Many Boeing employees and whistleblowers say the problems
began with the McDonnell Douglas merger in 1997 – a massive deal
sanctioned by Bill Clinton’s FTC.
With that merger came a change in leadership at Boeing,
and long-time employees immediately felt the impact. Quality, safety,
and sound engineering now took a backseat to
profits.
Since that merger, Boeing
and other aviation companies have spent over 2 BILLION dollars
lobbying Congress and the White House – and made nearly a quarter
billion dollars in direct political donations to both Republicans and Democrats – to loosen manufacturing,
maintenance, and training regulations.
Consistently, the top recipients of these
technically-legal bribes have been the lawmakers directly responsible
for Congressional oversight. But the buck truly stops at the White
House.
The agencies that loosened
manufacturing regulations and allowed companies like Boeing to “police
themselves” reported to both Republican and Democratic
presidents.
The FAA and NTSB should have brought
the hammer down on Boeing the moment the first 737 Max crashed and
killed 189 people.
They should have
intervened after the second 737 Max crash that killed another
157.
Instead, Boeing bought their way out of
trouble by ramping up political spending and running a smear campaign
to blame the pilots for the crashes caused by their faulty
design.
Five years and now multiple mid-flight
incidents later, we’re still relying on consumer pressure and bad
publicity to hold Boeing accountable.
EVERYONE who travels by air flies on a Boeing plane at
some point in their journey. Millions are boarding a Boeing plane
right now, or they’re in the air as we speak. They deserve to know
they are safe. They deserve leaders who put public safety over
campaign contributions.
They
deserve a president who can’t be
bought.
I’m running for president to restore
the trust in our regulatory agencies that money in politics has
violated, and to guarantee that our federal government will always put
people and the planet before profits. Can you help me grow this
campaign with a contribution of $25, $50, or whatever you can give
today? |
