Posted on 01/07/2003 12:42:32 PM PST by Liz
Sen Daschle's shocker that he will not run for president will be soft-soaped by the media.
Tommy should not worry. We will tell his story here.
The national security implications, political connections, and lobbying activities of Linda Hall Daschle, one of Washington’s most powerful lobbyists, who counts American Airlines, and Northwest Airlines among her high profile corporate clients, are detailed in the report "Fatal Neglect: The U.S. Government’s Continuing Failure to Protect American Citizens from Terrorists," which is from JW.
Questions have been raised as to whether national security in pre and post 9/11 America was compromised due to Linda Daschle’s political connections and her family's dependence on her huge income, reportedly in the millions, from the airline industry.
Her activities were also linked to Tommy's Senate position.
(1) As reported on CBS' 60 Minutes, Sen Daschle was charged with inappropriately intervening to reduce safety inspections of an air-charter company owned by a family friend after one of the planes crashed in 1994, killing four.
While at the FAA, under Clinton, Linda Daschle acted to exempt the friend’s airline from intensified safety inspections.
(2) According to a 2000 transportation budget, the FAA is forced to buy baggage scanners from one of Linda Daschle’s clients, L-3 International, despite the fact that the DOT’s Inspector General found the equipment to be substandard, some even leaking radiation.
(3) The inspector general told Congress that the FAA’s requirement to buy L-3’s machines is one reason airports will not be able to meet the new mandate to screen all luggage for bombs for many years, thus placing Americans seriously at further risk.
(4) The air transport industry donated more than $100,000 to Daschle’s campaign in the last election cycle. Linda Daschle’s client, Northwest Airlines, is the second largest contributor to the Senator's campaign in 1998.
(5) Linda Daschle was recently cited in an FAA report for failing to enforce a "zero tolerance" policy she announced in 1996 (under Clinton) while Deputy Director of the FAA against violent airline passengers, a pledge that some say could have prevented the September 11th terrorist hijackings.
(6) That means Mrs Daschle used, possibly with her husband's help, for the FAA to purchase faulty bomb detection equipment.
(7) The policy implications for post-9/11 America of Mrs Daschle, a former FAA official, taking employment with the industry she was charged with regulating while the terrorist plan was being hatched.
Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests have been filed with the FAA. Efforts to uncover Linda Daschle’s role in the selection of the faulty L-3 bomb detecting equipment prior to September 11th and efforts to determine Senator Daschle’s role should be made as well.
Daschle has raised $1.8 million for his presidential bid. He doesn't have to give that back. He can flip every penny of it into his campaign accounts to run for Senate again. Former Senator Smith of New Hampshire did exactly that after his abortive run for President. Such an exchange may be a breach of faith and may be tacky, but it is entirely legal under the FEC law.
Daschle may have concluded that a) he doesn't have a snowball's chance of winning the Presidency, even if he could get the nomination, and b) he's going to need a lot of money to hold onto his seat, against a serious challenge by John Thune.
I mention this point in my latest UPI column. See first link below.
Congressman Billybob
Click for latest column, "Three Anti-Endorsements." Not yet up on FR, or UPI.
Look at what happened to Gore that was hardly noticed:
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