One day before today’s Wilmington visit by Sen. John McCain concerning the prospect of massive job losses at the DHL Air Park, The Plain Dealer reported McCain’s presidential campaign chairman formerly was a lobbyist for DHL.
In 2003, Rick Davis lobbied the Senate to go along with DHL’s acquisition of Wilmington-based Airborne Express, reported The Plain Dealer.
The news immediately prompted a Wednesday morning press conference call, held by the Ohio Democratic Party and featuring comments from U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio).
“We have a major public official in this country that was part of this deal four years ago, five years ago, that’s just stayed quiet,” Brown said of McCain, the Republican candidate for president. Brown said McCain “helped broker the deal” when DHL bought Airborne Express, based on the Cleveland newspaper report.
Brown said he questions why McCain has not mentioned his DHL connection and why Davis has not stepped forward and said he knew executives with DHL and its parent company Deutsche Post World Net.
“We’re trying everything, yet McCain and Davis have stayed silent when they know people at Deutsche Post World Net,” said Brown of the effort to stop a proposed contract between DHL and United Parcel Service (UPS).
McCain spokesman Paul Lindsay characterized the Ohio Democratic Party’s response to The Plain Dealer report as one that politicizes the air park situation.
“John McCain is visiting Wilmington to hear firsthand the challenges facing working families in the community. Rather than try to politicize and take advantage of Wilmington’s struggle, Barack Obama should explain how his support for the failed tax-and-spend policies of the past will create any jobs in this state,” Lindsay wrote in an e-mail sent out after Brown’s conference call.
In reply to a question from the press, Brown said he’s not accusing McCain of a conflict of interest in the DHL matter.
“I’m personally calling on John McCain to send Rick Davis to Germany to use his considerable clout with DHL, to use his long-term connections with DHL, to use his … connections there to help save these 8,200 jobs in southwest Ohio,” said the junior senator from Ohio.
According to The Plain Dealer report by Stephen Koff, who is the paper’s Washington Bureau chief, Senate records show Davis’ lobbying firm was hired to help DHL cope with Congress where there were objections to DHL’s foreign ownership. DHL is owned by the German-based corporation Deutsche Post.
In 2003, when DHL purchased Airborne Express for $1.05 billion, Davis and a partner earned the lobbying firm $185,000 on work for DHL, wrote Koff. During 2004 and 2005, Davis and the partner earned an additional $405,000 on lobbying work for Deutsche Post, the newspaper report said, attributing the numbers to Senate records.
In the conference call with the press, Brown said he and Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland spoke with Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Obama “at length” Tuesday on a campaign trail bus ride between Youngstown and Cleveland.
According to Brown, Obama asked “What else can I do?” concerning the air park matter.
Brown added Obama is “very interested” in helping with the antitrust components of the issue.
Brown took a jab at McCain’s comment in Portsmouth last month when McCain gave little hope of stopping the proposed deal between DHL and UPS, and instead emphasized retraining of the workers who would lose their jobs.
“Well, job retraining is not going to provide all these jobs in, you know, its six counties,” Brown said of the regional reach of air park-based workers.
McCain is scheduled to be in Wilmington today for a private meeting with a cross section of local people to hear about the potential loss of 7,400 to 10,000 jobs if DHL closes its air freight operations at the air park.
I don't see anybody stopping this deal. The only thing that will half way save this community is the casino. At least that will re-employ 5,000 people. It will have it's pro's & con's. However, I hope the Casino is approved to save our community & at least a large part of the family's this will devistate.
Posted: Thursday, August 07, 2008
Article comment by:
Mary Thomas Watts
The bombshell that John McCain's national campaign chairman, Rick Davis, received nearly $600,000 in lobbying fees from DHL brought to mind two of my favorite quotes. Mark Felt, aka Deep Throat, advised Woodward and Bernstein, when they were investigating the Watergate break-in, "Follow the money." In Davis's case, the green trail leads to corporate offices in Bonn, Germany, not to 10,000 imperiled Ohio workers. In the words of Lily Tomlin, "No matter how cynical I get, it's never enough."
Election 2010
