Word: galas
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...Bush signs the bill, as he says he will, and if it survives a court challenge, it will put a damper on at least one type of feeding frenzy: soft-money bacchanals like the one last May, when 3,000 gathered at the D.C. Armory for a black-tie gala honoring the new President. In his speech, George W. Bush noted Washington's "many temptations," one of which is its money culture, and said he wanted to change things. But "in politics, old ways die hard...
That night the old ways were very much alive. The gala, which raised almost $24 million, has been criticized as a prime example of Washington's salesman culture. A TIME investigation reveals just how excessive it was: at tables sold for $25,000 apiece were oilmen seeking to lift U.S. embargoes against Iran and Libya; nuclear-plant owners looking for government backing of a burial ground for reactor waste; and coal, refinery and utility executives out to ease pollution standards. In addition to writing the kind of huge soft-money checks that the reform bill would outlaw, energy firms lent...
...Though Bush would later brand Iran part of the "axis of evil," the task force proposed factoring in U.S. energy needs when reviewing sanctions against Iran and Libya. In addition to Exxon Mobil, two other oil giants, Conoco and Phillips Petroleum-each a $25,000 gala donor-have long opposed the sanctions, which deprive them of markets. Conoco president Archie Dunham, an old Cheney pal, visited him March 21 to press the case. Big Oil saw the task force's proposal as a victory, though hopes of lifting sanctions were dashed last summer. Congress voted to renew them...
...Also underwriting the May gala was a group long shut out of Washington's power equation: the nuclear industry, which hasn't built any new plants since the Three Mile Island disaster. A group of nuclear executives met on March 20 with Karl Rove, Bush's top political adviser; Lawrence Lindsey, Bush's senior economic aide; and task-force director Andrew Lundquist. Cheney's report backed faster relicensing of old nuclear plants and construction of new ones...
...government review its lawsuits against several power companies accused of ignoring legally mandated pollution controls on renovated plants. Six utilities, including gigantic Southern Co. of Atlanta, hired ex-R.N.C. chairman Haley Barbour to lobby for the relaxation of controls. While raising at least $250,000 for the gala, Barbour met with Cheney on May 3 to discuss the matter. Barbour apparently made an impact. The review Cheney called for threw the lawsuits into limbo. And last week EPA assistant administrator Jeffrey Holmstead told an industry trade association that the Administration wants to eliminate the old pollution controls...