| WASHINGTON
- October 26 - In the shadow of the most devastating terrorist attack in
history, the Pentagon today announced its most lucrative
contract ever: a $200 billion deal with Lockheed Martin to build
the Joint Strike Fighter, a next-generation combat jet that
ultimately will replace aircraft used by the Navy, Air Force and
Marine Corps.
Awarded on a "winner takes all" basis, the contract calls for
construction of 3,000 JSFs and was considered so momentous that
Lockheed Martin and Boeing--the only two companies who competed
for the contract--spent hundreds of thousands, if not millions,
of dollars on advertising and other lobbying efforts in an
attempt to sway federal officials in their favor.
During the calendar year 2000, Lockheed Martin spent more than
$9.8 million lobbying members of Congress and the Clinton
administration, more than double the $4.2 million the company
spent during 1999. Among the company's newest lobbyists: Haley
Barbour, the former chairman of the Republican National
Committee.
Boeing, meanwhile, reported $7.8 million in lobbying
expenditures during 2000--about $400,000 less than its spending
during the calendar year 1999. In July, Boeing hired Rudy de
Leon, a former deputy secretary of defense under President
Clinton, as its top Washington lobbyist--a move that angered
some key Republicans, including Rep. J.C. Watts (R-Okla.) who
called the hiring "a slap in the face" to the GOP.
In terms of campaign spending, it was a battle of giant vs.
giant. During the 1999-2000 election cycle, Lockheed Martin
contributed just over $2.7 million in soft money, PAC and
individual contributions to federal candidates and parties. More
than two-thirds of that money went to Republicans. On the other
hand, Boeing gave $1.9 million to federal parties and
candidates, split almost equally between Democrats and
Republicans. That doesn't include Lockheed Martin's $225,000 in
checks written to the Bush-Cheney Inaugural Fund or Boeing's
$100,000 contribution to the same committee.
Just months into the 2001-02 election cycle, contributions from
the two companies have been far more even. Through June 30th of
this year, Boeing had contributed just under $468,000 to federal
parties and candidates, 58 percent to Republicans. Lockheed
Martin, meanwhile, had contributed $550,875, more than
two-thirds to the GOP.
With all that money, it's not surprising that the backroom
politics over the deal got testy in recent weeks. Boeing, for
example, accused Lockheed Martin of deliberately playing up its
Texas ties in pressing for the JSF contract, hoping to score
points with the Bush White House. (Lockheed Martin plans to
build the planes at its plant in Fort Worth.)
Meanwhile, Boeing elicited support from some of the most
influential leaders on Capitol Hill, including House Speaker
Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt
(D-Mo.) and nearly every member of the Washington state
congressional delegation. Gephardt last month sent a letter to
the Pentagon urging it to award the JSF program to Boeing, which
had planned to build the aircraft in St. Louis. Boeing was the
No. 6 contributor to Gephardt's 2000 re-election campaign,
contributing $13,500.
Click here for the web version of this report:
http://www.opensecrets.org/alerts/v6/alertv6_29.asp
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