[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
Money and the Public Interest (fwd)
>
> With the ascendancy of corporate power in America came the rise of its
> primary countervailing force -- citizen activism and a vibrant public
> interest movement.
>
> Citizens organized to fight the myriad ills inflicted on society by
> corporate power -- from pollution and corruption, to child labor and
> consumer fraud.
>
> But some of those once vibrant citizen institutions have now morphed into
> unresponsive bureaucracies. Worse yet, many have been corrupted by
> corporate funders. No wonder corporate America gets away with its ongoing
> wave of crime and violence -- much of the opposition has been neutralized.
>
> Take the Greenlining Institute as a case in point.
>
> Based in California, the Greenlining Institute is considered by many to be
> a major public interest group that fights insurance company and bank
> redlining -- thus its name.
>
> But in fact, a big chunk of the group's funding comes from those same
> giant corporations the Greenlining Institute was set up to counter.
>
> Over 80 percent of the Institute's $1.1 million budget in 1997, for
> example, came from major corporations, according to the group's most
> recent financial disclosure statement filed with the Attorney General of
> California.
>
> In 1997, Union Bank gave $235,000. Southern California Edison gave
> $114,494, Merrill Lynch 88,489. And on down the list.
>
> And on big bread and butter issues that affect the masses of California
> consumers, the Institute has pulled its punches and sided with its
> industry funders.
>
> In 1998, in the most problematic case, the Institute sided with the
> utility industry to defeat Proposition 9, an initiative that would have
> rolled back a taxpayer funded bailout of the utility companies for bad
> nuclear investments, among others.
>
> Another case in point: Last month, three consumer groups -- Consumer
> Action, Gray Panthers, and the National Consumers League -- held a press
> conference in Washington, D.C. announcing the launch of a "nationwide
> education campaign for seniors considering HMOs."
>
> And where exactly did the $150,000 come from to fund this campaign?
> PacifiCare Health Systems Inc., the nation's fifth largest managed care
> company and operator of the country's largest Medicare HMO, Secure
> Horizons.
>
> This kind of corporate funding is apparently new for Gray Panthers.
>
> But it is nothing new for the National Consumers League -- an organization
> that was started at the turn of the century to eliminate child labor, but
> has morphed into a budding accounts receivable for corporate funders.
>
> Nor for Consumer Action. According to editorial director Linda Sherry, two
> years ago, the group was 100 percent funded by corporations. Currently,
> Consumer Action gets money from both big corporations and big government.
> Pacific Bell recently gave $100,000 to fund a Consumer Action project on
> telephone fraud.
>
> Earlier this month, the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC),
> the country's largest and oldest Hispanic organization, endorsed the
> proposed merger between Bell Atlantic and GTE.
>
> There was no mention in LULAC's press release both GTE and Bell Atlantic
> are yearly contributors to LULAC. GTE gives $25,000 a year, and Bell
> Atlantic gives $35,000 a year.
>
> LULAC executive director Brent Wilkes said that in July 1998, the
> companies asked LULAC to support the merger. LULAC president Rick Dovalina
> met with the CEOs of both companies to work out the agreement.
>
> Wilkes said that during the meetings, LULAC demanded specific "assurances
> and deliverables."
>
> "We were looking for companies that would be spun off," Wilkes said. "GTE
> is selling some of their companies in Texas and in the Southwest. They
> have specifically held one of their telephone companies out of the normal
> auction process. And we helped select an Hispanic owned business
> partnership that would take that company."
>
> When asked whether he was concerned about appearances of impropriety,
> Wilkes said "we are not."
>
> "We have never tied support from the companies to our policy decisions,"
> he said.
>
> When asked why the companies would want LULAC's support, Wilkes said --
> "to help with their regulatory process."
>
> Wilkes said he believes the merger will benefit consumers.
>
> But more independent consumer groups, including the Washington, D.C.-based
> Consumer Project on Technology (CPT), disagree. "We don't want the merger
> to go through," said CPT's Jamie Love. "GTE was in a position to compete
> against Bell Atlantic. Now, they won't be."
>
> There are independent consumer groups who refuse to take money, or be
> influenced by, big corporations. But increasingly, bigger wads of money
> are being waved in front of weak-kneed advocates seeking some green
> comfort. Consumers beware.
>
> Russell Mokhiber is editor of the Washington, D.C.-based Corporate Crime
> Reporter. Robert Weissman is editor of the Washington, D.C.-based
> Multinational Monitor. They are co-authors of Corporate Predators: The
> Hunt for MegaProfits and the Attack on Democracy (Common Courage Press,
> 1999; see http://www.corporatepredators.org).
>
> (c) Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman
>
> Focus on the Corporation is a weekly column written by Russell Mokhiber
> and Robert Weissman. Please feel free to forward the column to friends or
> repost the column on other lists. If you would like to post the column on
> a web site or publish it in print format, we ask that you first contact us
> (russell@essential.org or rob@essential.org).
>
> Focus on the Corporation is distributed to individuals on the listserve
> corp-focus@essential.org. To subscribe to corp-focus, send an e-mail
> message to listproc@essential.org with the following all in one line:
>
> subscribe corp-focus <your name> (no period).
>
> Focus on the Corporation columns are posted at
> <http://lists.essential.org/corp-focus>.
>
> Postings on corp-focus are limited to the columns. If you would like to
> comment on the columns, send a message to russell@essential.org or
> rob@essential.org.
>
>
>
******************************************************************************
.
******************************************************************************
-
This is the OPIRG-events@ox.org list. Announcement only please.
To unsubscribe, send email to opirg-events-request@ox.org, and put
"unsubscribe" in the body.