Now this is a disturbing story from today's Roll Call:
Senate Democrats, upset at the insurance industry for working to oust Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.), have decided to drag their feet on one of the industry’s top legislative priorities.Democrats on the Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee stopped leading an effort to renew a federal terrorism reinsurance plan after lobbyists for the insurance industry began planning a fundraising dinner for Daschle’s Republican opponent, former Rep. John Thune, Democratic aides and lobbyists said.
The dinner — sponsored by the American Insurance Association, the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America, and several insurance companies — was subsequently postponed. Officially, organizers blamed scheduling conflicts, but sources said the Democratic outcry will make it hard for the dinner to be rescheduled.
Though Democrats still support the bill, the move effectively ends any chance that Congress will reauthorize the terrorism reinsurance plan this year. The insurance industry had been relying on Democrats to lead the drive for the legislation because Congressional Republicans and the Bush administration are wary of creating a permanent, new federal program.
Several Democratic aides and industry lobbyists confirmed the turn of events.
“It turns out that at the very same time that they are lobbying us, they are sending out a Thune fundraising invitation,” said one Democratic aide. “This is not a must-pass bill. They were coming around and looking for a favor. At this point, that hearing is the end of the road.”
...
When Thune challenged Johnson in 2000, Daschle made it known he was keeping tabs on companies and business associations who worked to defeat Johnson.
Michael Meehan, a top political adviser to Daschle, said at the time that “it’s not the South Dakota way to put the screws to anybody.”
No, it's not the South Dakota way. Well put, Mr. Meehan. It sounds like "startling meanness" to me.
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