ib1yysguy
Junior Member
If there was ever any doubt that conservatives were just tools being used because of their stupidity to support stuff they shouldn't support (like being against the government's ability to negotiate lower prices for drugs), the verdict is in.
They put their principles up for sale to the highest bidder, then use their infrastructure to get the prolees fired up about something, then to go out and call their senators and whatever. They sell the fact that they can get these idiots fired up about anything they damn well want too.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/18/us/politics/18influence.html
WASHINGTON — The American Conservative Union, which bills itself as the nation’s oldest conservative grass-roots lobbying organization, has found itself fending off charges that it put its principles up for sale.
In a letter sent last month to FedEx, the group offered its support in a bitter legislative dispute with United Parcel Service, but said it wanted a contract of up to $3.4 million to wage a campaign to win support for FedEx’s position. When FedEx did not agree, executives at the company said, the conservative group’s chairman, David A. Keene, turned around and signed a letter using the group’s logo endorsing the UPS view and blasting FedEx.
The group’s letter to FedEx, dated June 30, and the subsequent Keene letter were first reported Friday by Politico on its Web site.
Dennis E. Whitfield, executive vice president of the lobbying group, released a statement on Friday saying that Mr. Keene, who has been a longtime influential figure in conservative political circles, had signed the letter supporting UPS in his personal capacity and that the group was still supporting FedEx.
Maury Lane, a FedEx spokesman, said that he thought that explanation was “disingenuous” and that it was implausible to contend that Mr. Keene had acted in his individual capacity. He noted that the July 15 letter supporting UPS in the dispute included the ACU logo in the letterhead along with those of six other conservative groups and that Mr. Keene’s signature noted he was president of the American Conservative Union.
The initial letter from the ACU was written by Mr. Whitfield, and it proposed to a FedEx vice president in the Washington office, Rick Rodgers, an elaborate campaign of building support.
“We stand with FedEx in opposition to this legislation,” Mr. Whitfield wrote in a reference to a bill that would change labor law and expand organized union influence across the FedEx empire.
Mr. Whitfield, who was a deputy labor secretary in the Reagan administration, wrote, “We support America’s businesses and entrepreneurs,” and “we would like to work with you” to eliminate the proposed provision that would increase union power at FedEx.
Mr. Whitfield proposed contacting 150,000 people at least seven times about the supposed dangers of the legislation, at a cost of $2.15 million. The other costs would be for a radio campaign.
FedEx declined, Mr. Lane said. Then, on July 15, the letter from a coalition of groups supporting UPS in the dispute was sent to Frederick W. Smith, the FexEx chairman, with the ACU logo and Mr. Keene’s signature.
Mr. Whitfield said Friday in his statement that “ACU’s positions on important policy issues have never been for sale,” and that the group “stands with the policy that FedEx should not be placed under” the National Labor Relations Board as provided for in the legislation FedEx is opposing.
They put their principles up for sale to the highest bidder, then use their infrastructure to get the prolees fired up about something, then to go out and call their senators and whatever. They sell the fact that they can get these idiots fired up about anything they damn well want too.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/18/us/politics/18influence.html
WASHINGTON — The American Conservative Union, which bills itself as the nation’s oldest conservative grass-roots lobbying organization, has found itself fending off charges that it put its principles up for sale.
In a letter sent last month to FedEx, the group offered its support in a bitter legislative dispute with United Parcel Service, but said it wanted a contract of up to $3.4 million to wage a campaign to win support for FedEx’s position. When FedEx did not agree, executives at the company said, the conservative group’s chairman, David A. Keene, turned around and signed a letter using the group’s logo endorsing the UPS view and blasting FedEx.
The group’s letter to FedEx, dated June 30, and the subsequent Keene letter were first reported Friday by Politico on its Web site.
Dennis E. Whitfield, executive vice president of the lobbying group, released a statement on Friday saying that Mr. Keene, who has been a longtime influential figure in conservative political circles, had signed the letter supporting UPS in his personal capacity and that the group was still supporting FedEx.
Maury Lane, a FedEx spokesman, said that he thought that explanation was “disingenuous” and that it was implausible to contend that Mr. Keene had acted in his individual capacity. He noted that the July 15 letter supporting UPS in the dispute included the ACU logo in the letterhead along with those of six other conservative groups and that Mr. Keene’s signature noted he was president of the American Conservative Union.
The initial letter from the ACU was written by Mr. Whitfield, and it proposed to a FedEx vice president in the Washington office, Rick Rodgers, an elaborate campaign of building support.
“We stand with FedEx in opposition to this legislation,” Mr. Whitfield wrote in a reference to a bill that would change labor law and expand organized union influence across the FedEx empire.
Mr. Whitfield, who was a deputy labor secretary in the Reagan administration, wrote, “We support America’s businesses and entrepreneurs,” and “we would like to work with you” to eliminate the proposed provision that would increase union power at FedEx.
Mr. Whitfield proposed contacting 150,000 people at least seven times about the supposed dangers of the legislation, at a cost of $2.15 million. The other costs would be for a radio campaign.
FedEx declined, Mr. Lane said. Then, on July 15, the letter from a coalition of groups supporting UPS in the dispute was sent to Frederick W. Smith, the FexEx chairman, with the ACU logo and Mr. Keene’s signature.
Mr. Whitfield said Friday in his statement that “ACU’s positions on important policy issues have never been for sale,” and that the group “stands with the policy that FedEx should not be placed under” the National Labor Relations Board as provided for in the legislation FedEx is opposing.
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