Dick Cheney (Corporate Interests, Anti-Environment) 

FACT: After a prolonged energy crisis in California, Dick Cheney outlined the Bush Administration's approach to energy policy. He called for more energy production, and less reliance on energy conservation. The centerpiece of the Administration's proposal is their plan to drill for oil in Alaska's Arctic Natural Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), an environmentally disastrous idea that would provide little relief to Californians and not for years in the future.

Corporate Bastards (Corporate interests, Tax evasion) 

FACT: A recent study by two finance professors at Florida International University showed that multinational corporations managed to avoid paying $45 billion in U.S. taxes last year by overpricing goods sold to foreign affiliates, and underpricing goods bought from those same affiliates. Selling toothbrushes for $5,655 and buying bulldozers for $528 were typical.

COMMENT: These are the same companies to which Bush's corporate welfare program has been distributing billions of our tax dollars. They are the companies that search for offshore tax shelter in Bermuda and the Cayman Islands. They are the Airlines that hire the "lowest bidders" to protect us from terrorism and they are the Energy companies that inflate prices and steal employees' pensions (Enron).

Corporate Bastards (Greed, Corporate Interests, Aristocracy, Anti-Patriotic) 

FACT: An article in the New York Times makes note of the latest trend in legalized tax-dodging - incorporating in Bermuda. The best part of the deal is that corporations get to drastically reduce their tax burden while still being able to perform business in the United States. According to the Times, "by moving to Bermuda, their income from outside the United States becomes exempt from American taxes. Also, when the American company borrows from its Bermuda parent, the interest it pays creates a deduction that reduces U.S. taxes, but there is no tax on the interest earned by the Bermuda parent."

COMMENT: Post 9/11, Patriotism has become a big issue. The Bush administration publicly cries foul when someone isn't wrapping themselves in the flag or (God forbid) questioning the motives of the administration even though everything they do is "in the name of national security" (you know, overturning Roe v. Wade, corporate welfare and tax cuts to the rich. The usual.) In the mean time we are learning that "patriotism" doesn't apply to Bush's buddies and/or corporate pocket-pumpers. Indeed, the ever-so-patriotic Kate Barton, an Ernst & Young tax partner, had this to say on the subject of patriotism: "Is it the right time to be migrating a corporation's headquarters to an offshore location? ... we are working through a lot of companies who feel that it is, that just the improvement on earnings is powerful enough that maybe the patriotism issue needs to take a back seat to that." 
 

FACT: It was reported by Roll Call that Delay "personally recommended to Enron officials that they hire the team of strategists who make up the inner circle of his political and fundraising machine." So that they could, "secretly conduct an aggressive grassroots campaign pushing energy deregulation." Enron took DeLay's advice and awarded a $750,000 contract to his strategists to do just that. According to Roll Call, "The previously undisclosed connection between DeLay and Enron offers a glimpse into how the Texas lawmaker and the corporate giant combined forces behind closed doors to deliver a bare-knuckled political punch aimed at breaking a legislative logjam frustrating efforts to deregulate the $300 billion-a-year electricity market, a top goal of both Enron and DeLay." 
 

FACT: When questioned about Ken Lay's access to the president. "The President thinks that access should be across the board…And that's why the Sierra Club, for example, as you know, met repeatedly with the energy task force." In reality, the Sierra Club wasn't allowed to meet with anyone from the White House until after the energy policy was written and released, and even then, they were prevented from meeting with the full energy task force. 

Dennis Hastert (Campaign Finance, Corporate Interests, Lies) 

FACT: According to the Associated Press, "Hastert privately cautioned Republicans that passage of campaign finance legislation could doom the GOP's grip on power in the House." 

COMMENT: Wait! What about individuals' right to free speech? I thought that was the reason for campaign finance outrage on the right. So in fact, it's about buying power. Who'd a thunk it?

