Frank Guinta to lobbyists: Keep on truckin’

Last year, I wrote of my surprise at seeing that Congressman Frank Guinta had sponsored a bill ”to increase the effectiveness of Federal oversight of motor carriers.”

After all, this was the same man who had trumpeted, “Overzealous federal regulation is choking small business owners in New Hampshire and all over America.”

But then I learned that Guinta had worked closely with three powerful trucking lobbies — Owner Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA), the Transportation Intermediaries Association (TIA), and the American Trucking Associations (ATA) — in writing up the legislation; and that after introducing the bill, he was rewarded with $1,000 campaign contributions from the three groups.

The next I heard about the bill was when I read Guinta proudly announcing that the bill’s language had been included in the 2-Year Surface Transportation Bill which became law earlier this month.

And, like clockwork, Guinta was once again rewarded with campaign contributions from the Owner Operator Independent Drivers Association PAC ($2500, $4500 total), the Transportation Intermediaries Association PAC ($1000, $2000 total) and the Trucking PAC of the American Trucking Associations, Inc. ($1000, $2000 total).