Lobby for Colombia Trade Pact Casts a Wide Net... (incl. Wolfson, WalMart!)

[catgirl]

Sorry if this is a dupe... I haven't seen this New York Times article posted.

There have been all-expense paid trips to Colombia for more than 50 members of Congress, featuring coffee tastings and dinner at a posh restaurant inside an old Spanish fort. The Colombian president has visited Washington to make personal appeals. Major corporations like WalMart and Citigroup are taking up the cause. And former Clinton administration officials have landed lucrative lobbying contracts.

-snip-

The debate has been quietly brewing ever since the Bush administration finished negotiating the pact to ease trade restrictions in late 2006. Human rights groups and labor leaders have urged Congress to put off considering the deal or to reject it outright, citing paramilitary violence against labor activists in Colombia.

-snip-

“The need for this agreement is too urgent — the stakes for our national security are too high — to allow this year to end without a vote,” Mr. Bush said.

-snip-

They include the Glover Park Group, the fast-growing firm set up by former Clinton White House aides including Joe Lockhart, who was chief spokesman for the president. (Howard Wolfson, Mrs. Clinton’s campaign communications director, was a partner at the firm but has taken a leave of absence.)

Read on: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/08/washington/08lobby.html?_r=1&ei=5088&en=20cfcea9f1231b60&ex=1365393600&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&adxnnlx=1207663476-10a8Ley2Q0mMLV20UCK9PA

A long list of Clinton aides are involved and the current campaign has strong lobbyist ties to the Colombia deal.

[nykym]

1. I would like to know

WHY a trade deal is so important to our National security.

“The need for this agreement is too urgent — the stakes for our national security are too high — to allow this year to end without a vote,” Mr. Bush said.

Unlimited supply of rubber bullets?

[catgirl]

3. My thoughts too.

[jordi_fanclub]

5. Let's see...

:think: ... diplomatic BAGS? :smoke:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diplomatic_bag :popcorn:

[quantass]

2. k&r

[Life Long Dem]

4. There have been more than 400 trade unionists murdered in Colombia

since President Alvaro Uribe took office in 2002.

[Ysabel]

6. darn i can't see it...

there's a password to get in if i don't want to register isn't there...?

- i always forget / somebody tell me please / thanks...

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edit: k and r...