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Mccain Campaign Manager and DHL

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Ace McCoy

Well-known member
Joined
May 25, 2004
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159
Interesting article and more reasons we need to steer clear of politicians who favor cabotage.

http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/1218011630135640.xml&coll=2

John McCain had role in original Wilmington DHL deal

Wednesday, August 06, 2008 Stephen Koff
Plain Dealer Bureau Chief

Washington -- When Republican presidential candidate John McCain meets Thursday with citizens and officials in Wilmington, Ohio, he won't need a playbook to understand why they're worried about deep job losses at the local freight airport.
Little known to those citizens, McCain and his campaign manager, Rick Davis, played roles in the fate of DHL Express and its Ohio air park as far back as 2003. Back then, however, their actions that helped DHL and its German owner, Deutsche Post World Net, acquire the Wilmington operations resulted in expansion, not retraction.
In a private meeting Thursday, Wilmington residents will ask McCain for help in stopping DHL's proposal to quit using the airport as a hub, which could cost more than 8,000 jobs. DHL says that it wants to stay in the freight business but that it can stem financial losses if it can put its packages aboard the planes of a rival -- United Parcel Service -- before delivering them in DHL trucks. UPS flies out of Louisville, Ky., so the proposed change would render the Wilmington airport unnecessary.
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None of that was anticipated in 2003, when McCain and Davis, who was a Washington lobbyist before managing the presidential campaign, first got involved. Several Wilmington civic leaders said that what happened in 2003 created an economic gain for their community, lasting several years.
But because that gain, and now the prospective loss, came from the decisions of a foreign-owned corporation, look for some Democrats and labor to seek to tie Wilmington's current troubles to McCain.
"Those jobs are on the chopping block because Sen. McCain and his campaign were involved in a deal that resulted in control of those positions being shifted to a foreign corporation, and there's no getting around that," said Joe Rugola, president of the Ohio AFL-CIO.
Isaac Baker, a spokesman for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, said, "This episode represents everything that's wrong with Washington, D.C."
The McCain campaign considers the criticism a stretch.
"At the time of the merger, no one anticipated an impact on jobs in Wilmington," McCain spokesman Brian Rogers said.
The roles of McCain and Davis in the 2003 DHL deal have not been noticed in the current Wilmington flap. They were mentioned briefly, however, in a Washington Post story in June on Davis' lobbying work.
In 2003, Davis lobbied the Senate to accept the proposal by DHL to buy Airborne Express for $1.05 billion. Airborne Express at the time ran the airport and package-sorting facility in Wilmington.
Filings in the Senate show Davis' lobbying firm, Davis Manafort, was hired to help both companies deal with Congress, where objections over DHL's foreign ownership arose. Davis and a partner earned their firm $185,000 for the DHL-Airborne Express work that year, records show. They earned $405,000 more from Deutsche Post for work on other issues in 2004 and 2005, Senate records show.
Before the merger, some members of Congress, as well as UPS and Federal Express, cited concerns about a subsidiary of a foreign company controlling a segment of air commerce in the United States. Sen. Ted Stevens, Republican of Alaska, tried to insert language in a military spending bill to ban a foreign-owned carrier from flying military equipment or troops. That would have made the Airborne Express purchase less attractive to DHL.
McCain, of Arizona, and fellow Republican Sen. Trent Lott of Mississippi objected, saying it would be unfair to keep the Pentagon from using an air carrier it might someday need. McCain, then the chairman of the Commerce Committee, also objected to using a spending bill to set military policy.
"Moreover, Sen. McCain has a long-held belief that defense contracts should reflect providing our service members the best equipment and support while providing the best return to American taxpayers, irrespective of narrow and protectionist concerns," his campaign said.
He prevailed. After the merger, Ohio and local governments provided more than $400 million in incentives for road and facility upgrades, and DHL in 2005 moved its smaller air freight operation from northern Kentucky to Wilmington.
The move boosted the economy in Clinton County, which is between Columbus and Cincinnati. Bob Gray, an executive at the air park, estimates the net gain was about 1,000 jobs.
 
I think the whole arguement that DHL provided any benifit to ABX is total BS. ABX was doing fine when DHL showed up, and DHL thru its incompetence then destroyed ABX.

ABX, Clinton CO, ILN Airpark, and the 8,000 people employed by ABX would still be enjoying a secure, lucrative future thru ABX had it not been for DHL and the pols selling out ABX and the American worker.
 
I think the whole arguement that DHL provided any benifit to ABX is total BS. ABX was doing fine when DHL showed up, and DHL thru its incompetence then destroyed ABX.

ABX, Clinton CO, ILN Airpark, and the 8,000 people employed by ABX would still be enjoying a secure, lucrative future thru ABX had it not been for DHL and the pols selling out ABX and the American worker.

I agree CS. It would have been much better for everyone if the deal had never gone through. I find it funny that Davis is spinning it was a "gain" of 1k jobs. Guess he forgot the 3k drivers and 1k sort workers that lost their jobs at DHL over the deal. 4000-1000=3000 jobs lost, if my math is right. ;) Now add the other 10k plus total jobs gone, and they've managed to hose 13000 people in the space of 5 years. A record any corporate raider should be proud of, I'd think. Thanks, DPWN!
 
I agree CS. It would have been much better for everyone if the deal had never gone through. I find it funny that Davis is spinning it was a "gain" of 1k jobs. Guess he forgot the 3k drivers and 1k sort workers that lost their jobs at DHL over the deal. 4000-1000=3000 jobs lost, if my math is right. ;) Now add the other 10k plus total jobs gone, and they've managed to hose 13000 people in the space of 5 years. A record any corporate raider should be proud of, I'd think. Thanks, DPWN!

Man you are spending way to much time on here bashing anyone and everyone! Shouldn't you use your time looking for a job?

Seriously!
 
Man you are spending way to much time on here bashing anyone and everyone! Shouldn't you use your time looking for a job?

Seriously!

I think you should worry about yourself. I'm not bashing anybody except DPWN, DHL, and UPS (corporate, not pilots).
 
Didn't you notice that the poster is like Prince....he has a sign...not a name. Boobs....LOL Your Delta Tau Delata name is now...BOOB.
 
ABX might have survived in a better condition had they not been sold to DHL. On the other hand, they might also have been driven into the ground by FedEx and UPS. In either case, nobody put a gun to the shareholders and board of ABX and forced to sell the company.

The previous owners of ABX got an offer from DPWN, and they accepted it; in the best tradition of capitalism they decided to cash in when oppertunity presented itself. I do wish people would keep that fact in mind sometimes ...
 
Then again, ABX hay have survived better with the sale if DPWN had a clue as to how to run a company in a freight express market.
 

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