Despite Rhetoric, Obama Pushed Lobbyists’ Interests

[Karmadillo]

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/07/16/2561/

Despite Rhetoric, Obama Pushed Lobbyists’ Interests
by Justin Rood

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But last year, at the request of a hired representative for an Australian-owned chemical corporation Nufarm, Obama introduced nine separate bills exempting the company from import fees on a range of chemical ingredients it uses in the manufacture of pesticides and herbicides. Nufarm’s U.S. subsidiary is based in Illinois.

Nufarm wasn’t the only beneficiary of Obama’s efforts to reduce customs fees and duties. In early May of 2006, two Washington lobbyists registered to work on behalf of Astellas Pharma, a Japanese-owned drug company which also has offices in Illinois.

The lobbyists’ task? “Introduce legislation to temporarily suspend customs duties for the importation of a pharmaceutical ingredient,” they wrote on their lobbying forms. Less than three weeks later, the men had earned their $20,000 fee, thanks to Obama. On May 26, he introduced S. 3155, a bill specifically exempting Astellas’ key ingredient from tariff payments. The bill cost the federal government more than $1 million in lost revenue, according to government estimates.

Together, Obama’s obscure measures — known as tariff suspensions — steered more than $12 million away from federal coffers, according to government estimates.

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Economics aside, some medical researchers also harbor concerns over 2,4 D. Studies have purported to find a link between high exposure to the chemical and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a type of cancer. Defenders of the chemical say it is safe, and note that even scientists who believe a link exists cannot explain how the chemical may cause the cancer.

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[rodeodance]

1. ummmm

[draft_mario_cuomo]

2. Does anyone know how much the coal industry has given him? nt

[jmp]

3. Every polititian ...

Pushes lobbyist interests.

[democratsin08]

7. exactly

they must think we are fools to think any of them refuse lobbyist money. for instance, do they refuse money from environmental groups?

[Mass]

9. Or from unions?

[Clintonista2]

24. Then why do people attack Hillary when she says she won't stop taking lobbyist money?

Why the double standard?

[journalist3072]

4. When the hypocrites, come marching in.......eom

[democratsin08]

5. they are all knee deep in lobbyist money

are any of them refusing teachers unions money or trial lawyers money or auto workers money?

this is really an exercise in hypocrisy by all the candidates.

[durrrty libby]

13. It is not hypocrisy by Hillary because she was honest about it

[rinsd]

6. Hmmm Obama accusing his opponents of behavior he himself is guilty of?

Well, I never!

[Mass]

8. So ABC is busy destroying Obama these days? Interesting!

Just in case anybody cares, Obama was doing what EVERY SENATOR DOES AND IS ELECTED TO DO, work for the good of his state.

[emilyg]

10. Thanks

I was going to post this - but don't know how to link.

[durrrty libby]

12. Left click and highlight the url

then right click and "copy" the highlight

then right click and "paste" the url in the message

Hope that helps

[emilyg]

20. Thank you very much.

:hug:

[geek tragedy]

11. You forgot the Drudge Siren. Also, note that

he didn't get a dime from that lobbyist or that lobbyist's client.

But, never mind that . . .

[sandnsea]

14. For $1100 dollars??

Are you seriously trying to say Obama's office worked on these bills for, well, nothing in the one case - and $1100 in the other??

"A review of campaign finance records turned up no record of contributions from Nufarm to Obama. Astellas Pharma employees gave $1,100 to Obama’s campaign in recent months, the documents show."

Part of a Senator's job is to look out for industry in his own state.

[Karmadillo]

15. If he wants to do the bidding of lobbyists, he shouldn't make statements that imply

he's above such things. Stuff like this:

http://www.barackobama.com/2007/06/22/remarks_of_senator_barack_obam_17.php

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And once again, we are faced with a politics that makes all of this possible. In the last six years, our leaders have thrown open the doors of Congress and the White House to an army of Washington lobbyists who have turned our government into a game only they can afford to play - a game played on a field that's no longer level, but rigged to always favor their own narrow agendas.

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[sandnsea]

16. Campaign contributing lobbyists

Which any honest individual knows.

Only a conniving triangulator like Hillary could conceive that this means that she should take bucketloads of money for political favors.

