Corporate Shill Tim Kaine In At DNC
Virginia Governor Tim "Glad-handing" Kaine: Against leading Dems before he was for it.
It’s official. Today, the Democratic Party formally elected Virginia Governor Tim Kaine–a man who sells “glad-handing” time to the highest corporate bidder–to lead the Democratic National Committee.
We wrote about Kaine and his unapologetic pay-to-play shilling for the Southern Governors Association a few weeks ago. The short version is this: as head of the SGA, Kaine woos corporations from sectors like the tobacco industry to pay fees in exchange for access to himself and other governors. And he sees nothing, absolutely nothing wrong with this activity. His spokesman said all that corporate money paid for “glad-handing” time, nothing more.
And that little jet ride that Kaine took on an energy company’s private plane? It had nothing to do with the Governor–who says global warming is one of his top priorities–supporting a new coal-fired power plant the company was building. Nah.
… Sigh.
Why was this man, who only six years ago was a mere Richmond city councilman, chosen to lead the most powerful party in the country? Because our new president wanted it so, even against Kaine’s own wishes. From a story on WTOP (h/t MyDD) back in November entitled, “Va. governor rules out post as DNC chief”:
Kaine said at a news conference Obama’s transition team asked him if he was interested in the position. He said his response was that he’d rather be governor and won’t do both jobs.
“That’s not something I’m going to do. I don’t view that, frankly, as consistent with being governor, so I’m going to be governor,” Kaine said. “I would view it as taking my eye too much off the ball about things that need to happen here.”
So, to recap: Kaine swaps money for access. Supports controversial projects from big donors. And goes back on his word to the voters. Yep. Ought to make a fine leader of one of the major parties.
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