<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><a href="http://www.alternet.org/economy/obama-twists-arms-tpp-lets-take-look-back-dems-who-sold-us-out-nafta" class="">http://www.alternet.org/economy/obama-twists-arms-tpp-lets-take-look-back-dems-who-sold-us-out-nafta</a><br class=""><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><div class="coverage_header_bar coverage_header_bar_economy" style="text-transform: uppercase; color: rgb(241, 96, 44); font-family: museo_slab500, sans-serif; font-size: 1.2em; font-weight: bold; line-height: 32px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">ECONOMY</div><div class="region region-content" style="font-family: Lato, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 32px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div id="block-system-main" class="count-1 block block-system first last odd" style="position: relative;"><div class="content"><div id="node-1037519" class="view-mode-full node node-story clearfix" about="/economy/obama-twists-arms-tpp-lets-take-look-back-dems-who-sold-us-out-nafta" typeof="sioc:Item foaf:Document" style="position: relative;"><div class="headline"><h1 property="dc:title" datatype="" class="node-title" style="font-family: museo_slab500, sans-serif; font-size: 40px; line-height: 52px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: rgb(26, 47, 90); clear: both;">Supporting NAFTA Was the Kiss of Death for Democrats --Why Dems Should Think Twice About Voting for TPP </h1></div><div class="teaser" style="font-size: 22px; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; margin-bottom: 15px;"><div class="field-type-text-long field-label-hidden field-name-field-teaser field"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">As President Obama twists arms to pass “fast track,” a look back at the Democrats who helped Clinton win the bloody trade battle of 1993.</div></div></div></div><div class="economy byline" style="margin-bottom: 0px; max-width: 350px; float: left; font-size: 16px;"><em class="">By</em> <em class=""><a href="http://www.alternet.org/authors/sarah-anderson" style="color: rgb(241, 96, 44); text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold;" class="">Sarah Anderson</a></em> / <span class="field-label-hidden field-name-field-sources field-type-node-reference field"><span class="field-items"><span class="field-item even"><a href="http://alternet.org/" style="color: rgb(241, 96, 44); text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold;" class="">AlterNet</a></span></span></span></div><div class="story-date" style="float: left; margin-left: 20px; padding-left: 15px; border-left-width: 1px; border-left-style: solid; border-left-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); color: rgb(204, 204, 204);"><em class="">June 8, 2015</em></div><div class="authors_signup" style="clear: both;"><div class="item-list"><ul style="list-style-type: none; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" class=""><li class="first last"></li></ul></div></div><div class="top-tools" style="clear: both; padding-top: 15px;"><div class="left" style="width: 308.6875px; float: left; height: 35px; overflow: hidden;"><div class="addthis_sharing_toolbox" data-url="http://www.alternet.org/economy/obama-twists-arms-tpp-lets-take-look-back-dems-who-sold-us-out-nafta" data-title="Supporting NAFTA Was the Kiss of Death for Democrats --Why Dems Should Think Twice About Voting for TPP | Alternet"><div id="atstbx" class="at4-show addthis-smartlayers addthis_32x32_style at-share-tbx-element addthis-animated" style="padding: 0px; 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background-repeat: initial initial;"><a href="http://www.alternet.org/print/economy/obama-twists-arms-tpp-lets-take-look-back-dems-who-sold-us-out-nafta" class="social-print" style="color: rgb(241, 96, 44); text-decoration: none; display: block; width: 32px; height: 32px; float: left; background-image: url(http://www.alternet.org/sites/all/themes/custom/alternet/images/print32.gif); padding: 0px; margin-top: 0px; overflow: hidden; text-indent: -9999em; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat;">Print</a></div></div><div class="right" style="width: 315px; float: right;"><div class="talk_box" style="text-transform: uppercase; font-size: 12px; padding-left: 28px; background-image: url(http://alternet.org/files/story_images/comments_icon_blue.gif); float: right; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat;"><a href="http://www.alternet.org/comments/economy/obama-twists-arms-tpp-lets-take-look-back-dems-who-sold-us-out-nafta#disqus_thread" class="disqus-comments comments" data-disqus-identifier="node/1037519" style="color: rgb(241, 96, 44); text-decoration: none;">54 COMMENTS</a></div></div></div><div class="clear-divider" style="clear: both; border-top-width: 1px; border-top-style: solid; border-top-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); height: 1px; margin: 15px 0px;"></div><div class="the_body body_economy clearfix" style="line-height: 25px;"><div class="story_images" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 10px 15px; width: 310px;"><div class="field-type-image field-label-hidden field field-name-field-story-image"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img