DeLay criticized for trying to help Bacardi

[Osolomia]

Mon, Oct. 20, 2003

HOUSE LEADER
DeLay criticized for trying to help Bacardi
Tom DeLay's effort to aid Bacardi-Martini is drawing fire from other corporations that fear retaliation by Castro.
BY JULIA MALONE
Cox News Service

WASHINGTON - House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's behind-the-scenes attempt to help rum maker Bacardi-Martini fend off Cuban competition is drawing fire on Capitol Hill.

Last week, four House Judiciary Committee members formally protested after an article in the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call reported that DeLay planned to slip an amendment revising U.S. trademark statutes into the annual defense authorization bill.

Watchdog groups and business interests also have objected to the Texas Republican's efforts.

The amendment had not been properly ''vetted'' by their panel, which is supposed to oversee trademark law, said the letter signed by the Judiciary Committee objectors.

More...
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/nation/7056072.htm

[Fridays Child]

1. Is that slimeball actually respected on Capitol Hill? Or is he only...

...feared and loathed? He is the single most detestable person in the universe.

[DemoVet]

6. I think his nickname in the House is "Cabana Boy",

maybe it's time we turned Larry Flynt loose on him. He's delivered the goods before.

[Fridays Child]

12. I'd love to make that call!

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

2. A shame. I liked the occasional Martini. I'll live without.

French wines, le hmmmm. German wines, das hmmmm. ;)

[AndyTiedye]

14. No Need to Give Up those Yummy Rum Drinks, They Make Good Rum in Barbados

Much better than Bacardi.

Barbados was pressued by the Bushidas to join the coalition of the killing. They adamantly refused. (I don't know who * expected
them to send, their soccer team? They don't have any army).

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

16. Yep, lots of people make rum. What I regret is giving up Martinis.

But I will. :(

[Spazito]

3. I read to the bottom of the article and spewed coffee all over my keyboard

when I read this: "DeLay's spokesman Jonathan Grella responded that ``It's wrong and unethical to link legislative activity to campaign contributions.''

ROFLMAO!!

[beyurslf]

5. Notice that Delay's

spokesman didn't say he wasn't linking contributions with votes. He said it was "wrong and unethical" but didn't say they wouldn't do it.

[Say_What]

4. Bought-and-paid for pol--anything new about this??

From the article:

Also objecting is a liberal group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, whose director, Melanie Sloan, links Bacardi's success in Congress to its campaign donations. The company has spread more than $650,000 to political party committees since 1997. Bacardi has also been one of DeLay's top benefactors, giving a total of $40,000 to political action committees that he founded.

---

From the Center for Responsive Politics

Bacardi USA
SOFT MONEY DONATIONS:

To Democrats: $184,949 (47%)
To Republicans: $211,890 (53%)
Total: $396,839

<http://www.opensecrets.org/softmoney/softcomp2.asp?txtName=Bacardi+USA&txtUltOrg=n&txtCycle=2000&txtSort=Amnt>

Bacardi Corp
SOFT MONEY DONATIONS:

To Democrats: $51,518 (47%)
To Republicans: $58,325 (53%)
Total: $109,843

<http://www.opensecrets.org/softmoney/softcomp2.asp?txtName=Bacardi+Corp&txtUltOrg=n&txtCycle=1998&txtSort=Amnt>

[Say_What]

7. Party hearty with Bacardi

<clips>

...With help from House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas), Bacardi-Martini Inc., the U.S. subsidiary of the Bermuda-based rum maker, is on the verge of scoring a big victory in the long-running battle over who owns the rights to the legendary "Havana Club" rum label, a victory that could prove very lucrative in a post-Fidel Castro world.

DeLay is lobbying to include language in the 2004 Defense authorization conference report to amend U.S. trademark law to make it comply with a ruling by the World Trade Organization last year that threatened Bacardi’s claim to the Havana Club brand.

Opponents of DeLay’s proposal point out that his measure was never vetted by any committee in either the House or the Senate, and benefits Bacardi alone, and they claim it could potentially harm U.S. companies that have intellectual or property claims in Cuba.

... It's a twofer! DeLay gets to suck up to a big money donor AND he gets to screw the French! I'd better sit down, I'm hyperventilating over here.

DeLay’s activity on Bacardi’s behalf has brought loud complaints from at least one liberal watchdog group.

"It’s like Westar all over again," said Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. Sloan was referring to allegations that Westar Energy gave $25,000 to a DeLay-affiliated political action committee in 2002 to win his support for a legislative measure potentially worth billions to the firm, a charge that DeLay has denied repeatedly. Westar officials were later indicted for fraud and the proposal was withdrawn.

http://www.offthekuff.com/mt/archives/002450.html

[Racenut20]

8. Jeb & brouther Milton

Both have their fingers in this one.

