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+, 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 that 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.
Maury Lane, FedEx’s director of corporate communications, said: “Clearly the ACU shopped their beliefs and UPS bought.”
[…]
FedEx and UPS, fierce competitors in the package delivery business, are at war over a provision under consideration in Congress that would expand union power at FedEx.
THIS IS NOT REALLY “NEWS”.
I agree, the only thing that’s news to me around here is the sheep around here who worship government.
is this really an example of “pay to play?” Seems to me PTP is about having to pay congress people to get their vote–not the intermediary of the lobbyists. The missing link here then would be the lock step between ACU and certain republican congressmen==not members of the ACU board.
This is no more informative than a Washington Hooker performing for client B when Client A would not pay.
Am I not understanding something?
This is why I don’t get people who are committed to political parties or lobbying groups. They are all cynical businesses, ready to chase dollars wherever they come from, not some sort of principled organizations.
When you respond to, say, a Greenpeace fund raising campaign, 1/2 to 2/3 of it goes to the marketers who sent you the direct mail piece.
Washington, corruption you can believe in.
Fix? Nuke it from orbit … it’s the only way to be sure.
the comments so far have been incredibly stupid and show me why this country is on it’s way down down down. You don’t think it’s news when The American Conservative Union sells it’s support to the highest bidder??? wake up time stupid morons, you are helping to accelerate the collapse of the empire…..Stop playing with your iphones you mesmerized sheep, you’re being marched to the slaughterhouse and you can’t see it cause you’re watching videos on your phones…..Idiots!
#6–amazed==everyone here already knows the system is corrupt and only questions why this post is newsworthy.
The only “news” would be a lobbying organization that DOESN’T sell its influence.
I sure hope you aren’t this confused when blowing farm animals.
Sounds like PETA tactics.
How is this shocking? I thought this would be common knowledge by this point. He who pays, Plays whatever game they want.
It sounds like they might be running an illegal lobbying campaign. The ACU is registered as a Political Action Group, not as lobbyists. Look for the left wing to make a lot of hay over this.
I wonder how much of a blow it would be to the US economy if lobbyists were shut down?
Welcome to the word of politics, Uncle Dave.
It’s about time the conservatives took off their gloves and fought in the mud like the liberals have done for years.
#6 Amazed sounds like Captain Renault in Casablanca:
“I’m shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!”
In case anyone wants to understand the issue, UPS has higher labor costs because they are covered by the National Labor Relations Act, while FedEx isn’t, so FedEx can get away with non-union labor, because they are considered a different type of business.
Read the article for the part between the …
ACU didn’t sell their support to the highest bidder. They offered an expensive lobbying campaign for the $3 million, with direct mail to their grassroots. I prefer that organizations do this instead of selling their mailing list.
The group VP says they are still on FedEx’s side. The letter supporting UPS was supported by many different conservative groups, and did not support the rule change that UPS is looking for.
People are actually defending the American Conservative Union here?
It’s amazing that the systematic corruption in our society has become so ingrained that this kind of behavior is completely acceptable to some. Unbelievable.
#14 – Thanks for the ‘actual’ analysis. That is refreshing to see intelligent breakdown of the issue (whether I agree or not) instead of the usual Obama or Bush sucks, or “you suck” type of comments.
-This is news?
OMG…the shock, the horror! how can this be!!!?
GMAFB..
(give me an f’n break)
This only news if your a brainwashed ideologue with Ideological glasses stapled to your forehead..
Hey Dave, how about some *cough* balance..
Why dont you post some liberal corp with the same agenda? Grow up, will ya?
IIRC, you can find plenty of Soviet propaganda films from the 30’s & 40’s & 50’s depicting U.S. politicians taking money and/or being “created” and put into power by the monied class.
Get a clue and stop supporting either party. They were both corrupted beyond repair over a century ago.
As anyone who has taken off their ideological glasses and turned off the TV can plainly see, (esp with the current madness that is TARP, PPT, The Cap & Trade bill, The Health Care bill, Stimulus 1 (along with Stimulus 2 & TARP 2, soon to be launched near christmas)), the end goal of both parties is to turn this country into a totalitarian/fascist state.
If you still subscribe to either party, you are a part of the problem and not the solution.
Take off the glasses and get a clue before it’s too late.
