If You're In Congress, You're Feeding At The War Machine Trough; What Happened To Chellie Pingree?

Once upon a time there was an organic farmer and mom who got involved in local Maine politics. She went on to head up the liberal think tank Common Cause, and then ran for Congress from Maine's 1st District.

A bunch of us visited the newly elected Chellie Pingree, a Democrat, in her Portland office. She didn't much appreciate peaceniks schooling her on the economic analysis showing how building weapons is a bad jobs program -- not just in terms of morality, but in terms of jobs. She told us she used to travel around for Common Cause giving presentations on that very same body of research, "The U.S. employment effects of military and domestic spending priorities" (Pollin & Peletier, 2011). Finally, we thought, we had someone representing our interests in Congress.

A few months later I birddogged Pingree at an appearance she had announced at a local nursery. That was where she told me that Democratic Party leadership insisted that she fall in line or become "like Dennis Kucinich" i.e. no one would work with her. Also that she had better support big Pentagon contracts for Bath Iron Works or else.

Pingree explained to me when I challenged her about conversion of BIW to peaceful production, "You get to Congress and they say 'Do you want to put three thousand people out of work your first term in office?'" 

A picture is worth 1,000 words, right? Nowadays replace Mike Michaud's face with Bruce Poliquin's face -- but little else has changed since Pingree et al. pledged allegiance to General Dynamics in 2014 as another nuclear-capable warship was "christened" at BIW.

Rep. Chellie Pingree, Rep. Bruce Poliquin, Sen. Susan Collins and Sen. Angus King palling it up with the Secretary of the Navy during his visit to General Dynamics' Bath Iron Works shipyard in September, 2017.

Pingree is now in her third term and here's how she was quoted in a story in the Portland Press Herald yesterday about BIW's contract to submit a design for a warship to launch missiles at China and Russia:

“The contract to create a conceptual design for the FFG(X) is a huge opportunity for BIW that could lead to enough work to keep the shipyard busy for years,” Pingree said in a statement. “I’m glad BIW will have the chance to show yet again the skills and expertise that we have here in Maine. I have no doubt that the shipyard’s design will be a strong one and highly competitive in this process.”

This is how you stay in Congress. You do what the big campaign donors say, and you make a big fuss about how having a D after your name makes you hugely different from someone with an R after their name.

Tell that to the people menaced, killed or maimed by weapons sent by the U.S. government.

Back when the Soviet Union had folded and we were all looking forward to a big "peace dividend" with recaptured funds no longer needed for Pentagon contracting, there was a rally for conversion at BIW. (This is years before General Dynamics bought them.) Big names like Democratic Senator George Mitchell and President Bill Clinton spoke at a BIW Labor Day Rally on Sep. 5, 1994.

Looks like we got fooled again.

Now neoliberal Democrats including Jennifer DeChant and Eloise Vitelli of Bath are carrying water for General Dynamics. They're trying to help GD get a tax break of $60 million over 20 years -- or maybe two tax breaks of $30 million over 10 years -- to help them stay "competitive" at the federal defense feeding trough.

A work session to examine amendments written by BIW and intended to make LD1781 more palatable to Maine taxpayers will be held Thursday, February 22 at 1pm in State House Room 127. If you can, lobby your own legislators to oppose this bill.

The public will not be allowed to speak, but expect to hear a lot from BIW vice president John Fitzgerald. That's his dad at the podium with Clinton and Mitchell in 1994 calling for conversion of the shipyard. What happened?

