Subject: (Guru) More on America's Oligarchy......
Date: Tue, 15 Jun 1999 011533 -0500 (CDT)
From: "Roy L. Beavers" <rbeavers@llion.org>
To: emfguru <rbeavers@llion.org>
--------------------------------------------------
......I just sent you an item from the Washington Post which reported
on the role of BIG $$$$$$$ telecom industry contributors within the Al
Gore campaign..... The item below is also descriptive of how our system
works..... (Guru offers one comment at the bottom of the following.)
Roy Beavers (EMFguru)......
rbeavers@llion.org.......
.....It is better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness.....
EMF-L web-site can be found at:
EMF-L archives can be found at:
..................PEOPLE ARE MORE IMPORTANT THAN PROFITS..................
..........DO YOU KNOW OF OTHERS WHO SHOULD BE ON THIS LIST?????...........
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01:45 AM ET 06/01/99
Lobbyists Court Lawmakers With Trips
By LARRY MARGASAK=
Associated Press Writer=
WASHINGTON (AP) _ Rep. Larry Combest and his wife stayed at the
Boca Raton Resort & Club in Florida in March, courtesy of the
Futures Industry Association _ the trade group for the commodity
futures industry.
The Texas Republican's bill included dinner tabs for $167 and
$141 per person, $504 per night in lodging costs and $316 in
golf-related expenses over two days.
Privately sponsored trips to places like Boca Raton, Palm
Springs, Calif., and Hawaii are _ along with lobbying and campaign
donations _ part of a coordinated strategy by special interests to
influence Congress. While congressional ethics rules sharply limit
most gifts, these trips are allowed for events like speeches,
fact-finding and conferences.
For members of Congress, the accommodations are often more plush
than the standard government hotel room. Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb.,
and his wife were put up in a $900-a-night suite in Orlando, Fla.,
in February by a banking group. Hagel is a member of the Senate
Banking Committee.
Three House members and 11 aides converged on the white sands of
Hawaii's Hapuna Beach in January as guests of the American
Association of Airport Executives.
The association of airport officials paid for the airfare, meals
and hotel rooms so the congressional group could participate in an
aviation conference along with airline executives, plane
manufacturers and others in the air transport industry.
The players include old-line trade associations and companies _
such as representatives of banks, railroads and manufacturers _ and
new political forces like computer software giant Microsoft Corp.
Rep. Martin Olav Sabo, D-Minn., who attended the Hawaii
conference at a resort hotel where all the rooms had oceanfront
views, admitted, ``It's not a bad place in January. I wouldn't
describe it as a torture chamber.''
But Sabo said the trip was worthwhile because there was ``a lot
of serious work'' on airport funding issues.
Charles Lewis, of the government watchdog group Center for
Public Integrity, said such privately financed trips are a conflict
of interest for lawmakers.
``It's all part of an elaborate strategy by most special
interests _ it's one arrow in their quiver,'' Lewis said. ``They
... take them on lavish trips, hobnob with them on golf courses,
they bring cash to the campaigns. And guess what? It works.''
The airport executives who hosted Sabo have a huge stake in
legislation to renew the federal trust fund that finances airport
construction, and to increase airport passenger fees.
The association spent more than $175,000 on lobbying last year,
just a small portion of the $36 million in lobbying spent by the
air transportation industry in 1998. The industry's political
action committees made more than $5 million in contributions in the
1997-98 campaign cycle.
Air transportation interests contributed $6,250 to Sabo, $22,480
to Rep. Ron Packard, R-Calif., and $500 to Rep. Hal Rogers, R-Ky.,
in 1997-98 _ the three congressmen who attended the Hawaii
conference, records show.
Microsoft spokesman Adam Sohn said the company also invites
lawmakers to its headquarters near Seattle to combine discussions
of the issues with technology demonstrations that ``we often can't
bring to Washington.''
``Members reach out to us and say we'd like to get a look at
this,'' he said. ``That's what we're looking to showcase.''
About 20 members of Congress and 50 aides have visited in recent
months, Sohn said, without specifying how many trips were paid by
Microsoft.
In House records, 13 congressional staffers reported trips paid
by Microsoft to its Redmond, Wash., headquarters. Microsoft spent
$3.7 million on lobbying last year, and its political action
committee made $264,500 in contributions in 1997-98.
Other examples of private trips:
_Rogers and House Democratic Whip David Bonior of Michigan
traveled to Palm Springs in February to speak to executives at the
U.S. Telephone Association conference. Communications interests
gave Bonior $52,500 and Rogers $36,399 in the 1997-98 campaign
cycle, records show.
The trade group, representing large regional phone companies and
smaller operations interested in revision of telecommunications
law, spent $1.3 million on lobbying last year.
_A consumer electronics exhibit in Las Vegas _ billed as the
world's largest trade show _ attracted Reps. Howard Berman,
D-Calif.; Mac Collins, R-Ga.; Bob Goodlatte, R-Va.; Jay Inslee,
D-Wash.; and Paul Gillmor, R-Ohio.
Their travel in January was paid by an arm of the Electronic
Industries Alliance, which spent $560,000 for lobbying last year.
_Hagel was the featured speaker at the American Bankers
Association' conference in Orlando in February. The expenses
included $2,747 for three nights at the Cypress Grand Hyatt for
Hagel and his wife.
Peter Blocklin, lobbyist for the group, said the association
rented a suite ``like we do for all members (of Congress). It was
the peak season.''
The bankers association spent $4.6 million in lobbying last
year. Hagel received $58,000 in donations from banking interests in
1997-98.
_The New York Stock Exchange and Merrill Lynch jointly paid the
$341 bill for a night's stay for each of 13 congressional staffers
who visited the exchange this year. Merrill Lynch, whose political
committee doled out $252,600 in 1997-98, is pushing legislation to
allow securities firms, banks and insurance companies to sell the
same financial products. The company spent $3.8 million in lobbying
in 1998.
[......$3.8 million by one company!!! How much did you spend -- Joe
Sixpack -- ???????.......guru.......]
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Archive provided courtesy of WaveGuide, http://www.wave-guide.org
Reprinted with permission of Roy Beavers, http://www.feb.se/EMF-L/EMF-L.html