(The following appeared on the New York Times website on March 6.)
NEW YORK — When it comes to the rail system, it seems to be politics as usual.
Rep. Corrine Brown, a Democrat from Florida, is trying to prevent London-based hedge fund The Children’s Investment Fund from pushing proxy fight to make management changes at CSX, the large rail company.
Ms. Brown, who is chairwoman of the House subcommittee with jurisdiction over the rail industry, held a hearing in Washington on Wednesday to examine foreign control of U.S. rail infrastructure.
Prior to the hearing she said in a statement: “Congress has acted to prevent foreign companies from managing U.S. port operations and owning U.S. airlines because they wanted to protect our countries’ infrastructure from harm. The nation’s freight railroads are just as critical, and if damaged, could cripple the nation if placed in the hands of unknown foreign ownership or short sighted investors.”
Now guess where CSX is based. In Jacksonville, Fla., Rep. Brown’s district.
And care to guess if CSX is a big contributor of Rep. Brown? It is, to the tune of $38,750 since 1989, including $5,000 in the 2008 election cycle, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.