Legislators take Boeing money and lots of it

By Trish Walat April 23, 2019

Recently I found out that Boeing, among many others, is in the nuclear weapons trade. Imagine my surprise. So I decided to investigate if any of our Federal legislators know about Boeing’s nefarious trade and how much, if any, money they take from Boeing. Well, they take a lot. Then I wondered why Boeing would pay them so much money. So I looked at their Committee and Subcommittee appointments. That answered the question.

Read on and be disgusted.

Senator Patty Murray took $86,596.00 from Boeing. She is on the following Committees:
Military Construction and Veterans Affairs
And just for your information —– Homeland Security.

Senator Maria Cantwell took $39, 750.00 from Boeing. She is on the following Committees:
Ranking Member – Commerce, Science and Transportation
She is an ex officio member of the following subcommittees:
Aviation and Space;
Communication, Technology, Innovation and the Internet;
Manufacturing, Trade and Consumer Protection;
Transportation and Safety;

Representative Derek Kilmer took $10,000.00 from Boeing. He serves on the following House Committees:
Appropriations. Apparently he has been salivating for this Committee appointment for awhile, and, the Subcommittee on Defense.
Rep Kilmer also takes contributions from 3 other heavy hitters in the nuclear weapons industry:
Lockheed Martin — $9,000.00
Northrop Grumman — $19,000.00
Raytheon — $10,000.00.

All of this information is available on their donor sites and on Open Secrets.
Their Committee appointments are also on their public sites, all readily available.

In November, 2017, the UN passed the Nuclear Ban Treaty with 122 countries signing on. Not, however, the US. There are 3 reasons why the US has not signed, Murray, Cantwell, Kilmer. Did they have a chance to weigh in on the treaty, I don’t know. But they’ve had 17 months to think about it, to write a bill, to get cosponsors, to introduce it, to push it and to stop taking money from the nuclear arms producers. Have they done it? No, they haven’t.

To give them the benefit of the doubt, I thought that I didn’t know about Boeing, maybe they didn’t either. Highly unlikely but I wanted to be fair. So I called their offices and asked. Talked to aides of course. They were not shocked but tongue tied, as if they didn’t know what to say, which was probably the truth. They told me they would speak to the Senator, Representative, etc. and call me back. That was December. I’m still waiting.

The fact that our legislators would be in the pay of a manufacturer of anything to do with nuclear weapons is not having the backs of their constituents to say the least. They take money over public safety. If we never use a nuclear weapon against another nation does not preclude an accident. Nobody can guarantee that an accident won’t happen. And being sorry won’t change the tragedy after the fact.

Washington State is the 3rd largest nuclear power on the planet. We have more nuclear weapons then almost anyplace in the world and our Federal legislators are supporting that.

What to do? If we take on this fight we take on the Pentagon and the Navy plus some very large and powerful corporations. Or, we could vote these legislators out. That won’t be easy but it can be done and it’s a start. Supporting candidates that DON’T take corporate and /or PAC money is easier than fighting the Navy, ( We know how successful that can be ). Legislators not bought and paid for by corporations make a much different Congress and a much different country.