Here's a partial list of the many, many letters and op-eds from opponents of the bill that have appeared in Maine newspapers recently:

No tax giveaways for General Dynamics by Connie Jenkins (Bangor Daily News 2/19/18)

No more corporate welfare by Ilze Petersons (Bangor Daily News 2/17/18)

Collusion’s close to home at BIW by Dan Marks (Portland Press Herald 2/15/18)

No tax handouts for General Dynamic by Rob Shetterly (Bangor Daily News 2/15/18)

Fear card by Mary Donnelly (Times Record 2/14/18)

Op-ed: An opportunity for choosing people over profit by Rosalie Paul (Times Record 2/14/18)

Corporate welfare for GD by Karen Wainberg (Times Record 2/13/18)

Safety on our highways trumps BIW tax break by Cushman Anthony (Portland Press Herald 2/13/18)

Corporate Welfare for General Dynamics by Russell Wray (Sun Journal 2/11/18)

No tax break for General Dynamics by Doug Rawlings (Daily Bulldog 2/9/18)

And from Bruce Gagnon, now in his 7th day of a hunger strike outside BIW opposing the tax giveaway bill,
Maine can't afford to give GD/BIW $30 million either.

BIW Plays The Victim: 'For Us To Be Punished Because Our Owner Has Capital Seems Unjust!'

I'm sure Bruce Gagnon will post this today on his excellent blog Organizing Notes, but in the meantime I'll repost it here from my email.

Report on LD 1781 Taxation Committee Work Session in Augusta 

Rep. Jennifer DeChant (D-Bath), along with a coterie of other Democrat legislators and BIW executives, appeared before the Taxation Committee today with her ‘amendments’ to LD 1781 – the bill to give General Dynamics $60 million in corporate welfare over the next 20 years.

Earlier in the day I had received an email from a fellow Bath resident that had originated from Rep. DeChant in response to my friend’s request that she not vote in favor of the controversial bill.  In the email DeChant told my friend: “I will recommend changing the amount for half in half the time and require review (of data collected) before renewing it again.”

Rep. DeChant’s amendments called for ‘improvements in BIW reporting’ on how they spend the proposed funds from the state.  During the previous $200 million tax credit that BIW/GD got back in 1997 there was no reporting by the company on how they spent the funds or how many workers were hired.

The committee had some questions like the one from Rep. Denise Teplar (D-Topsham) who asked, “What is the state’s interest in providing a 90% tax credit in years when jobs are reduced?”

The best exchanges of the day though were between BIW V-P John Fitzgerald and a couple committee members.

Rep. Ryan Tipping (D-Bangor) asked, “Is this credit going to make a difference?  Is there a smaller amount the state can invest? Can we audit BIW’s books?”

Fitzgerald responded to Rep. Tipping, “It would be a challenge to answer that question.  What would you ask the auditor to find?”

Sen. Justin Chenette (D-Saco) then asked, “I’m not understanding why the investment of $60 million can’t come from your parent company?  In order for me to make decisions I need a commitment from you [BIW] to disclose the profits of the company.”

Fitzgerald responded emphatically:  “The answer is no.”

At one point during the meeting Fitzgerald cried out, “For us to be punished because our owner has capital seems unjust!”

DeChant’s amendment to “changing the amount for half in half the time” is actually no more than a legislative smoke and mirrors gambit.  In the end the amendment calls for BIW to spend $100 million per year in ‘qualified investments’ and if done, then after the first 10 years the second round of $30 million more in corporate subsidies would automatically kick-in for the next 10 years.  So in the end GD would still get their $60 million.

In the amended bill ‘qualified investments’ is defined as virtually any cost that BIW has except for salaries or other compensation paid to employees.  So all other expenses on Aegis destroyers that cost $1.5 billion each and Zumwalt destroyers that cost between $4-7 billion each would count toward the required annual BIW investment of $100 million per year.  Easy as pie – no tough nut to crack there.

Recognizing that BIW is currently building two Zumwalt and four Aegis destroyers with at least 1-2 being ‘christened’ per year there is virtually no way in the world that BIW/GD would not meet that meager criteria to qualify for state support.  Under questioning Fitzgerald admitted that currently GD is bidding on 10 more destroyers and anticipates likely getting half of those contracts from the Navy.

Training of a new generation of BIW workers is still GD’s key talking point to sell the bill even though their Navy contracts include funds for all their costs – including training and reimbursement for their taxes to the state of Maine.