Trent Lott (Nepotism, Corporate Interests) 07/2002

FACT: The son of Senator Lott has been quietly lobbying Congress for over a year, according to Roll Call. Lott Jr. was paid $60,000 by BellSouth for work he did while the telecom company was engaged in a battle over the Tauzin-Dingell bill to deregulate the broadband Internet business. A BellSouth VP deneys that his contact had anything to do with his hiring "I literally didn't think about what was going on in the Senate," said the BellSouth VP. "We didn't hire them because of the familial relationship." 

Gale Norton (Corporate Interests, Oil, Anti-Environment)

FACT: On the Department of Interior website there is a short video titled "ANWR in Winter." The video produced by pro-drilling lobbyists, shows clips of a barren arctic tundra, which appears completely devoid of life. You see, Norton wants you to think "wasteland" not "pristine wilderness" whenever you think of ANWR. The fact of the matter is, however, it's illegal for agencies to distribute film "designed to support or defeat legislation pending before the Congress

COMMENT: The day used to exist when our Interior Secretary actually protected the environment. Unfortunately, OIL is the top priority for Norton and the rest of the Bush administration, whether the issue is ANWR, Afgahnistan, the middle east, California blackouts Venezuelan dictators or anything else.

Gale Norton (Corporate Interests, Anti-Environment, Despicable Behavior) 

FACT: Gale Norton recently appointed Camden Toohey as her special assistant on Alaska, and he will help in "managing and protecting Alaska's nearly 270 million acres of Interior Department land." What you may not know about Camden Toohey is that in addition to his new role as Gale Norton's special assistant, he also happens to be executive director of the pro-oil development lobbying group Arctic Power. You may also be interested to know that his appointment was not subject to confirmation.

Marc Racicot (Corporate Interests, Anti-Environment) 

FACT: Marc Racicot, the new head of the Republican National Committee, was also representing seven different lobbying organizations. Of course, the GOP claimed that there would be absolutely no hint of a conflict of interest. So it is interesting to note that the Bush administration is preparing to announce regulatory changes which would favor big corporations and seriously weaken the 1970 Clean Air Act. "If these changes are implemented as we understand, industry would be allowed to increase their emissions significantly more than what they would be allowed under existing law," said S. William Becker, executive director of the State and Territorial Air Pollution Program Administrators and the Association of Local Air Pollution Control Officials. Not that this is much of a surprise for an administration as anti-environment as this one. So what does this all have to do with Marc Racicot? Well,  one of the lobbying organizations he works for have been recently engaged in intensive lobbying to weaken the Clean Air Act. It looks like having the head of the RNC on your team can do wonders for your lobbying power. Conflict of interest? Nonsense!

Mark Racicot (Conflict of Interest, Corporate Interests) 

FACT: When Jim Gilmore was fired as head of the RNC earlier this year his replacement was chosen quickly. Marc Racicot - successful politician and close friend of George W. Bush, was nominated to fill the empty chair. However, according to the Washington Post, Racicot is also a "major player in Washington's lobbying industry." And he has no intention to step down from that role, even as he heads the party that holds both the White House and the House of Representatives. Racicot is currently registered as a lobbyist with seven organizations, (including Enron) but he is sticking with the National Electric Reliability Coordinating Council, who is currently engaged in intensive lobbying to weaken the Clean Air Act. Last week, Jennifer Palmieri, a spokeswoman for the DNC, said, "There is a real potential there for abuse, but the decision is ultimately up to the Republican Party." 

Republicans (Corporate Interests) 

FACT: Last week, George W. Bush agreed with Democrats that the best way to improve airline security is to have the federal government take over security measures in airportsThe private sector failed by putting our lives at risk so they could hire poorly trained people at minimum wage. However, conservatives in the House refused to go along with the deal. According to the Washington Post, GOP leaders in the House "did not want their members to be forced to take a difficult vote — to choose between a larger federal workforce or greater airport security." 