[Democrats unite]

9. Is Barcardi Bush's drink of preference?

eom

[Gman]

10. No, he prefers Jose Cuevo with a Jack Daniels chaser

followed by a tall boy malt liquor.

[Judi Lynn]

11. Just discovered an article saying that if Delay had become Speaker

things would have gotten a whole lot worse on the Cuba issue. This article was published in August of last year:

(snip)
The Politics of the Cuba Embargo

Personal Loyalty in Congress
by Tom Crumpacker


(snip)
......Delay has been uncharacteristically quiet on Cuba issues this summer. He appears to be the choice for our next Speaker if the Republicans keep control of the House in November. If this happens it's doubtful t! hat the Cuba embargo will be voted on until 2005 if ever.

This is another example of how the people who run this country are using Florida's Cuban-Americans to take the political heat off themselves for their absurd, genocidal Cuba policy. The Florida Cuban-American community actually is relatively small, less than 9% of the state's population, and according to the most recent polls I've seen, done by Florida International University about a year ago, Miami Cuban-Americans are about evenly divided on lifting the embargo and strongly in favor of lifting the travel restrictions.

Many years ago the two Miami districts in question were gerrymandered, so the two incumbents get to run uncontested there. They are part of the 85% of Congressional seats in this so-called democracy of ours which are uncontested or not seriously contested.
(snip/...)

http://www.counterpunch.org/crumpacker0821.html

Article also gives a look at the maneuvering behind Cuba legislation.

Concerning the gerrymandering statement, make that THREE representatives running from gerrymandered districts now! Lincoln Diaz-Balart's brother, Mario Diaz-Balart got his own district and seat, thanks to some hard, nasty business by Republicans in the Florida House.

[criticalmass]

13. Jebbie did his part last year

According to New York Lawyer:

Florida Gov Jeb Bush and his staff worked behind the scenes for months to lobby federal agencies on behalf of Bacardi in a trademark dispute while the rum giant funneled thousands of dollars to the state Republican Party and the governor's re-election campaign.

Dozens of e-mails from the governor's office mark a trail of Bacardi's efforts to obtain Bush's help in its longstanding trademark battle with a Cuban-French joint venture over rights to the Havana Club rum label.

Most of the e-mail traffic occurred during a five-month period in which Miami-based Bacardi-Martini, the US arm of Bacardi Ltd, contributed $60,000 to the state GOP.

You know that Iran-Contra evildoer Otto Reich is Bacardi's lobbyist, right?:

A "special arrangement" will allow Reich to continue to receive indirect payments from Bacardi while in the State Department post, income that Goodfellow reports will "likely be twice his State Department salary," creating a serious conflict-of-interest on most issues related to Cuba policy.

[Mika]

15. Boycott Bacardi

My old sig when I first joined DU

---

••• Please Boycott Bacardi Products & the University of Miami and U of M's taxpayer supported Casa Bacardi••• --> http://www.miami.edu/iccas/casabacardi.htm

http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/43b/116.html
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/~uczxcia/ecoguide/boycotts/bacardi.htm
http://www.rcgfrfi.easynet.co.uk/ratb/boycott/wysk.htm
http://perso.club-internet.fr/vdedaj/cuba/lazy_cuba_bacardi_hb.html
http://www.cpa.org.au/garchve1/982bac.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/cuba/story/0,11983,774849,00.html

[Judi Lynn]

19. I also remember that some poster who used to flail away here

wildly attacking anti-embargo posters (he's g-o-n-e now, at least in his original form) finally divulged he actually works for Bacardi.

I think it may have been "Scanner," 'though can't remember the name, exactly.

[Mika]

20. I also remember that poster

Here's a variant

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=170113#171029

[Judi Lynn]

21. I saw that post yesterday

and as soon as I saw it, I thought, "Oh, to be sure!" What a great disguise, right? Never would look for him there, working with Bacardi's pro-Cuba OPPOSITION! Omigod!

"There's an old saying in Tennessee — I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again."

[susu369]

17. A simple Google

using "jeb bush" +bacardi is telling:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=%22jeb+bush%22+%2Bbacardi&btnG=Google+Search

[Mika]

18. Another simple google

bacardi + terrorism:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=bacardi+%2B+terrorism

---

••• Please Boycott Bacardi Products & the University of Miami •••--> http://www.miami.edu/iccas/casabacardi.htm
http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/43b/116.html
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/~uczxcia/ecoguide/boycotts/bacardi.htm
http://www.rcgfrfi.easynet.co.uk/ratb/boycott/wysk.htm
http://perso.club-internet.fr/vdedaj/cuba/lazy_cuba_bacardi_hb.html
http://www.cpa.org.au/garchve1/982bac.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/cuba/story/0,11983,774849,00.html
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=bacardi+%2B+terrorism