I'm fairly new the the DailyKos community (I've been visiting the site since mid-2004 but wasn't a member until earlier this year I believe) and although I've sifted through the archives rather thoroughly, I haven't seen anything about the particular issue I'm about to bring up.
From
The Center for Public Integrity and
The Buying of the President 2004:
Two weeks after declaring his intention to run for president, Clark was still registered to represent a high tech contractor, Acxiom Corporation, giving him the rare distinction of seeking the White House while registered as a lobbyist. Shortly after Clark announced his candidacy, a company spokesman said the general no longer lobbied for Acxiom, but, according to the Senate Office of Public Records, Clark had not filed any termination papers.
Clark has been lobbying for the firm since January 2, 2002; Acxiom has paid more than $830,000 for Clark to advance its agenda and meet with government officials. Clark also serves on the company's board of directors[...]
Update [2005-10-2 19:39:37 by jbiddy]: After reading all the comments, there is someting I must say. This article is not a Clark smear article. I have no idea who I will fall behind in 2008 and consider 2006 a far larger priority. I'm going to put a little thesis in here. So instead of flaming me, consider and read. Why do some politicians, especially within the DailyKos community, get a pass while others do not? Consider the recent outburst againsts Obama. Also, the criticism towards Feingold and Biden based on their pre Iraq War stances or even their stances now.
I saw
Charles Lewis, the founder of
The Center for Public Integrity, on The Daily Show sometime before the 2004 election. It was during all the primary madness. I was too young to vote in the primary, but old enough that I would be voting come General Election time. Lacking the age to vote in the primary, but still wanting to be a knowledgable young adult (and, naively, thinking it was going to be a book just bashing Bush) I went out and bought this book. After I had finished reading it, I was stunned. I knew how corrupt Bush was, but my Democratic leaders? How could they all be, in some form or another, soiled goods? Then I was reminded of something my Government teacher said, something that I had previously thought went right over my head, but in fact, was buried deep within it. He said, "When you vote, do not vote for the candidate whose party you most identify with. Instead, vote for the candidate who is funded by the corporations you most identify with."
From The Buying of the President 2004:
According to federal discolsure records, Clark lobbied directly on "information transfers, airline security and homeland security issues," for Acxiom, which sought funding to do controversial informational background checks on passengers for airlines. Privacy advocates have criticized the program, called the Computer Assisted Passenger Pre-Screening System II, because of concerns that the data collected would be an overly invasive vioaltion of individuals' rights to privacy. The public outcry has been so strong that there is a bipartisan effort to create more oversight for the program to protect privacy interests if CAPPS II is implemented.
Clark lobbied the Department of Justice, the Central Intelligence Agency, and the Department of Transportation for the company. Clark also reported, on his lobbyist disclosure forms, that he promoted Acxiom to the Senate and the executive office of the president. According to an Arkansas Democrat-Gazette report, he even met personally with Vice President Richard Cheney.
He also made a pitch for the kind of tracking that the company's wares can perform while acting as a commentator on CNN. On January 6, 2002, four days after filing as a lobbyist for Acxiom, Clark told an interviewer, in response to worries that private planes could be used for terrorists attacks, "We've been worred about general aviation security for some time. The aircraft need to be secured, the airfields need to be secured, and obviously we're going to also have to go through and do a better job of screening who could fly aircraft, who the private pilots are, who owns the aircraft. So it's going to be another major effort." He did not reveal to CNN's viewers that the company he lobbied for had substantial stake in the issue.
Based on the last
Straw Poll, Clark is sitting pretty with support from the majority of the DailyKos community. At first glance, it's easy to see why Wesley Clark would be so appealing as a Democratic candidate--he's a former General, a former 4-star General and former Supreme Allied Commander of NATO. Someone with those credentials stacks up heavy under the foreign policy category in contrast to George W. Bush's Air National Guard days.
However, putting aside the fact that he almost caused an international conflict during his time as the head of NATO
Also from The Buying of the President 2004: When a detachment of peacekeepers from Russia, a traditional ally of the Serbs that had opposed the war, were en route to Kosovo's largest airport in Pristina, Clark ordered British General Mike Jackson to block the runways. Jackson, according to Clark's book, refused, and replied, "Sir, I'm not starting World War III for you."
what does it say of Democrats when we decry the Republican Party for its close ties to corrupt lobbyists and in the same breath put forth an endorsement of someone who was a registered lobbyist while running for the Office of the President of the United States? It would be legitimate to ask, if Wesley Clark were the President of the United States right now, would Acxiom not be taking the place of Halliburton when it comes to all those War on Terror contracts?
I am guilty. I am guilty of being a sheep within this community. I am guilty of casting my vote for Clark in the last straw poll. Last week, when I found my copy of
The Buying of the President 2004 I dusted it off and opened it up. I have been firmly reminded of why I stared blankly at a friend who told me "Wesley Clark for President" in early 2004. I cannot, in good conscience, cast another vote for Wesley Clark.
If there is a fact I have overlooked or misinterpreted, please bring it to my knowledge. I look forward to your comments, most of all comments from front-page posters.