DHL deal gone sour haunts McCain in Ohio: 'staggering job losses' expected.

[Liberal_in_LA]

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-na-campaign8-2008aug08,0,4031248.story

DHL deal gone sour haunts McCain in Ohio
The firm may close its hub, imperiling nine county economies. A campaign aide lobbied for its parent company.

By Bob Drogin, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
August 8, 2008

WILMINGTON, OHIO -- Finally given a chance to address Sen. John McCain, Mary Houghtaling choked up Thursday and began to cry.

Wiping away her tears, she told the presumptive Republican presidential nominee how a controversial corporate deal he backed in 2003 as chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee -- the sale of Airborne Express cargo service to a German conglomerate that owns DHL and the subsequent expansion of the air freight hub here -- had gone horribly wrong.


Now, its business in a tailspin, DHL wants to combine operations with rival United Parcel Service and close its huge hub here. If the merger goes through, community officials and union leaders warn, staggering job losses will eviscerate the economy and the social fabric of nine struggling counties in southeast Ohio.

"Never before have so many people been abandoned at once," said Houghtaling, who runs a local hospice. "It is inconceivable to think about losing 10,000 jobs in the first wave, and the estimates run in the 30,000 range as the wave continues."

Houghtaling first warned McCain of the pending catastrophe July 9 when he campaigned nearby. The candidate vowed to return and bring help.

But on Wednesday, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported that McCain's campaign manager, Rick Davis, previously worked as a lobbyist for the German group, Deutsche Post World Net, and was paid $185,000 to help engineer the 2003 deal, plus another $405,000 for other work.

[AzDar]

1. Ahhhh, McCain-o-nomics.

:puke:

[Gabi Hayes]

2. why don't they do a little digging? you know....journalism?

she's a plant...a set up to highlight McCain's 'concern' for the little guy.

Wilmington resident Mary Houghtaling criticized Senator Obama for using her community's plight for political purposes and for distorting the McCain and his campaign manager Rick Davis' role in the closing down of the DHL facility in Wilmington, OH. Calling Davis a "hero," Houghtaling said that thanks to Davis' lobbying for the merger the facility was able to stay open for five more years than it otherwise would have been able to had DHL not acquired its owner, Airborne Express.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/offthebus-listening-post/mccain-camp-and-wilmingto_b_117826.html

........................



problem is, McCain figured nobody would do a little cursory checking and find out about Davis' ties to the company buying out American interests, or McCain's running interference in the Senate, against, of all people, Ted Stevens, whose own interests in the buyout remain unknown

...............................

The Post profiles a few examples where Davis was raking in lobbying fees from companies that McCain was helping out on Capitol Hill.


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.

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/rick_davis_add_category/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/25/AR2008062502858.html?nav=rss_politics&sid=ST2008062502934&pos=

this story came out BEFORE the Ohio towhhall meetings, btw, so McCain's arrogance is surpassed only by his stupidity

[Liberal_in_LA]

3. Excellent. Thanks for posting this

[mucifer]

4. NPR said on the radio that Cleveland is still polling promcstupid