Dick Gephardt The Rent-Seeking Whore. Lawmakers Who Opposed Free Trade Cash In As Lobbyists For Trans-Pacific Partnership

IBT reports:

During both of his presidential campaigns, former U.S. Rep. Dick Gephardt stuck to the theme that defined his 28 years in Congress. Free trade deals, the Missouri Democrat said, were destroying America’s middle class. He aired ads with the tagline: “ I'm Dick Gephardt. I approve this message because it's time we change America's trade policies.”

Gephardt, who served from 1977 to 2005, may have been best known for trying to block President Bill Clinton’s push for the 1993 North American Free Trade Agreement. Yet, 10 years after leaving Congress, Gephardt now runs a lobbying firm that has backed the so-called Trans-Pacific Partnership -- a still-secret trade accord that critics say would extend the NAFTA free trade model to 40 percent of the world’s economy.

He is not alone: An International Business Times review of federal lobbying records shows that at least three other former lawmakers who voted against NAFTA have lobbied for organizations that are demanding passage of the TPP -- or have sought to influence it to their benefit.

Taiwan paid Gephardt’s firm to press U.S. lawmakers to allow the foreign nation to be included the TPP agreement. [The effort was not successful.] The Gephardt Group has also worked for aircraft-maker Boeing to persuade lawmakers to pass a bill granting the White House “fast-track” trade promotion authority -- paving the way for passage of the TPP in Congress by limiting amendments and allowing only up-or-down votes on the trade deal. The company’s work for Boeing puts Gephardt in direct conflict with the powerful Machinists Union, which endorsed him for president in 2003 and has opposed both the TPP and fast-track.

Dick Gephardt cashes in.