Jump to full article: Louisville (KY) Courier-Journal, 2000-08-03
Author: AL CROSS / C-J Political Writer
Intro: Welcome to the Republican National Convention, brought to you by corporate America.
. .
U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., the Republicans' point man on political finance, dismisses criticism of corporate sponsorship.
"WE APPRECIATE the corporations being helpful to us," McConnell said in an interview on Fox News Channel. On Monday, U.S. Tobacco, which has a plant in Hopkinsville, treated Kentucky's Republican delegates and hangers-on to a four-course dinner in one of Philadelphia's great rooms, the Founders Club atop the Park Hyatt Bellevue . . .
The event was nominally a tribute to McConnell, a leading defender of tobacco interests, who expressed his thanks to the largely smokeless tobacco company "and all they do for America." (And for Republicans. U.S. Tobacco also sponsored an American Bandstand party with Dick Clark and the Shirelles for Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott.) . . .
The Kentucky delegation's menu included a choice of a large filet mignon or a grilled breast of capon, with an "intermezzo" of grapefruit sorbet. Before dinner in the big-windowed room, company lobbyists were introduced, and there were drinks and free cigars offered in carved wooden boxes.
Cigars with "RNC" labels were placed at each table setting, but there was at least one interloper -- a stogie labeled "DNC," for the Democratic convention in Los Angeles later this month.
That minor mix-up signaled that corporate interests will also have a big presence at the Democratic gathering
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