Posted on 07/17/2009 2:20:41 AM PDT by BCrago66
The American Conservative Union asked FedEx for a $2 million check in return for the group’s endorsement in a bitter legislative dispute, then flipped and sided with UPS after FedEx refused to pay. In return for the $2 million, ACU offered a range of services that included: “Producing op-eds and articles written by ACU’s Chairman David Keene and / or other members of the ACU’s board of directors. (Note that Mr. Keene writes a weekly column that appears in The Hill.)” The conservative group’s remarkable demand — black-and-white proof of the longtime Washington practice known as “pay for play” — was contained in a private letter to FedEx that was provided to POLITICO.
Should I know about this American Conservative Union?
did they forget they ain’t Democrats?
This needs to be investigated. If true, some people need to go to jail. However, the Obama Justice Department will obviously not touch it.
Signers of the letter backing the Democrats against Federal Express:
“”Malcolm Wallop
U.S. Senator (ret.)
George C. Landrith
President, Frontiers of Freedom
Grover Norquist
President, Americans for Tax Reform
David Keene
President, American Conservative Union
James L. Martin
President, 60 Plus
Chuck Muth
President, Citizen Outreach
Karen Kerrigan
President & CEO, Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council
Duane Parde
President, National Taxpayers Union””
David Keene, 25 year hack at ACU, and Romney supporter.
Of course you should. ACU hosts CPAC.
fyi
David Keene and the ACU are fairly prominent; been around for a while. This will be a big story in the blogisphere and MSM today, warranted or not. Scanning the story so far, it does not seem unethical to charge for mailings, mass emails, etc. in a publicity campaign. The problem arises with collecting cash for editorials in newspapers and for the public “endorsement” of the FedEx position by the American Conservative Union. But I don’t know what to think yet.
Here’s the PDFs of the letters to FedEx.
The 1st: ACU offering its services:
http://www.politico.com/static/PPM130_fedex_grassroots_proposal_6-30-09_final.html
The 2nd: ACU and other conservative groups rejecting FedEx’s position:
http://www.politico.com/static/PPM130_feex_letter.html
As somebody who first knew Dave Keene 45 years ago I wish I could say that this is unthinkable, but I can’t. I hope it is not true.
Background on this scandal. The Democrats and their unions are trying to destroy FedEx:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/jun/09/kneecapping-fedex/
“”EDITORIAL: Kneecapping FedEx: Democrats carry freight for Teamsters and UPS
FedEx Express is learning what could be the Democrats’ economic motto — “Never Let Success Go Unpunished.”
Led by Rep. James L. Oberstar, Minnesota Democrat, the House on May 21 passed legislation that contains an almost hidden provision — a mere 230 words — that would hobble FedEx Express. It would do so by completely changing the labor laws under which the company operates. Unless the Senate removes the language from the underlying bill reauthorizing the Federal Aviation Administration, a mere dozen or so workers in just one city could hamstring much of the nation’s overnight delivery service....
The RLA does not, however, apply to non-rail, mostly ground-transportation companies such as the United Parcel Service. UPS instead is governed by the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), the terms of which favor unions such as the Teamsters, which represents UPS drivers. Naturally, this means UPS and the Teamsters both have an interest in kneecapping FedEx Express. Together, the ground-delivery company and the union have executed what The Hill newspaper called a lobbying “pincer movement” to transfer authority over FedEx Express from the RLA to the NLRA.
The UPS corporate political action committee has “given more money to federal lawmakers than any other company over two decades,” according to Bloomberg News, with $77,900 from UPS employees going to Mr. Oberstar since 1989. The Teamsters, who lean heavily Democratic, have donated $86,500 to Mr. Oberstar during that period....””
Money can corrupt anyone, can’t it?
I’m on FedEx’s side on this, but it would be nice if FedEx took the position that UPS too should be freed of union shackles, rather than simply pleading for itself, and thereby trying to maintain its advantage in an uneven regulatory playing field.
Almost everyone MAY have a price, but for many their price would price them out of the market. David has been pretty ‘flexible’ politically over the years, see his denouncing of Sarah Palin last week, so I hope he has not been ‘flexible’ here as well.
Thanks. The name David Keene did sound familiar, but I wasn’t sure from where.
Having reviewed the copies of the letters that you linked, the posting seems to draw conclusions that aren’t supported by the letters.
They're regulated differently because they are different businesses. UPS trucks 85% of its volume, FedEx flies 85% of theirs.
This is nothing more that union thuggery, aided and abetted - as usual - by libtards in the Congress.
Not that anyone cares, as in - “I don’t know what to think until I hear BCrago66 weigh in.” - but cancel my remark in comment #12. I need to educate myself more about the particular regulatory situation of FedEx v. UPS, before I know what I’m talking about.
He might say that he was only offering (lobbying and mailing) services and that UPS was the high bidder. However, this just stinks. It reminds me of the supposedly prolife people who signed up to work for Rudy Giuliani in the recent campaign because they “needed a job.”
If the worst implications of this are true, that Keene essentially told FedEx ‘give us 2 million dollars or we will oppose you politically’ it would amount to extortion, at least morally. It would be political poison.
Gypses Tramps & Thieves
Sounds like ACU asked for money to serve as a PR firm. That’s done every day in America. A bit pricey, I think, but let the market decide.
Besides, I wouldn’t trust Politico to report a sun rise correctly. The whole thing reads like a Goebbel’s propaganda operation.
