When Will Hatch and Herbert Have Enough? Is It a Bottomless Pit? Can the Public Get Together And Buy Them Off On An Exclusive Deal?
Two stories appeared in The Salt Lake Tribune on Thursday, February 4th, one indicating that Senator Hatch took a $25,000 campaign contribution from parties interested in seeing that the Comcast-NBC merger is approved, and a $10,000 contribution to Gov. Herbert to grease the skids for a strip-mining permit.
The stories are printed below.
It makes one wonder if their pockets are a bottomless pit, or if they have limits, and makes one wonder if the general public can get together and pool our resources and negotiate an exclusive deal with them. Senator Hatch and Governor Herbert, how much would it take for the public to pay you for an agreement that you wouldn’t take any campaign donations from any special interest group except us?
Article on donations to Gov. Herbert
by Paul Foy
Associated Press, published in Salt Lake Tribune
On the same day Gov. Gary Herbert sat down with a coal company that complained regulators were taking too long to issue a strip-mining permit, his campaign aides were cashing a $10,000 check from the company.
The pleas from Alton Coal Development LLC. did not go unanswered. According to a memo obtained by The Associated Press, state regulators at the meeting agreed to fast-track a decision approving the mine near Panguitch, despite opposition from residents.
Herbert’s office said Wednesday he never ordered regulators to give their approval and didn’t know about the company’s donation.
The decision has some residents of the small tourist town about 200 miles south of Salt Lake City concerned, with one business owner characterizing the payment as a blatant effort by the coal developer to influence the Herbert administration.
“It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure that out,” said Bobbi Bryant, owner of the gift and coffee shop Bronco Bobbi’s, who is opposed to the strip mine because the operation would send coal trucks as often as 300 times a day through Panguitch, which is near Bryce Canyon National Park.
“There’s a lot more people down here against it than officials want you to know,” she said.
The three-page memo from the Utah Division of Oil, Gas and Mining said the result of the coal company’s September meeting with the Republican governor was to fast-track a decision by regulators. Priscilla Burton, a chief environmental scientist for the agency who wrote the memo, noted regulators had a full year to make a decision.
“However, the applicant had an audience with the Governor on Sept. 17, 2009, with the result that the permitting process will end on Oct. 15, 2009,” Burton wrote. The mining approval was issued four days later.
A Jan. 11 filing by Herbert’s political-action committee indicated the coal company made its $10,000 donation on the same day it met with Herbert, but the check actually arrived four days earlier and was deposited in a bank on the day of the meeting, Herbert spokeswoman Angie Welling clarified Wednesday.
Regulators from the division showed up in Panguitch days after the meeting “saying they felt pressure to get some reports or inspections done for the approval,” according to Bryant.
But a Utah regulator who was in the meeting with Alton and Herbert has said the governor never instructed him to make any particular decision and instead inquired, “When do you think you will get it out?”
John Baza, the mining agency director, said he then decided to hurry things up.
This is the article regarding the donation to Senator Hatch.
by Matt Canham
Salt Lake Tribune
Washington » General Electric Chairman Jeffery Immelt sent Sen. Orrin Hatch a $2,000 campaign contribution the same day his company announced a deal giving Comcast controlling interest in NBC Universal.
It was the first time Immelt has donated to the Utah senator, and yet the contribution capped a fundraising barrage during the previous month where top GE vice presidents and the company’s political action committee funneled a total of $23,000 to Hatch’s campaign account.
Hatch is expected to play a key role in the congressional review of the controversial merger. He is the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary’s antitrust committee, which will hold its first hearing on the Comcast-NBC deal Thursday.
A GE spokesman said the contributions’ proximity to the merger announcement was a coincidence and nothing more, while Hatch’s staff said the donations have no impact on his views.
“He has always simply done what he believes is the right thing to do for Utah and America. That is the bottom line,” said Hatch spokesman Mark Eddington.
Coincidence or not, Hatch is likely to be more sympathetic toward the massive media merger than many others on the subcommittee.
The chairman, Sen. Herb Kohl, D-Wis., has already expressed skepticism about the deal saying: “This acquisition will create waves throughout the media and entertainment marketplace and we don’t know where the ripples will end.”
Hatch, on the other hand, has remained relatively mum since the deal became public Dec. 3, but in a recent interview with The Salt Lake Tribune he discussed it in positive terms, saying he has met with Comcast executives, Immelt and others at GE.
