Commentary By Ron Beasley
It should have been a no brainer. Conservatives hate unions so they should oppose any attempt to increase the power of labor. But if there is a buck to be made that apparently trumps principle.
Conservative group offers to sell endorsement for $2M
The American Conservative Union asked FedEx for a check for $2 million to $3 million in return for the group�s endorsement in a bitter legislative dispute, then flipped and sided with UPS after FedEx refused to pay.
For the $2 million plus, ACU offered a range of services that included: �Producing op-eds and articles written by ACU�s Chairman David Keene and/or other members of the ACU�s board of directors. (Note that Mr. Keene writes a weekly column that appears in The Hill.)�
The conservative group�s remarkable demand � black-and-white proof of the longtime Washington practice known as �pay for play� � was contained in a private letter to FedEx , which was provided to POLITICO.
The letter exposes the practice by some political interest groups of taking stands not for reasons of pure principle, as their members and supporters might assume, but also in part because a sponsor is paying big money.
In the three-page letter asking for money on June 30, the conservative group backed FedEx. After FedEx says it rejected the offer, Keene signed onto a two-page July 15 letter backing UPS. Keene did not return a message left on his cell phone.
The American Conservative Union, which calls itself �the nation's oldest and largest grass-roots conservative lobbying organization,� took UPS�s side on Wednesday as part of a conservative consortium that accused FedEx of �misleading the public and legislators.� ACU's logo is at the top of the letter, along with those of six other conservative groups. Just two weeks earlier, ACU had offered its endorsement to FedEx, saying in a letter to the company: �We stand with FedEx in opposition to this legislation.� But there was a catch � an expensive one. ACU asked FedEx to pay as much as $3.4 million for e-mail and other services for �an aggressive grass-roots campaign to stop the legislation in the Senate.� �For the activist contact portion of the plan, we will contact over 150,000 people per state multiple times at a cost of $1.39 per name or $2,147,550 to implement the entire program,� the letter says. �If we incorporate the targeted, senator-personalized radio effort into the plan, you can figure an additional $125,000 on average, per state� for an estimated 10 states. The total would be $3,397,550.� The letter shows one reason why activists get so much junk mail, both on paper and electronically: Some groups that send it charge handsomely for the service. Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0709/25072.html#ixzz0LWnJF3dY
Maury Lane, FedEx�s director of corporate communications, said: �Clearly, the ACU shopped their beliefs and UPS bought.�
The ACU had originally indicated that it supported the FedEx position but:
The American Conservative Union, which calls itself �the nation's oldest and largest grass-roots conservative lobbying organization,� took UPS�s side on Wednesday as part of a conservative consortium that accused FedEx of �misleading the public and legislators.� ACU's logo is at the top of the letter, along with those of six other conservative groups.
Just two weeks earlier, ACU had offered its endorsement to FedEx, saying in a letter to the company: �We stand with FedEx in opposition to this legislation.�
But there was a catch � an expensive one. ACU asked FedEx to pay as much as $3.4 million for e-mail and other services for �an aggressive grass-roots campaign to stop the legislation in the Senate.� �
For the activist contact portion of the plan, we will contact over 150,000 people per state multiple times at a cost of $1.39 per name or $2,147,550 to implement the entire program,� the letter says. �If we incorporate the targeted, senator-personalized radio effort into the plan, you can figure an additional $125,000 on average, per state� for an estimated 10 states. The total would be $3,397,550.�
The letter shows one reason why activists get so much junk mail, both on paper and electronically: Some groups that send it charge handsomely for the service.
These supposedly principled action groups are little more than for hire PR firms. I'm sure this is the case on both the right and the left.
Update
According to James Joyner the ACU now claims that this was the work of Chairman David Keene.
It should be noted that ACU is claiming that, despite his use of their logo in the second letter, Keene was acting as an individual. If so, Keene should be ousted at once if ACU is to retain even a shred of credibility.
If not, however, ACU�s tax-exempt status should be pulled and conservatives should cease supporting it immediately.
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