WASHINGTON • Former Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt reiterated Wednesday what his father, U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt, has said in the past: The two do not talk official business about the auto industry that Matt Blunt represents.
“I’m sure they will try to make it an issue,†Matt Blunt said, referring to Democrats and his father’s possible 2016 re-election campaign, “but I don’t think it will be.â€
Indeed, Missouri Democrats did just that on Wednesday. State party spokesman Chris Hayden issued a statement noting the relationship and declaring that “Missouri’s middle-class families need a senator who will stand up to Washington lobbyists when their needs are on the line.â€
The relationship between Matt Blunt, who has been the , and Sen. Blunt, a Republican, has come into focus during the debate over whether President Barack Obama should have the ability to “fast-track†trade agreements, and a separate treaty being negotiated with 11 Pacific Rim nations.
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Matt Blunt’s organization supports free trade but wants a crackdown on what it says is currency manipulation by competitor nations that hurts American automakers.
Sen. Blunt voted for a currency manipulation crackdown amendment that failed, 51-48, during the fast-track trade debate last month.
Sen. Blunt said he was reflecting concerns of U.S. automakers, including Ford and General Motors, whose plants support 27,000 jobs in Missouri.
Although it had bipartisan sponsorship from two senators, also from car-producing states: Sens. Rob Portman, R-Ohio; and Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich.
The overall fast-track bill passed the Senate, 62-38, with Sens. Blunt and Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., also voting yes. She was one of 14 Democrats to do so. The bill now moves to the House of Representatives.
Matt Blunt said that because Missouri has a significant auto-production industry that anyone representing the state would have to take into account those interests. He said that when he and his father are together “we have enough to talk about†other than the auto industry.
Sen. Blunt said, “I have pretty specific walls regarding anyone in my family that is involved in that or any other activity that there might be a specific vote on.
“But that certainly wouldn’t mean in the case of our state that I wouldn’t be talking directly to Ford and General Motors,†Sen. Blunt said. “Both have big plants in our state.â€
, the former top lawyer for the House of Representatives and a leading expert on ethics and lobbying, said he believed that the father-son relationship presents no problem in this case.
“Absent a more direct conflict of interest (like a direct financial benefit) I don’t think this type of relationship constitutes the kind of conflict that would support recusal,†he said.