Alabama group lashes out at Boeing over tanker

A group in Alabama has taken out radio advertisements blasting the Boeing Co. over the Air Force tanker contract. The spots are running on a Washington D.C. radio station.

“Alabamians to Build American Tankers” was formed by a Mobile firefighter, who says he wanted to stand up against Boeing for fellow citizens in Alabama, where Northrop Grumman and EADS would build their tanker.

At the group’s Web site, you can listen to the radio ads.

Boeing published this op-ed in the LA Times today.

Here’s a press release about the Alabama group:

ALABAMA GROUP STRIKES BACK AT BOEING OVER TANKER CONTRACT

MOBILE, Alabama, July 30, 2008-Mobile firefighter Bryan Lee had seen enough. First, in a shocking upset last March, the Northrop Grumman team was awarded the lucrative Air Force refueling-tanker contract over perennial favorite Boeing. Just four months later, procedural questions from the General Accounting Office put the competition back to the bidding process.

"After the initial announcement, my friends and I watched as the massive Boeing public relations machine took flight" Lee said. "Suddenly, every newspaper and broadcast media was saying Boeing's loss would cost American jobs. We said, wait a minute, isn't Alabama still in the U.S.?
Boeing accused Alabama workers of not being up to the task. Boeing's supporters have continuously tried to smear our workers and our opportunity."

With the $40 Billion contract on the line, Lee reached out for help. He found a common thread with prominent attorney Palmer Hamilton, real estate developer Paul Wesch and certified public accountant Mike Thompson. Together they created a non-profit organization to send a message to Boeing. Once 'Alabamians to Build American Tankers' (ABAT) was formed, the team began reaching out for funding. The money has been raised and now the organization is taking its message to Washington DC.
While the ads are intended to educate Congress and others on Boeing's past failures, they are as hard hitting as the attacks launched by Boeing supporters.

"The consensus seemed to be; when Boeing punches, you don't strike back," Lee said. "That's nonsense. If you're going to attack my home town, my friends and other workers you are going to get hit back."

Lee says that after looking into all of this, Boeing has serious problems and should have thought about waging a war with so many vulnerabilities. "Talk about the pot calling the kettle black," said Lee. "I never knew how much scandal there was within Boeing until I got involved in this. I don't understand how they are even allowed to compete for Government contracts anymore," said Lee. Bribing officials, executives selling military secrets to Communist China and failing to build a border fence after spending $85 Million of taxpayer dollars are just a few of the major problems cited in the ads which can be heard at www.bettertanker.org.

"These ads are tough and I make no apologies for being direct," said Lee. "I have dedicated my life as a paramedic to helping others, I love my home and I love this country. We care for people here and across the United States. I know many emergency workers from Mobile who went on site to the World Trade Center and Louisiana after hurricane Katrina. We travel far and wide to help others across America in their times of need. Many of our citizens are military who have been fighting and dying to protect our country and our freedom. Our Alabama blood lies on the streets of the Middle East right now. We don't deserve to have our loyalty or our character, questioned by the likes of Boeing."

"Yes I'm mad," Lee continued. "Boeing dares to question our loyalty to this country. They dare suggest that we would be party to shipping jobs or military secrets overseas. It's time Boeing understands how it feels to have your loyalty questioned."

Right now, ABAT has purchased a heavy rotation of radio ads in the nation's capitol. It plans to run a series advertisements in the Washington D.C. area to educate the decision makers about the reality of Boeing's tainted history as the renewed bidding process gets underway.

"Our national, state and local elected officials have done a good job of carrying the torch and being diplomatic about it, but they just can't be as direct as we can," said Lee. "It's time Boeing and the decision makers on Capitol Hill heard from the people of Mobile. And, with no holds barred."