Thursday, August 07, 2008

McCain Can Kiss Ohio Goodbye For This

One of the first states that are mentioned in terms of winning or losing this Presidential election is Ohio. It (disputably) gave Bush the cushion he needed to stay another four years in the White House. Ohio is a working-class state with many jobs that are being shipped out in order to pad profits of large corporations, corporations like DHL. Ohioans are concerned about their merger with Airborne-Express and the massive job loss that will ensue. McCain told a teary-eyed voter that he didn't know if he could stop the merger, but his campaign manager knows that he'll do everything in his power to make sure it goes through.

From The Washington Post:

In 2003, for instance, DHL Holdings (USA) and Airborne hired Davis to lobby the Senate to facilitate a merger. Hotly opposed by shipping giants FedEx and United Parcel Service, the merger encountered opposition from Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) on the commerce committee. McCain took steps that helped Davis's clients. He thwarted Stevens's effort to insert language into legislation that would prohibit foreign-controlled companies such as DHL from holding certain military contracts.

Davis's firm earned $125,000 from Airborne in 2003 and $465,000 from DHL parent company Deutsche Post World Net (USA) from 2003 to 2005, records show.

A group called Preserve Luke Air Force Base hired Davis in 2004 and 2005 to help win approval of an Arizona land swap. Guy Inzalaco, who was part of a development group, formed Preserve Luke AFB to push for the exchange. He knew McCain's help would be critical.

"We were like, 'Okay, who's close to Senator McCain?' " Inzalaco recalled. "There were a number of people. We talked to them all. Rick [Davis] was one of them. We knew he was tight with the senator."


That is why Davis works "for free" as McCain's campaign manager. It may be free in terms of a check from the McCain campaign, but indirectly, Davis has made millions as a result of Senator McCain's influence. Now McCain's camp can claim that Davis isn't lobbying now and that this has nothing to do with what is going on now, but the American people aren't stupid and that goes double for Ohioans on this matter. When they go into the ballot booth and see McCain and Obama, they'll know Obama wants change and McCain....well, they see who he works with and the damage they do to the local economy.