typeof="foaf:Image" style="border: none; margin: 3px; padding: 2px; display: block;" apple-inline="yes" id="DABD6005-5ACD-4100-A22F-5DC93EFEE6DD" height="213" width="310" apple-width="yes" apple-height="yes" src="cid:7E579440-91A1-45EB-8442-852CEBB5F162@hsd1.pa.comcast.net." class=""></div></div></div></div><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;" class="">It’s serious flashback time for those involved in the 1993 debate over the North America Free Trade Agreement. With the “fast track” trade vote expected as early as this Thursday, a Democratic president is once again twisting arms and dangling rewards in a desperate effort to muster votes for a corporate-driven trade deal. And just like in 1993, the vote will be one of those rare bipartisan moments in Washington. The word is only <a href="http://www.politico.eu/article/fast-track-trade-vote-still-up-in-the-air/" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(241, 96, 44); text-decoration: none;" class="">about a dozen members</a> remain on the fence, most of them Democrats. The president is reportedly <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/05/business/black-caucus-is-wooed-for-trade-pact-votes.html" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(241, 96, 44); text-decoration: none;" class="">putting the tightest screws</a> on members of the Congressional Black Caucus. After the NAFTA wheeling and dealing began in earnest back in 1993, it didn’t take long to push enough Dems off the fence. All these years later, NAFTA remains the basic blueprint for every U.S. trade deal. </p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;" class="">Let me skip over NAFTA’s failure to deliver on promises for workers, the environment, human rights, etc. These have all been <a href="http://action.sierraclub.org/site/DocServer/0642_NAFTA_Report_05_web_high.pdf?docID=15301" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(241, 96, 44); text-decoration: none;" class="">extensively documented</a> over the years by the Institute for Policy Studies, and many others across the continent. President Obama acknowledged its flaws himself when he made a campaign trail promise to <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2014/02/nafta-barack-obama-trade-mexico-103701.html" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(241, 96, 44); text-decoration: none;" class="">renegotiate the deal</a>. Instead, let’s take a look at what individual members got by helping to ram the pact through Congress. Did their support for the big business lobby’s dream deal ensure a glittering political career? </p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;" class="">Starting at the top: Democratic House Speaker Tom Foley sided with the White House and against most of the House Democrats, including Majority Leader Richard Gephardt. In his 30-year political career, that controversial move stood out enough for the New York Times to mention it in Foley’s <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/19/us/politics/thomas-foley-former-house-speaker-dies-at-84.html" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(241, 96, 44); text-decoration: none;" class="">obituary</a>. A year after the NAFTA vote, the obit noted, “Mr. Foley became the first speaker since the Civil War to be defeated for re-election in his own district.”</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;" class="">Ouch. While Foley’s defeat can’t be attributed to a single factor, his decision to side with the corporate lobby on NAFTA certainly didn’t prevent his electoral humiliation either. </p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;" class="">Foley was not the only Democrat to flame out within a year of casting a vote for NAFTA. In fact, of the 34 Democratic incumbents who were defeated in the Republican sweep of 1994, 16 had voted for NAFTA. Several of these losers had been among the fence-sitters who received goodies from the administration. </p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;" class="">Public Citizen has meticulously documented many of these trade vote deals over the past two decades and is planning to release a new report this week on the lessons from all this horse-trading. (Look for the report soon <a href="http://citizen.org/documents/dealmaking-lessons.pdf." target="_blank" style="color: rgb(241, 96, 44); text-decoration: none;" class="">here</a>.) What it found over the years is that most of these promises were never fulfilled. In a detailed 2001 report following up on the <a href="http://www.citizen.org/documents/fast_track_deals.PDF" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(241, 96, 44); text-decoration: none;" class="">NAFTA</a> deals, Public Citizen concluded that “systematically, the White House promises of special safeguards for U.S. farm commodities, bridges and more remained unfulfilled. Exceptions were several meaningless promises, such as photographs with the president, and one campaign fund-raising event.”