“I have to say something has to be done about NBC, it is failing and it is a great broadcast group. I don’t want to see it fail,” Hatch said. “There aren’t too many companies in the country that could match Comcast for its ability to prevent the failure.”
NBC has lower viewership than the other three major networks — CBS, ABC and FOX, and advertising for the big four has been on the decline.
In the $30 billion merger, Comcast would pay GE $6.5 billion in cash and pair its lucrative cable channels such as Versus and E Entertainment, with NBC Universal’s stable that include MSNBC, USA and Bravo.
Comcast would control 51 percent of the new company and GE would keep 49 percent, at least in the short term.
If government regulators OK the deal, Comcast would become one of the nation’s media titans, joining companies such as Disney and Time Warner in its size and scope. But critics say the merger puts too much media power into the hands of the cable provider, which could hurt competitors such as DirecTV and potentially impede the growth of Internet-based TV.
The Washington-based advocacy group Public Knowledge released a statement urging the government to “make certain competitors will have access to Comcast and NBC programming as the online market evolves.”
The governmental review by the Federal Communications Commission and the Justice Department could take as long as a year, but analysts don’t expect the deal to fall apart.
“It is quite likely to be approved. The key question is what conditions regulators will put on the merger,” said Paul Gallant, a former FCC employee who is a media analyst with Concept Capital.
Congress plays a largely unofficial role in the regulatory review. Their hearings act as a public way to flesh out potential problems and give members of Congress the ability to influence antitrust authorities.
“Senator Hatch definitely has a voice in this merger review,” Gallant said. “He understands how antitrust regulators think, so his views matter.”
For his part, Hatch promised that all involved would be “treated very fairly.”
“I will keep an open mind on the issue,” he said, giving a nod to some public skepticism over the deal. “I think it is justified to say that maybe there are some concerns that we will have to work our way through.”
Comcast and GE negotiated the merger during the past nine months. On Nov. 4, GE’s political action committee donated $6,000 to Hatch. Then the company’s executives held a Nov. 12 fundraiser. The last donation from Immelt came Dec. 3.
It was the first GE-related contributions Hatch has received in at least five years and is far more than the GE leadership team has ever sent to the six-term senator.
Hatch also received a $1,000 contribution from the political action committee of NBC’s rival CBS in late December.
GE spokesman Gary Sheffer said the fundraiser was originally planned for mid-October, but was delayed by scheduling conflicts.
“Over the years, and over the last few months, we have held events of this kind for members of Congress from both parties,” Sheffer said.
The senator has met with not only Comcast and GE but people “on the other side of the merger issue,” Eddington said. “He intends to carefully listen and analyze the information presented in the hearing tomorrow on this issue of great importance to the future of broadcasting.”
Media merger
» The Senate begins its review today of the proposed Comcast-NBC merger.
» The $30 billion merger would see Comcast paying $6.5 billion in cash to GE. The companies would then combine cable channels such as Versus and E Entertainment, with NBC Universal’s MSNBC, USA and Bravo.
» Comcast would control 51 percent of the new company and GE would keep 49 percent, at least in the short term.
» If government regulators approve the deal, Comcast would become one of the nation’s media titans, joining companies such as Disney and Time Warner in its size and scope.
Environmental groups are seeking to block the mining, saying the strip mine would raise dust and foul air quality 10 miles from the national park, which is known for its views, pristine air and sparkling night skies. Bryce Canyon’s superintendent has also objected.
The groups have appealed the decision, which is now under review by a state board.
“This mine will damage the pristine air and water quality and wildlife of the area, increase dangerous truck traffic and have negative impacts on tourism and the visitor experience at Bryce Canyon National Park,” said Clair Jones of the Utah Sierra Club.
James J. Wayland, of Naples, Fla., a 50-percent owner of Alton, didn’t immediately return a phone message Wednesday.
Welling reiterated Herbert “did not direct” anyone in the mining agency to “take any particular action with regard to Alton Coal Development’s project.” Nor was Herbert aware of the donation, and he did not accept the check at the meeting, Welling said.
“Fundraising is entirely a function of the campaign. Those of us who staff and schedule meetings are unaware of who is contributing or how much they’ve contributed,” she said.
Herbert “is a longtime supporter of energy development in the state of Utah, particularly coal development and clean coal technology,” Welling said in one of a series of e-mails. “As such, it should not be surprising that a company such as Alton Coal would choose to support Governor Herbert.”