02-09-2002
INSIDE WASHINGTON: Inside Washington for February 9, 2002
We Absolutely Believe Haley Wouldn't Be Partisan
Former Republican National Committee Chairman Haley Barbour, now the head
of a proudly GOP-only lobbying firm, has recently been making the rounds
in his native Mississippi, scouting out the possibility of a gubernatorial
run. And if the pot doesn't just love to call the kettle black, Barbour is
harping about the "corrosive and bad" effects of-God
forbid-partisanship. Barbour is also reminiscing about those halcyon days
of the Reagan years, when (at least a few) Democrats and Republicans
walked hand in hand and strove to do the people's business. Barbour is
touring Mississippi one week a month of late; he says he'll decide by fall
whether to make a 2003 run for the Jackson mansion.
The Costs of Protecting U.S. Steel? Well....
The Emergency Committee for American Trade represents big companies that
want to head off government efforts to shield the domestic steel industry
from cheaper imports, steps that would, the group says, make the offshore
steel they use more expensive. President Bush must decide on possible
protectionist steps by March 6. If he green-lights tariffs or import
quotas, the United States could be hit with billions in retaliatory
sanctions. To make its case, the emergency committee ordered up a study by
economist Gary Hufbauer, who was supposed to show that the broad costs of
protection would be greater than its benefits for admittedly hard-hit
steelmakers. He didn't. Instead, Hufbauer determined that the stiffest
penalties would cost U.S. users of foreign-made steel $11 billion a year
but provide a $22 billion-a-year boost for American steel producers. Cal
Cohen, president of the committee, says that the study doesn't factor in
higher prices for consumers, and Hufbauer says that this would surely show
that protection is a loser for the U.S. economy. But that's another
study.
No Accounting for What a Jury Will Do
Accounting giant Ernst & Young took it on the chin last week from a
D.C. Superior Court jury that awarded $213,500 in damages to one of
E&Y's auditing clients-the lobbying firm Van Scoyoc Associates Inc.
Turns out that as E&Y was checking out Van Scoyoc's books in 1998, the
accounting firm did not disclose that its own lobbying unit was hiring
away Van Scoyoc's star door-opener, Phillip Moseley. The jury decided that
amounted to negligent misrepresentation by the accounting firm. "We
would have liked to have gotten $4 million instead of $200,000, but we at
least preserved an important principle," said firm President H.
Stewart Van Scoyoc.
Locking and Loading for a Pal
In the sights of a serious challenger for the first time in many a
congressional hunting season, Rep. Bob Barr, R-Ga., is looking to the
National Rifle Association and other gun groups for an extra clip or two
of political ammunition to help him through a primary challenge later this
year. Because of a redistricting boundary shift, Barr is in a face-off
with fellow Republican Rep. John Linder. Though each boasts a strong
anti-gun-control voting record, Barr seems to have a good shot at getting
what he wants-an endorsement letter. He is, after all, a member of the
NRA's board.
National Journal