Currently BIW is receiving an $81 million property-tax break from the City of Bath that runs out in 2022.  In addition BIW got another $3.7 million from Bath in 2013.

Fitzgerald reluctantly admitted that BIW/GD also receive an unknown about of money via Maine’s Pine Tree Development Zone program.  The Press Herald reported late last year that “BIW is a participant in the Pine Tree Zone program and believes it has been an important incentive for businesses to locate in Maine or stay here while continuing to invest in operations that provide jobs and economic activity,” Fitzgerald wrote.  The amount that any individual company benefits from the program is usually not disclosed under state laws that protect the confidentiality of tax returns and shield proprietary information from competitors.

In the end the Taxation Committee tabled LD 1781 but it appears that most members of the committee are prepared to support the bill once all the new amendments are fully added and understood by those on the committee.

It is ever more clear to me that GD not only runs Bath but also runs the State of Maine – as any colonizer controls the land and people where they have set up operations.

It will be up to the people of Maine to wrest back control of its own state treasury from this mega-corporation that bought back $12.9 billion of its own stocks between 2009-2016.

We’ll let you know when the next Taxation Committee Work Session will be held.  Despite what some might want you to think this show ain’t yet over.

Bruce

The fact that Bath Iron Works (BIW) is playing the victim in a legislative work session where the public isn't allowed to speak but their CEO is would be laughable if we were not already living in Kafka-esque times almost impossible to parody.

Note that the "punishment" would be paying the state taxes they owe on their considerable income. I get "punished" every year by being fully taxed on my salary as a teacher. How about you?

Just for reference, last year BIW's parent company General Dynamics paid its CEO $21 million.

Headline Sums Up The Mess We're In: Tax Breaks For BIW, World War III For Us

Is it alarmist to suggest that corporate welfare for the 5th largest weapons corporation in the world will lead to WWIII, as did Portland's the bollard in its February issue? I don't think so.

The giant warships known as destroyers that are built by General Dynamics' Bath Iron Works (BIW) in Maine are indeed sent to menace China.

Destruction of a UN World Heritage Site coral reef over the last several years to create a deep water port for those destroyers on Jeju Island, South Korea was resisted vigorously by the people who live and fish there. They did not want their coastline used as a staging area for a showdown between their powerful neighbor and the U.S. -- of which South Korea is a client state since it was partitioned during the Cold War.

One of the best quotes I've ever seen from the many articulate protesters who have gathered at BIW warship christenings[sic] was from Peter Morgan, a Veteran for Peace. He reportedly told the Portland Press Herald of a warship that cost $4.1 billion to build,

"I’m not sure how the destroyer addresses terrorism, exactly."

Hmm...

Yesterday I noticed news that the U.S. government is set to borrow $955 billion in 2018, a huge increase over previous years. This is likely in response to revenue lost because of the tax "reform" that slashed taxes for corporations and wealthy individuals. Much of what is borrowed will funnel back to those same corporations in the form of lucrative contracts to build massive weapon systems. And those same corporations will give campaign contributions to the legislators who voted for their big tax break.

When I protested at BIW with a sign that said WAR = DEBT I meant this literally. 

Today faux news is reporting that ISIS is "defeated" and that the U.S. will be redeploying troops from Iraq to Afghanistan. (What could go wrong?)

ISIS, a direct result of the U.S. invading and occupying Iraq, has largely been funded by U.S. ally Saudi Arabia. If it is "defeated" I'm guessing this means its funding streams are drying up.

With China and Russia as enemies to justify mad borrowing that funds "defense" spending, who really needs Islamic militants?

If the U.S. is indeed pulling troops out of Iraq (as they've promised many times to do) I'm guessing it may have something to do with the fact that "our" moderate rebels shot down a Russian warplane over Syria a couple of days ago.

As we hold our breath in fear of nuclear war, this is an alarming development.

