Maybe it was an oversight, but in his diatribe against Corporate America at the Democratic National Convention that spewed venom at Big Tobacco, Big Oil, Big Polluters and Big Pharmaceuticals, Al Gore left out Big Telecom. Oops.
Truth is, while Big Oil has a special place in the heart and wallet of Dubya, Big Telecom no doubt would find its way into a Gore White House.
“The difference in this election, thundered Gore, is that “They’re for the powerful, and we’re for the people. Judge for yourself. Look at agenda, look at the facts.”
And so I did. This is what I found: Big Telecom and Big Computer, according to congressional records, have had liberal access to Gore and his staff in recent years. Indeed, when it comes to lobbyist Tom Downey-a former Democratic congressman from New York and a Gore adviser-there seems to be an open-door policy. Moreover, Big Telecom is a significant contributor to Gore’s presidential campaign.
Truth is, Gore-Lieberman and Bush-Cheney are both hostage to Big Money. No surprise there. Both campaigns get gobs of dough from the same groups: lawyers, Wall Street, the real estate industry and retirees.
On a secondary tier, George W. attracts hefty campaign contributions from Big Oil while Gore gets lavish financial backing from telecom and computer companies, lobbyists, Hollywood, educators and civil servants.
And those drug companies and insurers that Gore railed against? Why they’re big cheerleaders of running mate Joe Lieberman.
Gore pretends Big Oil is a unique problem for his opponent. But Gore’s $500,000 stake in Occidental Petroleum Corp., which has attracted protests because of the firm’s plans to drill on coveted Colombian land of the U’wa Indians, suggests otherwise.
Corporate America, especially Big Telecom and Silicon Valley, had a big hand in underwriting the Republican and Democratic national conventions. Motorola Inc., AT&T Corp., Verizon Communications, Microsoft Corp. and Comcast Corp. gave $1 million each to the GOP love fest in Philadelphia, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
The Dems’ Hollywood production got a $1 million each from AT&T, Microsoft and SBC Communications. Then, there were separative fund-raisers in L.A. that attracted generous contributions from America Online, BellSouth Corp. and others.
Gore’s wrong. The campaign is not about the powerful vs. the people. It’s about consumer activist Ralph Nader, ally of wireless consumer groups, and how he fairs in electoral vote-rich California. A strong showing by Nader in California will put Dubya atop the big oil rig on Pennsylvania Avenue.
