-Caveat Lector-
"'This spectacle leads me to think, 'What's NOT for sale anymore?'''
said Bill Hogan of the Center for Public Integrity, a Washington watchdog
group
Cos. Contribute to NATO Celebration
By JONATHAN D. SALANT
.c The Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) -- As Washington prepares for a celebration marking NATO's
50th anniversary that will attract world leaders, more than 40 corporations
are paying to join the party.
Thirteen companies -- Ford, Microsoft and the defense contractor United
Technologies among them -- have plunked down at least $250,000 for a seat on
the board of directors of the summit's host committee. Twenty-eight others,
including such notables as Kodak, Coca-Cola and IBM, have given at least
$25,000 to join the host committee.
The committee is scheduled to host the welcome reception for delegates Friday
at the National Air and Space Museum and the Washington Salutes NATO
gathering a day later. Already, corporate sponsors have joined diplomats,
members of Congress and federal officials at several pre-summit receptions,
including one last week at the Turkish embassy, where they chatted over
platters of meatballs, stuffed grape leaves and franks-in-jackets.
The committee has raised $6.5 million toward its goal of $8 million.
Some donations let companies show off their products. DaimlerChrysler is
donating Mercedes to help ferry the delegates around town; Motorola is
providing cellular telephones to be carried over Nextel Communications'
network, another donation; Microsoft is providing software.
The companies also will put their names before the estimated 2,500
journalists covering the event, which is drawing extra attention because of
the NATO airstrikes in Yugoslavia.
``It's a great opportunity for these businesses,'' host committee spokeswoman
Dana Vickers Shelley said. ``The heads of government and the heads of state
will be there, but included in their delegations will be foreign trade
ministers and other officials.''
Similar corporate-funded committees helped serve as hosts for the G-7
economic summit in Denver in 1997 and the Summit of the Americas in Miami in
1994. The cities holding the Democratic and Republican national conventions
create their own corporate-supported committees every four years.
``It leads me to think, 'What's not for sale anymore?''' said Bill Hogan,
director of investigative projects for the Center for Public Integrity, a
Washington watchdog group. ``One would be hard-pressed to think of any other
board of directors where the only qualification is paying your way on to
it.''
Standing near a buffet table at the Turkish reception, Boeing Senior Vice
President Christopher Hansen said his company simply was supporting NATO.
``We think it's important to reinforce the alliance,'' Hansen said. ``I
wouldn't want to make the justification on a business level.''
Other business leaders acknowledged the potential benefits of joining the
NATO host committee.
``It's a natural for us because Ameritech is the largest foreign investor in
European telecommunications,'' spokesman George Steinitzer said. ``Our
purpose here is to support our existing relationships in Europe.''
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