Daschles’ conflict of interest

SDP has a great post regarding spouses of congressmen who lobby and the conflict of interest that can lead to an abuse of power. SDP provides details on the Tom and Linda Daschle situation where Linda’s clients contribute to Tom’s campaigns.

There is another source of facts that detail the Daschles’ conflict of interest:

Linda Daschle is one of Washington's most influential lobbyists on behalf of Big Business. The Daschle family budget and campaign budget depend heavily on the success of their contributors.

Conflict of Interest and Facts

Fact- American Airlines -Linda Daschle's client, American Airlines has lobbied for years to water down safety and security that might have aided in foiling the World Trade Center Attacks. With the support of Tommy and Linda Daschle, American Airlines received a $583 million taxpayer bailout after the 9/11 attack.

Fact- FAA- CBS -60 Minutes - Tom Daschle charged with inappropriately intervening to reduce safety inspections of an air charter company owned by a "friend of the family" after one of the planes crashed and killed four in 1994. While Linda Daschle was at the FAA she acted to exempt their friends airline from intensified safety inspections.

Fact- Boeing- Another client of Linda Daschle is lobbying for a deal to lease 100 Boeing Aircraft to the U.S. Military at a cost of $37 Billion. If the planes were bought outright the cost would be $25 Billion ...or $12 Billion Less. Tom Daschle is responsible for scheduling a vote on the bill. Will it be mentioned on CNN or in The New York Times? Don't hold your breath!

Fact- L-3 International- According to the 2000 Transportation Budget, the FAA was forced to buy baggage scanners from another client of Linda Daschle's- L-3 International, despite the fact that the Department of Transportation found the equipment to be substandard, some even leaking radiation. The Inspector General told Congress that the FAA's requirement to buy the scanners is one reason airports will not be able to meet the new mandate to screen all luggage for bombs or guns... for many years. He added that Americans have been put further into serious risk.

Fact- Northwest Airlines- More than $100,000 was donated to Tom Daschle's campaign in the last election by the Air Transportation Industry. Northwest Airlines was the second largest contributor to Tommy's campaign in 1998. Northwest is a client of Linda's.

Fact- FAA- Linda Daschle was recently cited in an FAA report for failing to enforce a "zero tolerance" policy against violent airline passenger that she announced in 1996 while Deputy Director of the FAA. It was a pledge that some say could have prevented the 9/11 terrorist hijackings.

Let’s not forget my post that details Rush Limbaugh’s contribution to this issue:

Ms. Daschle was deputy manager of the FAA from 1993 to 1997, and her clients while a lobbyist include American and Northwest Airlines. Joe Farah of WorldNetDaily.com sums up how the airlines and their lobbyists jumped all over Algore after his preliminary report. Gore wrote to one lobbyist "promising that the commission's findings would not result in any loss of revenue," and the very next day the Democrat National Committee received a $40,000 donation from TWA. In the next two weeks, checks came raining in from Northwest, United and American airlines.

Over the next two months, the 1996 Clinton-Gore team slurped up $100K from United, and $300,000 total from Daschle's clients American and Northwestern. Once Clinton and Gore were safely re-inaugurated in January, guess what? Gore rewrote his report to eliminate all the recommended security measures! Three commission members, including CIA director John Deutsch, complained. This forced Gore to back off a bit. He restored the safety recommendations but rendered them meaningless by not putting any time requirement on when they had to start showing up at airports to protect us.