![]() |
Elkhart, Indiana |
Who is the 408 Coalition? Well that was difficult seeing as how the Coalition has no public records or website and the organization itself does not keep records. It took a guess from a Telegraph of Alton, Illinois reporter to guess that the Sny Island Levee Drainage District who has ignored the regulation in the past, might be involved and upon further investigation this turned out to be true. Not only were Sny involved they were the Coalitions largest contributor and brought at least 22 other local drainage districts from Missouri and Illinois into the fold.
![]() |
Rep. Garrett Graves |
With all of the districts banding together it is not surprising to learn the 408 Coalition has spent $230,000 lobbying and that is just what has been officially reported to congress, with reporters discovering $98,000 being spent by individual districts. This allowed for the Coalition block two amendments in the water resources bill, one of which was written by Louisiana Republican Representative Garrett Graves who has been skeptical of the Corp's since Katrina. He has praised the Coalition saying, " The 408 Coalition is attacking real injustice" and the Coalition in response held a fundraiser for him in Washington. The Coalition also has had some influence in the White House with two of their talking points being delivered to a White House infrastructure adviser. This happened before the Trump administration infrastructure plan which includes the idea to simplify taking levees out of the federal system.
Now, while the 408 Coalition has disbanded as of the end of 2017. This is not the end for its members with many including the Sny becoming clients publicly of the Husch Blackwell lobbying firm.
ProPublica article here.
Reuters article on the 2016 article here.
No comments:
Post a Comment