[Karmadillo]

17. That's not what he said.

He said lobbying, itself, is a bad thing. It allows the powerful to manipulate the government in ways the rest of us can't.

http://www.barackobama.com/2007/06/22/remarks_of_senator_barack_obam_17.php

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The drug and insurance industries spent $1 billion in lobbying over the last decade. They got what they paid for when their friends in Congress broke the rules and twisted arms to push through a prescription drug bill that actually made it illegal for our own government to negotiate with the pharmaceutical companies for cheaper drug prices. Once it passed, those companies rewarded fifteen government officials and Congressmen who worked on the bill with cushy lobbying jobs that pay millions.

And yet, right now, there are parents and grandparents in this country who will walk into a drugstore and wonder how their Social Security check isgoing to cover a prescription that's more expensive than it was a month ago; who will be forced to choose between their medicine and their groceries because they can no longer afford both.

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The oil companies were allowed to craft energy policy with Dick Cheney in secret while every other voice was silenced - including the NASA scientists who tried to warn us about the dangers of climate change. The industry got everything it wanted, and it even got one of its top lobbyists a job at the White House as an environmental watchdog - a job he used to fix reports that showed a link between carbon emissions and global warming.

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[sandnsea]

18. And wouldn't take money from them

I guess Im missing the part where he said his own constituents could take a flying leap if any paid person ever called Obama's office.

Honestly, I know the Clinton campaign has the BEST op-research team money can buy. If this is honestly the best they've come up with - lolololol. Get real. $1100??? Please. Post it far and wide.

[Karmadillo]

21. Helping his constituents? By giving Nufarm a $1 million break while they raised prices

on American farmers? This politics of change sure does sound a lot like the politics of the same old thing.

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/07/16/2561

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In a statement to ABC News defending the measures, Obama’s spokesman echoed Junker’s argument.
“Just like he fought for funding to ensure Chicago’s transit system remains affordable and to invest in ethanol research, Senator Obama helped keep costs low for Illinois residents by helping them get the goods they need to do their jobs,” Ben LaBolt wrote.

But the company’s financial reports indicate that may not be the case. In a glowing financial report issued just two months after Obama introduced Nufarm’s numerous tariff-lifting bills, Nufarm told its shareholders it was making more money than ever before in North America because it had increased its prices on its U.S. and Canadian customers, predominantly farmers.

Nufarm saw “strong revenue growth” in North America, it said in a July 31, 2006, company report. “Net profit was also up strongly,” driven in part by “price rises on key products,” it said. Nufarm trades on the Australian Stock Exchange.

[sandnsea]

22. That's a different argument

I don't know enough about this particular company to say one way or the other. I'm just saying this company has nothing to do with Obama's campaign against lobbying money and influence.

I don't like the company because they deal in 2,4-D and I'm personally not convinced it doesn't cause problems on its own.

[Karmadillo]

23. It makes the campaign against lobbying influence kind of hypocritical when he's

doing the bidding of lobbyists. If they have a role to play, he should say so. If that role is too expansive, he should point out where with specifics (maybe even examples involving Republicans). Has Obama pointed out any instance of Clinton acting in a way that benefited a lobbyist while hurting her constituents?

[sandnsea]

25. These are his constituents

There was no donation or fundraiser in one instance, $1100 in the other. The Clinton India lobby has been well reported, since you asked for an example, and she doesn't object to pandering to lobbyists anyway. She gleefully does exactly what you pretend to object to. If you have a problem with lobbyists, then you have a problem with Hillary. If you don't, then I don't know what you're blathering about.

[Karmadillo]

27. Keep repeating your own blather and I'm sure it will magically turn into the politics of hope.

At least for you.

[illinoisprogressive]

19. there are alot of people in the southern part of the state that depend on it for work

it is his job as our senator to help with jobs and the people in southern Il. want these jobs.

[killbotfactory]

26. Is Obama supposed to take a contrary stance to that of every lobbyist in the US?

A review of campaign finance records turned up no record of contributions from Nufarm to Obama. Astellas Pharma employees gave $1,100 to Obama’s campaign in recent months, the documents show.

So there is no evidence that Obama is engaging in the corrupt lobbyist behavior he is criticizing.

The problem with lobbyists is that they have been basically wining, dining, and bribing politicians to act against the best interests of the constituents they represent.