|
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Behind closed doors on Capitol Hill, the powerful sugar
industry is waging a battle against a tiny 60-employee company that imports
Canadian molasses syrup without paying the tariffs that prop up U.S. sugar
prices.
It's a lobbying battle reminiscent of David and Goliath -- except that the
little guy has skipped the slingshot and armed himself with some of the favorite
weapons of the industry giants.
Heartland By-Products of Taylor, Mich., has enlisted one of the city's most
influential lobbyists and also hired a public relations firm whose former
partner now works for Al Gore's presidential campaign.
The company already has scored one victory in court. Now the big sugar
companies are turning to Congress, where their six-figure political donations
have earned them plenty of friends.
The multibillion-dollar industry says Heartland is jeopardizing the price
support system by bypassing the tariffs. The company, which does just $35
million a year in business, counters it will be forced to close if lawmakers act
against it.
''It's morally incorrect for Congress to pick on a single company and pass a
bill to put it out of business,'' declared Heartland's president, Gregory Kozak.
At issue is whether Heartland and its 60 employees can continue to import a
sugar/molasses syrup from Canada without paying the higher duties levied against
foreign sugars.
The tariffs are part of a government-imposed import quota system designed to
prop up the price of U.S.-grown sugar.
The industry and its allies in Congress -- many from sugar-producing states
-- have fought hard to rub out any threat to the current system that might allow
foreign sugar, which sells for a third of the U.S. price, to gain a bigger
foothold in the United States.
The industry struck first and lost. Now industry supporters are trying to use
legislation pending in Congress to promote free trade with Africa and the
Caribbean to win the battle.
They want to insert a provision that overturns a ruling last fall by the U.S.
Court of International Trade that Heartland did not have to pay sugar tariffs on
the imported Canadian molasses.
The company uses the syrup to produce a sugary product sold to manufacturers
of cereal, hard candy and dairy products such as ice cream.
The sugar provision isn't mentioned in either the House or Senate version of
the bill, but Sen. John Breaux, a Democrat who represents the sugar-producing
state of Louisiana, is seeking to add it.
The industry has plenty of friends on Capitol Hill -- it contributed more
than $1 million to congressional candidates and the political parties last year
alone.
In comparison, Heartland made just $300 in donations when Kozak wrote a check
to his local congressman, Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich.
The industry supporters say the battle isn't about donations, but rather
about preserving a quota system that keeps American sugar growers profitable.
Heartland is ''smuggling sugar into the country in the form of molasses,''
Breaux said.
Heartland has hired the high-powered firm of Mayer, Brown & Platt to try
to kill Breaux's proposal. The lobbying firm has counted such major corporations
as Boeing, General Electric and RJR Nabisco among its clients.
Heartland also has some public relations help from BSMG Worldwide, whose
partners formerly included Carter Eskew, a key strategist for Gore. Eskew left
the firm after joining the Gore campaign.
The company went to court after the U.S. Customs Service in September revoked
its 1995 decision that allowed Heartland to import the sugar syrup without
paying the higher tariffs.
Customs acted after 26 senators -- including Breaux and both of Michigan's
senators, Democrat Carl Levin and Republican Spence Abraham -- wrote a letter to
Customs Commissioner Raymond Kelly urging the department to overturn its earlier
ruling.
The letter was written in support of a petition filed by two trade groups,
including the U.S. Beet Sugar Association.
The 26 senators who signed the letter received $528,332 in contributions from
the industry between 1995 and 2000, according to the Center for Responsive
Politics, which studies political donations.
|