You know it’s an odd turn of events when former Republican legislator, State Auditor candidate, and Obamacare critic Derek Skees (R-Whitefish) is patting Senator Max Baucus (D-MT) on the back, while some Democratic activists are criticizing the ‘cheerleading” news coverage of a Baucus event. But that’s exactly what happened after this week’s news coverage.
Skees called into our statewide radio talk show, Voices of Montana, and credited Baucus for hosting the Montana Economic Development Summit in Butte, as did I. To critics of the rich and poweful CEOs gathering in Butte, Skees noted that he never got a job from a poor guy.
While I think Baucus deserves great praise for he and his staff’s efforts to make this summit happen, is it really a surprise to any of you that all of these powerful CEOs came to Butte, Montana because they wanted to kiss the ring of the Chairman of the US Senate Finance Committee? As Montanans, we should expect nothing less.
Nonetheless, with $25,000 corporate sponsorships made for an event, which at the end of the day makes the Senator look very good, The Helena Vigilante raises some important questions:
Baucus drew such an illustrious crowd because, as a senior congressional member and head of the powerful Senate Finance Committee, he has been one of Wall Street’s best friends over the years. In his 2008 re-election campaign, he raked in some $11.6 million. According to data from the Center for Responsive Politics, just $340,216 of that came from small individual donations — the kind of $20 or $100 donations the owners of mom-and-pop shops might give — while he raked in $4.9 million from Political Action Committees and about $5.7 million in large individual contributions (you know, the kind that runs to the thousands).
Baucus drew such an illustrious crowd because, as a senior congressional member and head of the powerful Senate Finance Committee, he has been one of Wall Street’s best friends over the years. In his 2008 re-election campaign, he raked in some $11.6 million. According to data from the Center for Responsive Politics, just $340,216 of that came from small individual donations — the kind of $20 or $100 donations the owners of mom-and-pop shops might give — while he raked in $4.9 million from Political Action Committees and about $5.7 million in large individual contributions (you know, the kind that runs to the thousands).
The New Republic jumped in with this sarcastic headline as well- “Maybe Eric Schmidt, Sheryl Sandberg, and Elon Musk Just Really Like Butte, Montana.” (For those of you who’ve spent time in Butte, you actually would not be surprised by anyone- CEOs included- enjoying their time in Butte.)
How can a local Montana jobs summit attract the giants of American commerce, few of whom have any business interests in the state? Well, the convener of the event, Max Baucus, happens to chair the Senate Finance Committee, the key tax-writing panel in the upper chamber. And when he throws an event, nominally about “bringing jobs to Montana,” corporate America recognizes that this gives them another opportunity to dole out favors to the senator who wants to lead a massive rewriting of the nation’s tax laws, designed to lower corporate rates and allow companies to bring back money stashed overseas with impunity. In fact, every corporation associated with the Montana Economic Development Summit has a stake in the tax reform debate, and most have officially lobbied for favorable treatment. Considering the tens of billions that these companies stand to gain if they are successful, a couple days in Butte doesn’t sound like such a bad trade.
This looks like a form of soft corruption from a senator who wields enormous power. Tax reform has already generated an orgy of lobbying in Washington on what has thus far been an under-the-radar issue. But in this case, Big Business can donate to the “non-political” jobs summit and send their CEOs to speak there. It’s not technically called lobbying, but the man with as much power as anyone to lower their corporate tax rates will get to hear from them up-close, interact with them on the side, and generally welcome their efforts to boost the fortunes of his tax-reform pet project, an event Baucus has said he wants to continue after leaving the Senate. In fact, Baucus boasted to reporters that he would discuss tax reform with the many leaders on hand at the summit. This is less a jobs conference than a corporate-underwritten lobbying junket.
The 3,000 Montanans at the summit didn’t leave empty-handed either. From the stage, Baucus announced that another event sponsor, Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Montana, planned to open a new call center in Great Falls, bringing 100 to 150 jobs to the city. So in the midst of a staged event designed to build support for multi-billion-dollar tax breaks for the biggest corporations in America, at least a handful of Montanans can realize their dream of becoming customer service representatives.
The Montana GOP also jumped in via Twitter:
Businesses donated $250K to Baucus’ Jobs Summit. How much corporate? Anyone bring up Citizens United? #MTjobs #mtpol http://t.co/1TkeoD9ah6
— MT Republican Party (@MontanaGOP) September 18, 2013