Chris Busby of the bollard has the sense to connect the dots of LD1781, which is a bill before the Maine Legislature to provide a $60 million tax break for GD/BIW, and the threat of global war.

I was arrested while holding the WAR = DEBT sign in front of BIW's gate. Justice Dan Billings just ruled that the shipyard was wrong to exclude me from a public event just because they didn't like my message. Also that the Bath Police Department was really wrong to be taking its orders from BIW.

It's the karmic debt of our warmongering for profit that worries me most. Sixteen plus years in Afghanistan and no end in sight. U.S. bases proliferate around the globe. Africa is crawling with Pentagon outposts established during the Obama administration. People want foreign military bases out of their countries: Okinawa, Italy, Germany, Australia, and so on. 

Politicians in the U.S. will go on claiming that Pentagon contracts are a good jobs program. They are not.

The Ottoman Empire, the British Empire and the French monarchy found what happens when a nation keeps borrowing to fund wars it cannot afford.

The German and Japanese people found where the road led from committng their national manufacturing might to weapons and death dealing.


The U.S. is on that same road right now, and more corporate welfare for weapons manufacturers will only hasten our demise.

#Aegis9 Defendant Jason Rawn To Taxation Committee: Mainers Do Not Want Or Need Corporate Rule

From a dear member of my #Aegis9 trial family, Jason Rawn, who took time to be in Augusta yesterday and deliver his remarks to the Joint Standing Committee on Taxation. Jason was also quoted in the Portland Press Herald's "balanced" report on the hearing which gave a lot of air time to a corporate employee that would directly benefit from the legislation.

This is my testimony given in a hearing at the State House today re Corporate Welfare Tax Scam bill LD 1781, a $60 million gift WMD corporation General Dynamics is trying to coerce from Maine taxpayers. Peace.

Good Afternoon. I'm Jason Rawn. I vote in Lincolnville. I'm one of 9 defendants standing trial for First Amendment actions at a "christening" at the GD shipyard in Bath last year.

GD enjoys billions in "taxpayer generosity" every year.

Just last year, GD enjoyed over $12 billion in US "taxpayer generosity."

Additionally, your legislative predecessors (and some of you) have enabled GD to enjoy over $200 million in "taxpayer generosity" from Maine and certain of its communities over the years.

Additionally, CT, RI, and KY legislators have enabled GD to coerce millions more in "taxpayer generosity" from their states over the years.

Additionally, just as in this very room GD advocates are attempting to coerce $60 million MORE in "taxpayer generosity" from Mainers, so are GD and their operatives in the CT legislature attempting to squeeze $150 million MORE in "taxpayer generosity" from that state.

Far from being some benevolent, All-American corporation proud to provide good jobs for patriotic Americans in return for their "taxpayer generosity," GD operates in 46 different countries; one wonders whether the legislators in the 45 other countries bend over backwards for GD as eagerly as Rep DeChant, Sen Vitelli, and the rest of the proponents of this bill expect you and Maine taxpayers to do?

This bill is not good for Maine.

As one of the poorer states in the Union, we don't have $60 million MORE in "taxpayer generosity" to spare.

We need to invest in healthcare, education, infrastructure, cleaning up the Kennebec after decades of industrial pollution by GD, etc.

I ask you to show some integrity;
show some courage;
show some vision beyond the short-sighted, pre-packaged vision provided by US/corporate war makers.

Mainers do not want or need Corporate Rule.

Not by Nestle, not by GD, not by any of them.

Maine cannot afford this Corporate Welfare Tax Scam bill.

Thank you.

As I was looking for the link to new coverage of Jason's testimony, I stumbled upon this relevant headline in the business section of Maine's largest daily newspaper: "Tax-break recipient Carbonite ships some Maine call center jobs to Jamaica."

General Dynamics/BIW has similarly reduced its work force meanwhile receiving major tax breaks from the state.

I'll finish with this great video interview of retired professor Orland Delogu explaining his view of corporate welfare as it applies to General Dynamics doing business in Maine.