Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: jraz1 who wrote (127222)	2/15/2001 12:38:42 PM
From: Patricia Trinchero	Respond to of 769667

MERCENARY MAN Bush's Chief of Staff Fought for Polluters As their top lobbyist, Andrew H. Card Jr. led a $25 million lobbying campaign on behalf of the "Big Three" U.S. automakers, often fighting against higher environmental standards. Now, as chief of staff to President George W. Bush, Card may be in a position to steer U.S. policy favorably for his former employers, who contributed generously to Bush's campaign and inaugural committees. The Center for Public Integrity's analysis of more than 600 pages of lobbying records shows that groups associated with Card, including the American Automobile Manufacturers Association, the Air Quality Standards Coalition and General Motors Corp., spent almost $25 million in the last five years lobbying the federal government. And when either the American Automobile Manufacturers Association or General Motors lobbied for environmental or energy policies, records indicate that Card was usually involved. Card will wield considerable power in the Bush administration. "The chief of staff plays a central role in the White House," said Terry Sullivan, who recently organized a "Forum on the Role of the White House Chief of Staff" for the Baker Institute for Public Policy at Rice University. "He organizes all confluent forces around the president and extends the president's reach." The chief of staff does act as a policy adviser to the president, according to Sullivan, but "a good chief of staff will tend to submerge his own policy interests." Card is the only chief of staff in the last twenty years to move directly from lobbying to the White House, and he is the highest ranking auto executive to serve in government since Ford Motor Co.'s Robert McNamara became John F. Kennedy's defense secretary in 1961. More than two decades ago, Card earned a reputation for fighting corruption as a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, where he established a commission to investigate fraud in construction at the University of Massachusetts. After serving in both the Reagan and Bush administrations, Card joined President George H.W. Bush's Cabinet in 1992, replacing Samuel K. Skinner as secretary of transportation. After a one-year stint in that post, he quickly took advantage of the government-corporate revolving door to become the chief lobbyist for the automobile industry. Card represented the interests of Ford, Chrysler and General Motors as president and CEO of the American Automobile Manufacturers Association from 1993 to 1998. Records analyzed by the Center show that the AAMA spent $15,099,317 at the federal level on lobbying expenses from 1996 to 1998, the last three years of Card's tenure. Coalition Sought to Block Pollution Regs In 1997, the AAMA joined more than 600 business and industry interests, including the National Association of Manufacturers and the American Petroleum Institute, to form the Air Quality Standards Coalition. The coalition sought to block increased Environmental Protection Agency air pollution regulations for low-level ozone and fine particulate matter. While Card did not lobby directly for the Air Quality Standards Coalition, he did serve as co-chair and spokesman for the group. From 1997 to June of 2000, the coalition spent approximately $600,000 on federal lobbying. The AAMA dissolved in 1998 because of the Chrysler merger with Daimler Benz, and Card immediately joined former AAMA patron General Motors as vice president of governmental relations. During Card's two-year stint at GM, the company spent $9,140,000 lobbying the federal government. As chief lobbyist for AAMA and later for GM, Card represented the auto industry on numerous fronts, ranging from bankruptcy laws to clean air standards to trade issues, but he spent much of his time lobbying environmental or energy policy. Reports filed by lobbying organizations are required to indicate the legislation or issues each lobbyist worked on in a given reporting period. The forms are organized by three-letter codes indicating a certain "issue area," such as "labor" or "education" or "budget," and list the specific legislation and lobbyists who worked in that area. An organization like the AAMA or GM may lobby in up to twenty different issue areas in one six-month reporting period. Lobbying reports analyzed by the Center show that Card, as the chief lobbyist for the AAMA, lobbied in 60 percent of the AAMA's issue areas in general and in 80 percent of issue areas that concerned environmental or energy policies. Half of Card's workload involved legislation or policies relating to environmental or energy issues. After moving to GM, Card lobbied in 89 percent of the company's issue areas and in 100 percent of environmental or energy-related issue areas. Here again, nearly half of Card's issue specialties concerned environmental or energy issues. While Card lobbied on a wide range of issues for AAMA and GM, the records show that whenever these two groups had an interest in environmental or energy legislation, Card was involved more than 90 percent of the time.