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Bush Campaign Ads . . . Brought to You by Special Interests
As President Bush's $10.5 million campaign ad blitz begins, Public Citizen released a report outlining who helped pay for the campaign ads and what favors they have received during his presidency.
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No Child Left Behind? The Funding Gap in ESEA and Other Federal Education Programs
The current reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), known as No Child Left Behind (NCLB), raises high expectations for achievement and imposes stringent measures of accountability on students, teachers, and schools.
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February 17, 2004
Bush: Special Interest Protector-In-Chief
Coming under increasing fire for his failure to clarify his National Guard record, fix the economy, bring down the cost of health care, and secure post-war Iraq, President Bush has resorted to attacking his political opponents as "beholden to special interests and out of touch with regular Americans."1 But a look at the more than $320 million that Bush has raised since 2000 shows that he is the man with the most special interest connections in American history - and that he has rewarded those special interests in kind.2
Specifically, while the president attacks Senator John Kerry (D-MA) for accepting money from lobbyists, a new study shows "the president accepted more in direct contributions from lobbyists in one year than Kerry did in the past 15 years."3 All told, Bush collected at least $6.5 million in "bundled" contributions from lobbyists last year alone.
But that has not stopped Bush from his ad hominem attacks on opponents for "special interest" connections. Yesterday, for instance, Bush attacked the US Senate for being beholden to "special interests" for holding up an insurance industry-backed bill to restrict medical patients from seeking legal redress in the event of malpractice. Yet, it was Bush who accepted more than $3 million from the insurance industry before he wrote the bill.4
On the campaign trail last year, Bush said, "We can't let the special interests of Washington prevent us from doing what is necessary to protect the biggest interest we have, which is the American people."5 Yet it was Bush who did the bidding of his friends in the meat processing/meat packing industries by refusing to protect the American people from Mad Cow disease. Specifically, Bush refused to enact stringent meat inspection regulations6 and delayed country-of-origin labeling laws7 at the urging of the agribusiness industry which has given him $5.5 million8. To make extra sure that the agribusiness special interests were protected, Bush also packed the U.S. Department of Agriculture with agribusiness executives.9
Even on issues of war and peace, Bush has put special interests before almost anything else. As the Center for Public Integrity reported, the more than 70 companies and individuals that Bush awarded up to $8 billion in Iraq/Afghanistan contracts have "donated more money to the presidential campaigns of George W. Bush - a little over $500,000 - than to any other politician over the last dozen years."10
Sources:
- "How the Bush team will try to paint Kerry", USA Today, 02/17/2004.
- Open Secrets.Org, 2004.
- "Bush’s Hypocrisy: President Condemns Influence of Special Interests But Accepted at Least $6.5 Million Bundled by Lobbyists in 2003", Public Citizen, 02/13/2004.
- Open Secrets.Org.
- Remarks by the President at Illinois Welcome, 11/03/2002.
- CPR Raps USDA’s Veneman for Mad Cow Regs, Center for Progressive Regulation, 01/14/2004.
- "Texas Eagle, state projects win big in Senate's spending bill", Star-Telegram, 01/23/2004.
- Open Secrets.Org.
- "Critics: Agency too cozy with those it regulates", Philadelphia Inquirer, 05/08/2003.
- Center for Public Integrity.
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