How SHOCKING.... Energy Firms Lavish Funds on Inauguration
By Pete Yost
The Associated Press
Saturday 18 December 2004
Washington - More than $4.5 million from the corporate world has flowed to President Bush's inauguration fund, much of it from the energy industry and some of its executives in contributions of $250,000 each.
Outside the energy sector, New Orleans Saints football team owner Tom Benson gave $50,000 and his companies gave $200,000, the fund reported Friday.
Northrop Grumman Corp., the world's largest shipbuilder and second-largest U.S. defense contractor, donated $100,000.
Michael Dell, chairman of Dell Inc., the world's largest personal computer maker, gave $250,000. So did United Technologies, maker products ranging from escalators to aircraft engines.
Investment banking firm Stephens Group Inc. of Little Rock, Ark., gave $250,000. And the education loan firm Sallie Mae gave $250,000.
Occidental Petroleum Corp., whose business stands to benefit from the president's actions concerning Libya, donated $250,000, as did Exxon Mobil, the world's largest publicly traded oil company. Exxon Mobil reported record third-quarter profits, thanks to higher prices for oil and natural gas.
In April, Bush took steps to restore normal trade and investment ties with Libya, enabling four American oil companies, including Occidental, to resume commercial activities there after an 18-year absence.
Bush's action was a reward to Moammar Gadhafi for eliminating his most destructive weapons programs.
Other donors from the energy sector included Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens, who gave $250,000; and former Enron President Richard Kinder, who left the firm five years before it collapsed and now is CEO of one of the largest energy transportation and storage companies in the country. Kinder also gave $250,000.
Energy provider Southern Co., which owns utility companies in Alabama, Florida, Georgia and Mississippi, gave $250,000.
The Nuclear Energy Institute, the policy organization of the nuclear industry, gave $100,000.
On the Web:
www.inaugural05.com/.
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Protesters May Not Have Swearing-In Spot
By Liz Sidoti
The Associated Press
Friday 17 December 2004
Washington - The park service has given the Presidential Inaugural Committee clearance to erect bleachers along parts of Pennsylvania Avenue where an anti-war group had requested permits to stage a large-scale protest during President Bush's parade.
The A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition had applied for permits to assemble, and in some cases build bleachers, along parts of the historic street that stretches from the Capitol to the White House.
The National Park Service has not acted on the coalition's permits.
However, angry coalition officials argued Friday that permitting the inaugural committee to build bleachers in several open spaces, such as Freedom Plaza, across from the White House, and in front of the FBI headquarters and Justice Department, prohibits the coalition from gathering in such areas to stage their large demonstrations.
"The goal, from the beginning, was equal access to Pennsylvania Avenue," Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, a representative of the Partnership for Civil Justice, which is working on behalf of A.N.S.W.E.R, said at a news conference. "We can't have what the PIC gets. They've issued a permit to another group for the same space we asked for."
Bill Line, a spokesman for park service's National Capital Region, said the coalition's complaints are premature.
"Just because PIC was granted a permit for construction of bleachers does not automatically in any way, shape or form preclude A.N.S.W.E.R. from being issued a permit," he said.
"We, the National Park Service, fully expect that we, the National Park Service, will issue a permit to A.N.S.W.E.R. for designated portions of the Pennsylvania Avenue sidewalks. In fact, we have had discussions with them where we have stated this directly."
He said the agency has an obligation to ensure that the public and demonstrators, regardless of their messages, are "fully allowed onto the many open areas of the Pennsylvania Avenue sidewalks on Jan. 20."
Coalition officials say they may consider a legal challenge to ensure access to a swath of space along Pennsylvania Ave.
"This is an attempt to disrupt the mobilization," said Brian Becker, the national coordinator of the group, whose acronym stands for Act Now to Stop War and End Racism. "We will not surrender this right without a fight."
Tracey Schmitt, an inaugural committee spokeswoman, said: "The parade is just one of the week's events that will provide access to the general public." |
