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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: marcos who wrote (11540)	11/25/2001 2:43:25 PM
From: Hawkmoon	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 281500

Y'know something Marcos... Lobbyists can be hired by ANYONE.. Corporations, special interest groups, or even a single individual willing to fork out the cash. Lobbyists are a necessary evil when certain individuals seek to petition the government for their case to be heard. And there is a definite stink that can be raised when their cause is just. I don't know much about the timber issue, but it's been a major concern that Canadians have been dumping timber on the US markets and that there are apparently certain government subsidies that US timber companies don't possess. That said, certain "US" timber companies are actually owned by foreigners, particularly Japan, and have been involved in cutting down pristine old growth forest in the Tongass, and then exporting the timber "in the round", or in cant form, depriving US lumber mills the ability to pre-process that product for export. There was a big stink in the '80s and early '90s about how the US forest service was involved in expanding road networks into the Tongass, thus creating a subsidy for these foreign timber companies when it came to developing the infrastructure for accessing this timber. Of course, there is the absolutely logical rational that the USFS has to have roads into these areas in order to deploy firefighting equipment and personnel. It's a complicated issue, obviously. And that's why you have lobbyists, some from the corporations, and many from the environmental lobby. Then there are the lobbyist who represent those who depend upon the timber industry for their livelihood. Hawk