[More on ethanol]
Everyone has heard the incessant chatter out of the Clinton administration about how the "special interests" are out to capture and undermine all that's, good in America. This conveys, of course, that the administration operates in a constant state of monkish resistance to these temptings. Well, then, here's a small Washington morality tale.
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Also see: Ethanol Boon Shows How and Antitrust Probe of Archer-Daniels |
Last week, agricultural giant Archer-Daniels-Midland Inc. thought it had hit the jackpot when it sweet-talked the Clinton White House into exempting ethanol, a corn-derived alcohol fuel, from the proposed energy tax. Then, astonishingly, the Senate voted 52 to 48 against the exemption, the first in memory ADM has lost on the Hill. It's just possible that Congress may be breaking free of a special 'interest's temptings just as the Clinton folks are giving in.
The ethanol industry is dominated by ADM, whose three main businesses — alcohol-based ethanol, corn sweeteners and soybean products — all depend heavily on government subsidies. Its ethanol business is kept running by free surplus corn and tax subsidies that add up to more than the wholesale price of other fuels. ADM is an unusual company. Its TV commercials on Sunday political talk shows aren't directed at consumers so much as they are at the Members of Congress who watch them.
As soon as Bill Clinton proposed his energy tax, ADM's Chairman Dwayne Andreas began angling to get around it. Though both environmental groups and the oil industry opposed any ethanol exemption, ADM persuaded Treasury Secretary Lloyd Bentsen to go along. It then assembled an unholy pro-ethanol alliance by persuading corn-state Senators such as Bob Dole to vote to exempt home heating oil from the energy tax.
In a classic logrolling exercise, New England Senators such as Ted Kennedy and Chris Dodd then agreed to exempt ethanol.
But this time ADM's ploy didn't work. Several Senators argued that if all forms of energy weren't taxed the entire energy tax should be scrapped. Democratic Senator Bill Bradley chided his colleagues for backing ethanol when it's been proved that it increases carbon monoxide emissions. Republicans hooted at claims by the Clinton Treasury that its program was being fought by special interests. "The special interests are dictating to the Clinton White, House what's in this bill," said Senator Malcolm Wallop.
Mr. Andreas and ADM are legendary for being able to give dictation to pols who've accepted ADM-related contributions. Indeed, Mr. Andreas's zest for dispensing political cash has sometimes landed him in trouble. It was his secret cash contributions to the 1972 Nixon campaign that later turned up being used by the Watergate burglars. This month he and his wife, Dorothy, agreed to pay an $8,000 civil fine for violating a federal law that prohibits contributions of more than $25,000 a year to candidates.
Mr. Andreas's influence on Capitol Hill is decried even by many farmers "The piggishness of ADM has caused a major political problem for the whole corn industry," says John Ford of the American Corn Growers Association. It's obviously now perceived as a problem even by some in the pork-happy Congress. That's why it's so disturbing to see how quickly the Clinton White House invited an already well-fed ADM to pig-out again at the public trough. If the Clinton folks can't say no to an egregious special interest like ADM; whom will they stand up to?
p.A4
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