Who's backing the $4.5 million Bush-Cheney '04 ad blitz that hits cable television in 17 states starting tomorrow? Special interests, of course: The financial industry, real estate developers, electric utilities, oil and gas companies and mining companies. And, according to a report issued today by Public Citizen, corporations are getting billions of dollars in benefits in return from the Bush administration.
"When people watch TV this week and see the ads touting President Bush and his record, they should know that major corporations helped pay for those ads," said Public Citizen President Joan Claybrook. "More important, they should know that these industries got their money's worth from Bush administration decisions worth billions of dollars."
From the press release: Public Citizen's report details how Bush has given tax breaks that benefit the finance industry, made it easier for real estate developers to build on wetlands and in the Florida Everglades, reneged on a campaign pledge to regulate carbon dioxide emissions (pleasing the electric utility and mining industries), increased the amount of public land available for oil and gas exploration and coal mining, filled top Interior Department positions with executives from the mining industry, and aided the pharmaceutical industry by pushing pro-industry Medicare drug legislation.
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