Cheney & Staff Met Repeatedly With Auto Executives Months Before EPA Killed CA Climate Plan

[hatrack]

Before EPA administrator Stephen L. Johnson "answered the pleas of industry executives" by announcing his "decision to deny California the right to regulate greenhouse gases from vehicles," auto executives directly appealed to Vice President Cheney. EPA staffers told the LA Times that Johnson "made his decision" only after Cheney met with the executives.

On multiple occasions in October and November, Cheney and White House staff members met with industry executives, including the CEOs of Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler. At the meetings, the executives objected to California's proposed fuel economy standards:

In meetings in October with Mr. Cheney and sessions with White House staff members, auto executives made clear that they were concerned not just about the fuel economy measures in the bill but also about the California proposal for stricter emissions standards.

Johnson explained his decision to thwart California by saying that the new energy bill, which the auto industry supported and President Bush signed into law on Wednesday, "made the proposed California standards unnecessary." One EPA staffer says Johnson's decision was part of Cheney's deal with the industry execs brokered at the meetings: "Clearly the White House said, 'We're going to get EPA out of the way and get California out of the way. If you give us this energy bill, then we're done, the deal is done,'" said one staffer.

EDIT

http://www.coastalpost.com/08/01/06a_Cheney_met.html

[NMDemDist2]

1. we need to get this on the Greatest page people

another crony cashes in thanks to the Cheney

[redqueen]

2. I'm so glad those CEO's get paid so much for doing such great jobs.

x(

[indepat]

3. Evil is as evil does

[phantom power]

5. life is like a box of evil chocolates...

[diane in sf]

4. Does this really surprise anyone? Cheney's whole talent is corrupting government.

[donkeyotay]

6. I certainly hope no money exchanged hands, because if Judge Miller

gets wind of this, those Republican crooksters are toast.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x3123621

He (U.S. District Judge Mark Fuller) rejected defense arguments that prosecutors failed to prove a quid pro quo deal between the men to swap the campaign money for the appointment. Fuller said the specific statute under which Scrushy and Siegelman were convicted did not require proving they had a deal to swap the appointment for the donation. However, his instructions to the jury "sufficiently apprised the jury of that requirement," Fuller wrote.

Kilborn said that, without requiring prosecutors to prove a deal, most campaign contributions could be considered crimes.

"That's dangerous," Kilborn said.

http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/news/1199369729321200.xml&coll=2