One of the largest conservative groups in the country offered to sell its endorsement to Fed Ex for a mere $2 million.

From the Politico

The American Conservative Union asked FedEx for a $2 million check in return for the group’s endorsement in a bitter legislative dispute, then flipped and sided with UPS after FedEx refused to pay.

In return for the $2 million, ACU offered a range of services that included: “Producing op-eds and articles written by ACU’s Chairman David Keene and / or other members of the ACU’s board of directors. (Note that Mr. Keene writes a weekly column that appears in The Hill.)”

The conservative group’s remarkable demand — black-and-white proof of the longtime Washington practice known as “pay for play” — was contained in a private letter to FedEx that was provided to POLITICO.

The letter exposes the practice by some political interest groups of taking stands not for reasons of pure principle, as their members and supporters might assume, but also in part because a sponsor is paying big money.

Maury Lane, FedEx’s director of corporate communications

, said: “Clearly the ACU shopped their beliefs and UPS bought.” In the three-page letter asking for money on June 30, the conservative group backed FedEx. Rebuffed, the group signed onto a two-page July 15 letter backing UPS.

American Conservative Union’s logo is at the top, along with those of six other conservative groups.

FedEx and UPS, fierce competitors in the package delivery business, are at war over a provision under consideration in Congress that would expand union power at FedEx. Right now, FedEx has one national union contract for its express business.

Under a change passed by the House and awaiting action in the Senate, FedEx — like UPS — would have to negotiate union contracts for individual locations, which FedEx claims would make it impossible to promise worldwide regularity for deliveries.

The American Conservative Union, which calls itself “the nation’s oldest and largest grassroots conservative lobbying organization,” took UPS’s side on Wednesday as part of a conservative consortium that accused FedEx of “misleading the public and legislators.”

Just two weeks earlier, ACU had offered its endorsement to FedEx, saying in a letter to the company: “We stand with FedEx in opposition to this legislation.”

This was a boneheaded move on the part of Keene.  Did he actually think FedEx was going to go along with this extortion like scheme?  Keene may be a smart political operative but after this move he should resign or be fired.  This is not the type of behavior an ethical conservative should or would condone. 

 

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