For Sale - One Country Slightly Used - Needs Work
 

Why would large corporations donate millions of dollars to a political party to ensure the election of a particular candidate? There are only two possible reasons. Either they are intensely patriotic and selfless and believe so strongly in that candidate's stand on the issues that they are willing to make a sacrifice and donate a large portion of their profits so that America and the rest of the American people can benefit from that candidate's leadership and ability to improve the quality of life for everyone, or it's an investment from which they expect to make large profits.

There is certainly nothing wrong with making a profit. America is a capitalist country and capitalism has enabled us to drive forward as a world leader. Making a profit however, through unethical, immoral and/or illegal means, or by the exploitation of American workers is another matter entirely. When the government, bought and paid for by those corporations, contrives to push legislation that equates to a corporate wish list, to the detriment of the American people and our nation, it is time for the voters to stand together and shout, ENOUGH!

This is not the first administration to reward big contributors or favor business before people. Lobbyists are not paid because they don't produce results. This is however, the first administration that has lacked the finesse and the patience that would gradually allow the corporate takeover of America. The blatant acts of the Bush regime to produce immediate results has given us a view of the agenda and methods used in the corporate grab of government. He has put industry leaders in charge of the very agencies designed to protect against violations from those same industries.

BUSH APPOINTEES

Undersecretary of Agriculture - Mark Rey - Oversees U.S. Forest Service - Formerly vice president of a trade assn. for paper and logging industries.

Deputy Undersecretary USDA - Chuck Lambert - Regulation of meat packing industry - Formerly with National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA), lobbyists for the cattle industry.

Deputy Secretary of Agriculture - Jim Moseley - Oversees meat safety
Formerly half owner AgRidge Farms and Infinity Pork, a hog farm.

Two other staffers had ties to NCBA and two more had ties to ConAgra Foods.

Director of Medicare Outreach - Julie Goon - Responsible for increasing public awareness on how Medicare works - Formerly an HMO lobbyist.

Tom Scully, the former administrator of Medicare and Medicaid was negotiating for the Republican proposed prescription drug bill while he was in job negotiations with the lobbying group for the drug industry. The bill which was eventually passed and signed prohibits seniors from buying their medications from Canada where the same drug sells for much less, a provision that definitely favors the drug companies.

Assistant Secretary of Energy for Congressional and Intergovernmental
Affairs - Dan Brouilette - Formerly a lobbyist for the oil and mining industries.

Francis Blake, who served as the Deputy Secretary of Energy from March 2001 to March 2002, had previously been a Senior Vice President at General Electric.

Assistant Secretary - Vicky Bailey - Formerly President of PSI Energy, Indiana's largest electric supplier.

Secretary of the Interior - Gale Norton - Formerly a senior attorney for Mountain States Legal Foundation funded by oil, mining, logging and grazing companies such as, Phelps Dodge, Exxon, Texaco and Chevron.

Deputy Secretary of Interior - J. Steven Griles - Formerly a lobbyist for Shell Oil, Texaco, Arch Coal and the National Mining Association.

Assistant Secretary For Water and Science - Bennett William Raley - Formerly lobbied against the Endangered Species Act and stricter water pollution controls.

Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management - W. Rebecca Watson - Formerly an attorney representing logging, mining and oil interests and off road vehicle associations.

Chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality - James Connaughton - Formerly a lobbyist for mining and chemical manufacturing industries.

Defense Policy Board members have come under fire for making decisions affecting personal gain. Nine of the 30 civilian members have ties to companies that received $75 billion in defense contracts awarded in the first two years of the Bush administration.

Assistant Attorney General for the Environment and Natural Resources - Thomas Sansonetti - Formerly a lobbyist for the coal industry and member of an anti-regulatory advocacy group.

Assistant EPA Administrator for Air and Radiation - Jeffrey Holmstead - Formerly an attorney representing an alliance comprised of American Electric Power, Cinergy, National Mining Association and other coal and utility companies in an effort to halt the EPA plan to reduce smog.

There are more appointments to these agency positions as well as ambassadorships that were handed out to contributors. The list looks like a comedy script to illustrate the concept of the fox guarding the henhouse. These people are responsible for contributing to policy decisions. Is it any wonder that George W. Bush has the worst presidential record on environmental protection and the best record of favoring the polluters and big business?

8-8-04