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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWarren pushing the interests of major defense contractors
Elizabeth Warrens standing as a liberal warrior immune to the influence of Big Business hasnt stopped her from pushing the interests of major defense contractors back home.
Warren has fought to stop the Army from shifting funds away from a Massachusetts-built communications network to pay for unanticipated costs associated with the war in Afghanistan. Shes lobbied for problem-plagued General Dynamics-made tactical radios. And shes pledged to protect Westover Air Reserve Base from the budget ax all while saying she supports targeted cuts elsewhere.
Warren didnt respond to questions as she walked to a vote in the Capitol, and an aide referred POLITICO to the senators spokeswoman, Lacey Rose, who also didnt respond to repeated requests for comment. But the half-dozen industry insiders who were interviewed painted a picture of a senator whos willing to advocate for local defense firms but has no relationship with the industry on a national level.
I have seen the senator and her team take a very active role in defense matters in Massachusetts, said Joseph Donovan, a Boston-based defense lobbyist with Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough and a former aide to then-Gov. Mitt Romney. Ive been in roundtables that her office has organized with major defense contractors and small businesses.
One local defense executive noted its no secret the industry in 2012 backed Warrens Republican opponent, Army National Guard veteran Scott Brown, explaining that Browns seat on the Senate Armed Services Committee gave him a big platform to advocate for home-state contractors
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But the executive said Warrens made an effort to reach out to defense companies, including visits to Raytheon and General Dynamics facilities in her state, and that theres certainly not an impression that shes adversarial to big-name contracting firms.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/02/elizabeth-warren-defense-massachusetts-115157.html#ixzz3Rp2NnGhu
Autumn
(45,120 posts)Defense industries do provide jobs and a nation should have a strong defense, Just not endless wars of choice.
djean111
(14,255 posts)As long as Congress and the President are determined to spend all the money, and increase the amount, why wouldn't Warren try and get some of that money for her constituents? When Hillary does this, it is called "what you have to do to get campaign donations".
Here's the thing - Warren could barbecue puppies on the floor of Congress, and that would not make Hillary any more palatable than she is now, to those who do not want her as the presidential candidate.
I think "Anyone but Hillary" would be a clue.
But it is nice that you expend an effort digging around, finding things liberals would not like about Warren.
Personally, I have taken some advice I have been repeatedly given, to heart - I do not let the perfect be the enemy of the good. In my case, Warren (or another liberal candidate) is still good, Hillary - not good. Nothing Warren does can make me accept the TPP and fracking.
DemocratSinceBirth
(99,711 posts)And while I believe it's important to explore the issues including this one, if we all do is attack Elizabeth Warren , we become no better than the Hillary Haters on this board whose raison d'etre is to constantly attack her.
Any way, the notion that any Democratic candidate that is elected president would govern fundamentally differently than this or that Democratic candidate strikes me as hopelessly naive and politically childish.
wyldwolf
(43,869 posts)It's a commentary on how the anti-Clinton brigade here seize on every little tidit about Clinton while virtually ignoring any news that would cast ___________(fill in name of latest progressive savior) in a negative light.
If I were Warren, I'd be doing exactly what she's doing. If Clinton were still Senator of NY and doing this, she'd be viciously attacked for it.
Gman
(24,780 posts)The HRC haters act no differently than teabaggers. And that seems to really be a characteristic of fanatics in general.
Gman
(24,780 posts)And she does it well.
Katashi_itto
(10,175 posts)RiverLover
(7,830 posts)She's pro-business & pro-people. It is possible to balance both & that's who we need to lead. And Raytheon didn't even need to give her gobs of money for her not to be "adversarial"...
I love her, I hope she changes her mind about 2016.
Thanks for posting WW!!