Politico is fairly new, unlike the rat party or the NYT. The left wing is constantly moving and reinventing itself to hide rabble rousers, known dirty deeds and its connections to assorted communist, racist and fascist leaders and organizations.
It would be the conservative version of the Jesse Jackson/Operation PUSH game, in fact.
The ethics more broadly would explain why Romney, if I recall correctly, flooded CPAC with voters to win the CPAC straw polls and Keene bizarrely blasted Palin, who is by far better liked by the ACU’s supposed actual constituents.
And yet destroying a rotten ACU could actually help conservatives to organize more effectively—if the appearances here are accurate.
Well we are going to find out quickly, one hopes. Having this thing drag on for months would be most unfortunate.
Was this a bribe or the cost for ACU’s campaign services?
If you read the report it points out the cost ACU is charging isn’t some sort of bribe. It is the administrative cost of running a campaign against a piece of particular legislation. What do you think lobbying firms do?
And why do you think FedEx leaked the letter to POLITICO? Are they just concerned about conservatives being fooled by the ACU into thinking they are principled? Or is this a shrude political battle?
Endorsed Specter over Toomey in 2004.
Their motivation is irrelevant. The truth or falsity of the charge is what counts.
Or is this a shrude political battle?
Well, it is administrative costs if you are willing to work for your side to help them win a principle. If they aren't willing to pay and then you do a 180 on your position and go to the other side and offer your "endorsement and administrative costs" it begins to look like bribery.
Anytime the government is trying to write rules that hurt you and help your competition, you are engaged in a political battle, whether shrewd or inelegant.
The ACU is not a correct name for Keanne and his RINO disciples.
I remember some here on FR touting the ACU "conservative" rating of a certain presedential primary a while back. Prior to that, I hadn't even heard of the ACU. Obviously, it's just a front organization for the socialist RINO's that seem bent on destroying what's left of the Republican party.
There are no circumstances under which they should have supported the Democrat/anti-free enterprise position against FedEx.
http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0709/The_Conservative_Union_for_rent.html
“”The American Conservative Union asked FedEx for a check for $2 million to $3 million in return for the group’s endorsement in a bitter legislative dispute, then flipped and sided with UPS after FedEx refused to pay.
For the $2 million+, ACU offered a range of services that included: “Producing op-eds and articles written by ACU’s Chairman David Keene and / or other members of the ACU’s board of directors. (Note that Mr. Keene writes a weekly column that appears in The Hill.)”
The conservative group’s remarkable demand — black-and-white proof of the longtime Washington practice known as “pay for play” — was contained in a private letter to FedEx that was provided to POLITICO.
The letter exposes the practice by some political interest groups of taking stands not for reasons of pure principle, as their members and supporters might assume, but also in part because a sponsor is paying big money.
Maury Lane, FedEx’s director of corporate communications, said: “Clearly the ACU shopped their beliefs and UPS bought.”””
More like whores.
http://www.newsmax.com/kessler/keene_endorses_romney/2007/11/29/53324.html
“”Dave Keene, president of The American Conservative Union, has endorsed Mitt Romney for president. The endorsement is a pivotal moment in the 2008 campaign.
Keene, who endorsed Romney on Thursday, tells Newsmax that Romney is a “good conservative” and “the best of the bunch.”
A bulwark of the conservative movement, Keene has headed the ACU, the country’s oldest and largest conservative grass-roots lobbying group, since 1984. With 1 million members, the ACU runs the Conservative Political Action Committee’s (CPAC) annual conference in Washington and publishes an annual Rating of Congress — the gold standard for ideological assessments of members of Congress.
Among conservatives, no one is more highly respected than Keene. As second vice president of the National Rifle Association, he will automatically become president of the organization in three and a half years.
Deal Clincher
Keene’s endorsement is likely to galvanize fellow conservatives in Romney’s direction.
For some time, Keene had been discussing issues with Romney, but he had not issued an endorsement because he is friends with some of the other Republican candidates. Romney clinched the deal with him when they met in St. Petersburg for two hours the day before the Republican debate, Keene said.
“Romney spent most of Tuesday preparing for the debate; then at the end of the day, we spent a couple hours together; and then afterward I had dinner with his campaign manager Beth Meyers and Peter Flaherty who was his deputy chief of staff as governor, and Al Cardenas, who is one of my very closest friends,” Keene said.
Jeb Bush’s former finance chairman, Cardenas is on Keene’s board and chairs Romney’s National Hispanic Steering Committee.
“I had basically come to the conclusion that it is coming down to a race between Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney,” Keene said. “And the reason I decided to break my neutrality, which I’ve maintained from the beginning, is that the Mike Huckabee surge in Iowa could easily derail the Romney momentum that he’s going to need to break through what Rudy Giuliani calls his firewall in Florida before the big primaries. And I therefore think it’s important that conservatives who think that Romney is the best of the bunch and are concerned about the impact of a Giuliani nomination on the conservative coalition and the general election, have to come out now because in essence a vote for Huckabee in Iowa is a vote for Rudy.”
Despite being friends with many of the candidates, Romney and Fred Thompson were the only two that he really considered supporting....””
I believe at least one more of our contemporaries has been employed by Keene at ACU.
Why am I betting that ACU is a 501(c)(4) organization and not supposed to be lobbying?
Donald Devine is one of the senior staff there.
That’s the one I was thinking of. PUHLEEEEZE answer your FReepmail.
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