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News :: Miscellaneous |
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Carpenters' Union President Included in Bush Economic Summit |
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by Wash Post
(No verified email address) |
15 Aug 2002
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Doug McCarron, president of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters, attended Bush's economic summit in Texas this week. The UBC website offered no explanation of his attendance, nor was any available in mainstream press coverage of the event (aside from what follows). The UBC recently left the AFL-CIO. Pro-AFL activists fear that the UBC intends to try to do the work of other skilled trades (plumbers, electricians, etc.) at a reduced rate. The UBC says it hopes to build its union by organizing more. |
NY Times:
The White House also invited representatives of unions that are being courted for their support in the 2004 presidential campaign, like Jerry Hood, a special assistant to James P. Hoffa, the president of the Teamsters, and Douglas J. McCarron, the general president of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nyt/20020813/ts_nyt/bush_s_forum_on_economy__more_than_the_usual_crowd
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A62091-2002Aug9.html
Bush Economic Forum to Exclude Critics, Officials Say
By Mike Allen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, August 9, 2002; Page A13CRAWFORD, Tex., Aug. 8 -- The economic forum President Bush is staging in Texas next week will feature several wealthy Republican donors and will exclude vocal opponents of his policies, administration officials said today.
The forum, to be held at Baylor University in Waco on Tuesday, is part of an intensive White House effort to portray Bush as engaged in the nation's concerns during his month-long working vacation at his ranch here. Administration officials had acknowledged earlier that Democratic congressional leaders, who began suggesting an economic summit in January, would be left out.
The administration released further information about the invitees today that could provide ammunition for the Democrats' contention that the forum is more of a public relations gesture than an attempt to elicit rigorous give-and-take about the economy, which has shown increasing signs of trouble.
The White House said the 250 invitees from around the country will represent all walks of life and will include labor union members, small-business owners, middle-class investors, business ethicists and students. Most of the participants will pay their own way, but the White House will fly in a few, including a waitress, to provide diversity, officials said.
But several of the featured participants are generous backers of Bush and Republican causes. The chairman of a panel on technology and innovation will be E. Floyd Kvamme, one of Bush's "Pioneers," who raised at least $100,000 each for his presidential campaign. Kvamme, a well-known venture capitalist from Silicon Valley, is also co-chairman of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.
The guest speaker at a panel on trade will be Glen A. Barton, chairman and chief executive of Caterpillar Inc. Caterpillar's political action committee has donated more than $600,000 to Republican candidates during the past six years, and 94 percent of its gifts have gone to the GOP, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics.
At a panel on small investors and retirement security, the guest speaker will be Charles R. Schwab, founder and chairman of the discount brokerage Charles Schwab Corp. Schwab has given $975,000 in soft money, the unlimited contributions that are to be banned after the November elections, to Republican committees in the past four years, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
A White House official said contributions were not considered when participants were chosen. "The people were picked because they were credible," the official said.
Other participants include Vice President Cheney and most Cabinet members; Douglas J. McCarron, president of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America; Thomas J. Donohue, president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce; Charles M. Vest, president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; and John Chambers, chief executive of Cisco Systems Inc., who has donated heavily to Republicans.
A media guide says the participants on the eight panels will have "diverse points of view," but the White House official acknowledged that there are limits. "I don't think there's any point in picking someone who has the opposite point of view," the official said.
© 2002 The Washington Post Company |