</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;" class="">One of these unfulfilled promises targeted textile and apparel state members. In the days before the NAFTA vote, President Bill Clinton sent them letters aimed at calming concerns about a pending global trade rule to phase out import protections on these products within 10 years. The administration would secure an extension to 15 years, Clinton promised. A month after the NAFTA vote, U.S. negotiators accepted the 10-year timeline. </p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;" class="">Rep. Clete Donald Johnson, Jr. was one of the targets of that empty promise. After voting for NAFTA, the Georgia Democrat got demolished in 1994, losing by a <a href="http://clerk.house.gov/member_info/electionInfo/index.html" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(241, 96, 44); text-decoration: none;" class="">margin of more than 30 percent.</a> A few years later, Clinton offered Johnson a consolation prize: a post as chief U.S. trade negotiator for textiles, a sector in rapid decline due to low-wage foreign competition. </p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;" class="">Rep. Bill Sarpalius, of Texas, was another NAFTA sellout whose political career was cut short. According to <a href="http://www.citizen.org/documents/fast_track_deals.PDF" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(241, 96, 44); text-decoration: none;" class="">Public Citizen</a>, he pocketed a bevy of promises, including a new federally funded nuclear research lab that was to be located in his district. After Sarpalius lost his seat in 1994, the lab deal fell through.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;" class="">Rep. David Price also lost his re-election bid after casting his NAFTA vote. According to <a href="http://www.multinationalmonitor.org/hyper/issues/1993/12/mm1293_04.html" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(241, 96, 44); text-decoration: none;" class="">Multinational Monitor</a>, the North Carolina Democrat came out in support of the deal after the Clinton administration conceded to his long-sought demands to award American Airlines two lucrative international air routes that would benefit his district. Price later regained a seat in Congress and is now once again sitting on the fence in the fast track debate. </p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;" class="">The lure of prestigious institutional pork proved dangerously tempting for other members as well. Clinton promised <a href="http://www.multinationalmonitor.org/hyper/issues/1993/12/mm1293_04.html" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(241, 96, 44); text-decoration: none;" class="">Rep. Lewis Payne, Jr.</a> of Virginia that his district would be considered as the future site of the National Institute of Standards and Technology. The Institute wound up in Gaithersburg, Maryland. </p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;" class="">Dems from Dallas were proud to get a promise from the Clinton administration to site the new NAFTA Commission for Labor Cooperation in that city. Representatives Eddie Bernice Johnson and Jack Bryant both proudly attended the <a href="http://www.naalc.org/publications/annual_reports/annual_report_1995/secretariat_activities_1995.htm" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(241, 96, 44); text-decoration: none;" class="">inaugural ceremony</a> in 1995, along with Dallas mayor (and later Obama U.S. trade representative) Ron Kirk. </p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;" class="">Cornell University professor Lance Compa, who directed labor law research at the Commission, told me, “They thought they were getting dozens and dozens of high-paid professionals who would pump money into the local economy. They were disappointed when the grand total of nine Secretariat staff arrived.” Less than five years later, the Commission was <a href="http://new.naalc.org/english/pdf/report5.pdf" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(241, 96, 44); text-decoration: none;" class="">moved to Washington, DC</a>. During the Bush administration, it was quietly shut down. </p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;" class="">Why President Obama is pulling out the stops for fast track, we may never know. After 20 years, it’s still hard to fathom why President Clinton was willing to sell out the store for NAFTA. </p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;" class="">In his brilliant book <em class="">The Selling of Free Trade: NAFTA, Washington, and the Subversion of American Democracy,</em>John R. MacArthur provides some insights. Rahm Emanuel, per usual, was particularly candid. Then a top advisor to Clinton, Emanuel was a key leader of the NAFTA war room, along with chief trade negotiator Mickey Kantor and NAFTA czar William Daley. Asked about Clinton’s final drive for passage, Emanuel said: “He had to win. It’s better to win than to lose. I’m a big believer in that. I do not believe in moral victories.”</p><div class="bio-new body_economy" style="width: 630px; font-style: italic; font-size: 11px; line-height: 22px; height: auto; border-top-width: 3px; border-top-style: solid; border-top-color: rgb(223, 223, 218); clear: both;"><div class="field-name-field-bio field-type-text-long field-label-hidden field"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;" class="">Sarah Anderson directs the Global Economy Project at the Institute for Policy Studies.</p></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></body></html>