most
states now tolerate. The same bill passed the Senate two years
ago and was killed in the House after some heavy lobbying by
the restaurant and alcohol industries.
CRP reports that those two industries are on a buying spree
of politicians this year, with contributions up almost a third
from 1996. CRP’s prediction: The bill will get stopped in
the House again this year. Cheers!
GREASY MONEY
Al Gore has been sounding almost like a populist lately
when it comes to oil companies. The industry is
"gouging" consumers with its high oil prices, Gore
correctly charges. Oil companies’ first- quarter profits
were as much as 500 percent higher than last year, according
to Public Citizen.
But on closer inspection, Gore doesn’t look so folksy. We’ve
noted before the Gore family connection to Occidental
Petroleum. (Occidental pays Gore about $20,000 a year for the
right to mine zinc on Gore’s land, but never actually mines
it.) It gets worse. In the May 22 issue of The Nation, Ken
Silverstein reports that the Clinton Administration has been
quietly helping Occidental win support for its plan to drill
oil in Colombia on land claimed by the U’wa tribe. In
February, the Colombian government, which the Administration
has been bolstering mightily both militarily and financially,
sent soldiers in to spray teargas on anti-Occidental
protesters.
DRUG MONEY
Drug companies are spending record sums on the campaign
this year, reports Public Citizen. Pfizer leads the pack
($21.8 million), followed by Merck. Both Gore and Bush are
benefiting from this largesse, although Bush is way out ahead,
scoring $238,000 of drug money to Gore’s $53,000.
But the pharmaceutical industry is slipping a lot more cash
into the process than we can count. Those ads with "Flo,"
the arthritic bowler who doesn’t want Congress to let
"big government" affect her health care, were paid
for by an organization called "Citizens for Better
Medicare." Despite its name, the organization is largely
sponsored by drug companies, reports the Center for Responsive
Politics. But because it is classified as nonpartisan, it
doesn’t have to report its expenditures to the FEC.
IT’S MY PARTY...
The GOP convention was brought to you by: Motorola,
Verizon Communications (Bell Atlantic), and Comcast
Corporation (all at $1 million each); and by US Airways,
Philip Morris, Enron, and Blue Cross Blue Shield, among
others. The Democratic convention will be sponsored by SBC
Communications, UPS, United Airlines, and Boeing, among
others.
Underwriting both conventions are: AT&T, American
International Group, General Motors, Microsoft, Hewlett
Packard, American Waterworks, and Lockheed Martin.
For more info: Center for Responsive Politics
(www.opensecrets.org),
Public Citizen (www.citizen.org), Public Campaign
(www.publiccampaign.org).
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