COMMENT: God forbid that republicans be forced to make a decision. It's probably for the best, though, since history has shown that they wouldn't dare side with the average American.

Republicans: (Lies, Enron) 

FACT: Most people are now familiar with the story of Bill Clinton's fabled golf game with Ken Lay (Head of Enron). From the way the story has been reported, you may have been led to believe that Clinton and Lay were old time golf buddies. In reality, It turns out that Clinton did play golf with Lay - once. And it's not even what you think. The facts are, from the Washington Post's "Names and Faces" back in 1993: "Clinton began his vacation with a bipartisan golf match Saturday at the Country Club of the Rockies in Vail, Colo., teaming up with fellow Democrat (and golf pro) Jack Nicklaus to take on the Republican duo of former president Gerald Ford and Houston businessman Ken Lay." 

COMMENT: Well, it does have about as much merit as all the rest of the faux Clinton scandals that the right-wing has made up over the years.

Republicans (Corporate Interests, Enron) 

FACT: Enron gave 73% of it's nearly $5.8 million in political donations to Republicans since 1989. During the last 2000 campaign, Enron chief executive Ken Lay raised over $350,000 for the Republican Party and his buddy George W. Bush. For most of the year 2001, Enron's donations favored Republicans by a ratio of 9 to 1. Then, only a week before declaring bankruptcy, the company abruptly changed course and gave $100K to the Democrats (who then decided to give the money to charity).

Republicans (Corporate Interests, Right wIng Media) 

FACT: Enron gave 73% of it's nearly $5.8 million in political donations to Republicans since 1989. During the last 2000 campaign, Enron chief executive Ken Lay raised over $350,000 for the Republican Party and his buddy George W. Bush. For most of the year 2001, Enron's donations favored Republicans by a ratio of 9 to 1. Then, only a week before declaring bankruptcy, the company abruptly changed course and gave $100K to the Democrats (who then decided to give the money to charity).

Karl Rove (Conflict of Interest, Lies, Criminal, Corporate Interest) 

FACT: Bush's top adviser, Karl Rove owned more than $250,000 of stock in Intel Corporation while he met with the company's chief executive and two lobbyists as they pushed for federal approval of a corporate merger. The administration approved the deal less than two months later, bringing Rove a fat profit.

Ann M. Veneman (Corporate Interests, Punishing the Children, despicable behavior) 

FACT: The Agriculture Department proposed to get rid of the federal rule that requires the meat in school lunches be free of salmonella! Of course, if you're going to risk the lives of school children to pay off the meat industry, you can't have the Secretary of Agriculture call a press conference herself to announce it. So they got a low-level staffer to float the idea - just to see if anyone would notice. Faced with a massive outcry from consumer groups and parents, Veneman flip-flopped "The safety of our food supply, particularly school lunches for our children, is an extremely important issue and USDA will continue to take appropriate steps to ensure the safest possible food supply is available for all consumers." 

American Taxpayers Alliance (Corporate Interests, Despicable Behavior)

FACT: The American Taxpayers Alliance started running a TV ad in California last week attacking Governor Gray Davis for failing to protect the public from rising energy costs. Despite their seemingly altruistic motives, the "American Taxpayers Alliance" is actually a front group for hundreds of corporations, including Texas-based Reliant Energy, a firm with board members that include James Baker and Bush fundraiser Steve Ledbetter. 

COMMENT: So, Californians - energy companies are selling electricity to you at vastly over-inflated prices, then spending the profits on TV ads attacking your governor for failing to stop them. How do you feel? 

Tom Feeney (Corporate Interests, Cronyism) 04/2002

FACT: It was reported that the Orlando regional transit authority (Lynx) voted to ask Jeb Bush to deny a bill proposed by Florida House Speaker Tom Feeney. The bill would shut down the agency's transportation program for the poor and elderly. In addition, if the bill is passed, a firm represented by a very good friend of Tom Feeney gets to take over Lynx's $47 million transit contract.