Here's some excerpts from prior e-mails, in edited form, by me about Gore and
his supporter Toby Moffett.
The specific web page that tells a lot about Mr. Moffett is
www.commondreams.org/headlines/090300-04.htm
There are also several good articles about Monsanto, and Moffett, linked to
that page.
Tom
---------------------------------
Speaking of threats to the environment, the "great environmental champion,"
Al Gore, has had 8 years as vice president to speak out against genetic
engineering, but he has not done so. Worse, he has been a strong promoter of
genetic engineering.
. . . I am sending to you an e-mail, below, preceded by my comments, that I
got from Brett Hulsey, who is a Dane County, Wisconsin supervisor and a staff
member of the Sierra Club Midwest Regional office, in Madison.
If what I have read about this Toby Moffett is true, it's pretty
disappointing that Brett chose to forward this statement by Moffett.
Tom Mathews
---------------------------------------
Brett Hulsey sent the following to me. But before you read it, here's some
information and opinions about Toby Moffett from the October 1, 2000 issue of
Progressive Populist:
(By the way, the website mentioned, www.commondreams.org, is excellent!)
(First, this is a quote from an article by Andre Vasquez in the Boston Globe,
Sunday, Sept. 3, headlined, Toby Moffett: An Old Hand For Greens Shifts
Allegiance to Gore)
"He has since [since 1982] been a television news anchor, and is now a
Washington consultant to corporations and accounting firms," Vasquez reported.
The website www.commondreams.org notes that Toby Moffett "shifted his
allegience to corporate America long ago. He is Monsanto Corporation's Vice
President for International and Governmental Affairs, i.e., Chief Lobbyist.
According to several published reports, Moffett was Monsanto's chief lobbyist
in 1998-99, when Nader was at the forefront of criticizing the corporation's
genetic food manipulations."
Now, here's what Brett sent:
Subj: Nader's Raider Backs Gore
Date: 00-09-19 22:27:05 EDT
From: Brett4us
To: [log in to unmask]
CC: [log in to unmask], Thmathews
CC: [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask]
CC: [log in to unmask]
CC: [log in to unmask] (Harry W. Read)
CC: [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask]
CC: Threinen, [log in to unmask]
CC: [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask]
CC: [log in to unmask]
Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN) September 7, 2000, Thursday, Metro
Edition
Copyright 2000 Star Tribune
Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN)
September 7, 2000, Thursday, Metro Edition
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 22A LENGTH: 718 words
Nader's campaign is a rash and dangerous one for progressives
BYLINE: Toby Moffett
BODY:
I have had the rather unusual distinction of sitting next to Ralph
Nader when he launched a national citizen action movement and sitting
next
to Al Gore for several years on the Commerce Committee in the U.S. House
of
Representatives.
As the first and only "Nader Raider" elected to the House, I find
it painful to watch Ralph on this rash and dangerous course he calls a
campaign for president.
My father was a beer salesman. He used to call on a restaurant in
Winsted, Conn., owned by Ralph Nader's father. Both of the fathers
were Lebanese-Americans and proud of their sons.
In the late 1960s, when both Ralph and I were working in
Washington, the fathers urged us to meet. I had just finished graduate
school; he had
just become famous with his book "Unsafe at Any Speed."
In 1971, he asked me to return to Connecticut to start a consumer
and environmental advocacy group. I moved back and became the first
director of the Connecticut Citizen Action Group, then the only
statewide group of
its kind affiliated with Nader.
For the next three years, as CCAG fought utility companies on
rates, drug companies on prices and developers on wetlands, I spent a
great
deal of time with Ralph, accompanying him to meetings and speeches,
picking
him up at the airport and driving him to Winsted, where I would join him
and
his parents at their dinner table.
Like almost everyone who has worked with Ralph, I was inspired by
him. I admired his independence, his integrity, his persistence.
But many of us now fear that he is about to throw a critical
election to a genuine conservative linked to right-wing forces, a man
who shares
virtually none of Nader's views.
His Tweedledum and Tweedledee assertion that there is no important
difference between the major presidential candidates would be
laughable if it weren't so unsafe.
Sitting next to Al Gore on that House committee, I was constantly
struck by not only his intellect but also his passionate advocacy as he
took
on powerful interests over toxic waste, air pollution, consumer rip-offs
and other important issues.
That's one of the things that is so stunning about the Nader
candidacy _that he chooses to ignore the many positions he and Gore have
shared
over the years, the many fights they have waged together.
"Reckless" is not too strong a word to use when one watches Ralph
shrug off suggestions that his candidacy might result in a
Scalia/Thomas-dominated Supreme Court, though he must be aware that
George W. Bush has said
those two are his favorite justices.
"Courting Disaster," a recently published report by People for the
American Way, details dozens of cases in which Justices Antonin Scalia
and Clarence Thomas have written or joined opinions that recommend
curtailing of important rights. The report carefully reviews a long list
of
decisions that would likely be overturned by Bush appointees _ decisions
protecting
civil rights, the environment and a woman's right to choose, to name
just a
few.
That's why a number of former Nader associates across the country
have joined with me to warn voters flirting with supporting Ralph just
how
damaging that could be.
Our message is simple and direct: A vote for Ralph is a vote for
Bush. We want to tear apart the esoteric and elitist argument that
progressive goals will somehow be strengthened by this irresponsible
campaign,
even if Ralph helps Bush get elected. We want to show how ludicrous it
is to
say that the Democratic Party will have been moved to a more progressive,
left-liberal place even if Bush and his right-wing supporters are in
the White House and, in all likelihood, in control of both chambers of
Congress.
If Ralph had wanted to gain a voice for progressive points of
view, he would have entered the primaries, as Bill Bradley did. That's
what
primaries are for, to help define where a party should stand.
Instead Ralph continues on his destructive mission. There's no
talking him out of it, but my goal is to convince enough progressives
that
voting for him comes with a potentially huge price tag.
_ Toby Moffett is a former member of the U.S. House of
Representatives from Connecticut. He wrote this article for the Hartford
Courant.
Dane County, WI Supervisor Brett Hulsey
Protecting our families, our environment, and our future.
110 Merrill Crest, Madison, WI 53705
Home) 608-238-6070
Work) 608-257-4994
Cell) 608-334-4994
Fax) 608-257-3513
Email) [log in to unmask]
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