-s
>People are actually defending the American Conservative Union here?
Not defending them, but there is more to the story. You are right, this sort of thing has become commonplace. You don’t think Google was giving money to groups during the arguments over net neutrality?
MikeN, I doubt those groups tried to blackmail Google into supporting them by threatening to support the other side of the net neutrality issue. That’s essentially what we’re talking about here.
$2 to $3 million? Sounds like a reasonable price to me. What’s the problem?
David, the VP of ACU says they support FedEx.
So that is pretty weak blackmail.
From the letter that supposedly represents switching sides
Weʼve been on record as opposing federal bailouts of failing businesses…So when FedEx claimed that UPS was seeking a government bailout, we were prepared to jump all over another wasteful government program. But after looking into FedExʼs claims, we realized that FedEx was not telling the truth. UPS was not seeking any taxpayer funds — only regulatory reform that would insure equal treatment of both companies under our nationʼs labor laws…since UPS is not seeking even one dime of taxpayer money, the campaign is essentially a disinformation campaign and should be stopped. If FedEx wants to oppose the regulatory reform being sought by UPS, that is fine. But FedEx should use honest arguments and refrain from disingenuous and dishonest labels.
#22, Lyin’ Mike
What letter?
The letter FedEx sent to POLITICO says nothing of the sort. The problem was a change in regulations that would have impacted FedEx by allowing local bargaining instead of only national bargaining. UPS is already saddled with local bargaining.
When Fed Ex refused to pay, ACU did an about face and supported the position that FedEx should have local bargaining. This is contrary to the usual conservative position of less regulation and less organized labor.
So what other lies are you planning to tell Mike?
Conservatives are dirty filthy animals who live in shit. They will do anything for a dime, there is no lower life-form than a conservative pigrat.
It sounds like ACU does some in-house disavowing of its own…from the ACU response:
“Mr. David Keene’s name was on a letter prepared by another organization. This was a personal decision on his part and he was not representing ACU at the time. No permission was given by ACU, and no logo was provided by ACU, to the organization who issued the letter in question.”
Mr. Keene is an adult; he can endorse anything he sees fit. If the public wish to connect his endorsement with the ACU it is none of Mr. Keene’s or the ACU’s concern.
Fusion, still haven’t taken reading comprehension courses? Read the article. They mention two different letters, with links to both.
Ahhh ha ha ha.. you are all idiots, this story is NOT about the ACU changing sides, this about the reporter doing a stitchup job… like they all do:
“The ACU supported Fedex, then David Keene from the ACU flipped sides and took a payment from UPS to support them”
The article is written in such a way that in the minds of the reader it looks like the ACU is changing sides for money.
Lets check the facts:
ACU supports Fedex: true
David Keene is a chariman of ACU: true
David Keene sent UPS a letter: true
The ACU changed sides for money: false
The article DID NOT say the ACU changed sides so the article didn’t lie, they just make it look that way….so the ACU cannot go after them. It’s you idiots with no brains to comprehend that are the problem.
Open your eyes idiots, the “news” is NOT about facts, it is NOT about truth, it is ALL about ratings…. the more entertaining the more the ratings, the more the ratings the more they “win”.
Try an experiment, do not listen or read ANY so called ‘news’ anywhere for 30 days. I bet you can’t, I did and when you start looking at it again you have a completely different perspective.
One channels story is about a slave driving bastard boss, the other channel does the same story about lazy bum workers that are sending the business down the shitter.
Same story different “angle”, all are fucked up.
Jim, David Keene will automatically be associated with ACU. That’s why UPS wanted his signature.
I wish this reporter would find out what UPS paid
Maybe some people have been confused about what the ACU stands for. Acquiring Cash Ultimately. The people in charge are more concerned with raising the money they need to make sure they keep their jobs than anything else. This is true of most organizations political or otherwise.
Does anyone know how much clout this organization actually has? If they can’t move some Democrat votes I’d say they have none and the Democratic party has already been bought by the Unions.
I’m sure that ACU isn’t the only ones to do this. I suspect some “religious” and “family values” concerns, also play this game. An online “consumer protection” website was offering paid memberships to vitamin makers. And in exchange they’d report glowingly about their members’ products. Not, and they’d likely denounce their products’ efficacy. And a certain Tv station in my area, was endorsing the website. Probably got paid to.