Boeing is appealing the Air Force contract award to Europe.  The contract was a big one, for aerial refueling tankers.

The winner was the European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company, known as EADS, and Northrup Grummon.  EADS is Airbus' parent company.

Free trader McCain helped Boeing lose, and his campaign advisers helped EADS win.  A nice one-two punch.

Mr. McCain has long expressed pride at having a central part in scuttling an earlier Air Force plan to lease the tankers from Boeing. ...

[S]ome of his top supporters were heavily involved in lobbying for EADS. The tanker deal could grow to $100 billion, making it one of the biggest Pentagon purchases ever, and the jousting for it involved extremely intensive and expensive industry lobbying on both sides. ...

Mr. McCain’s campaign co-chairman, former Representative Thomas Loeffler, a Texas Republican, also runs a lobbying firm, the Loeffler Group, which earned $220,000 working for EADS in 2007. ...

Another major money raiser for Mr. McCain, Wayne Berman, who was named vice chairman of the campaign last year, also worked for EADS through another lobbying firm, Ogilvy Government Relations, where he is a partner. ...

 Also supporting Mr. McCain and lobbying on behalf of EADS was Kirk Blalock, a national chairman of Young Professionals for McCain and a former aide to President Bush.

By the way, the U.S. has a WTO claim against Europe for illegal subsidies to their flagship aeronautics company, Airbus.  It seems the government provides subsidies to design aircraft including preferential loans, debt relief and R&D grants.  

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written by China Watcher , March 13, 2008

I don't mind at all your challenging the ethical blind spots of the McCainites. Just because the boss doesn't mind is not reason enough to engage is this sort of gray area money-making in the middle of a presidential campaign. But let's not fall into the trap of considering Boeing an American company. Its new jetliner is made mostly in Asia, including parts Boeing said only a few year ago would never, never be manufactured outside the company. By contrast, Airbus has traditionally used American suppliers for a substantial portion of its 300 series jet liners. Which is the more pro-American stance: to risk control of your technology by outsourcing to rivalrous countries, or to take advantage of the weakened dollar to put Americans to work making your product as cost competitive as possible? I won't weep for Boeing until the company reevaluates its reckless transfer of technology abroad.

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