Path: utzoo!utgpu!watserv1!ria!uwovax.uwo.ca!telecom-request From: halcyon!peterm@sumax.seattleu.edu (Peter Marshall) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: PBS Pledge Drive for March, 1991 Message-ID: Date: 24 Mar 91 00:42:04 GMT Sender: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Organization: TELECOM Digest Lines: 40 Approved: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 11, Issue 233, Message 9 of 12 Mr. Poulsen's wariness toward the "generosity" of telcos is both healthy and warranted, although the example he cites may not be appropriately labelled advertising. The overall area is signficant enough that whole books have been written about it, although with the current example, we may be talking about what would be called "charitable contributions." In regulatory practice, such expenses can be, and are, treated as either above or below-the-line for ratemaking purposes. It is also the case that such "charitable contributions" can have their "political" purposes and can thus be leveraged for the contributor's purposes. More could be learned from PUC staff on the topic, of course. It is all too obvious, finally, that the Moderator did not, and does not, share Mr. Poulsen's scepticism, choosing simply to paint it "cynical" in his apologia. Peter Marshall halcyon!peterm@seattleu.edu The 23:00 News and Mail Service - +1 206 292 9048 - Seattle, WA USA [Moderator's Note: Well, it is just that I have seen so much good come from corporate charity in Chicago, I find it hard to believe it was all -- or even a large part of it was -- being given in a cynical way. Sears, Roebuck has kept an inner-city branch of the YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago going for years. Granted, the institution is named the 'Sears YMCA'. We have large quantities of **old** money here, left by George Pullman, Phillip Armour, Aaron Montgomery Ward, Richard Sears, and others which continues to do good. What corporate benefits has Standard Oil received lately from Rockefeller's having founded the University of Chicago, or his endowment of the Riverside Church 65 years ago? What benefits does Armour and Company get these days from the Illinois Institute of Technology? What benefits does Kodak receive because George Eastman endowed the Rochester Symphony Orchestra? And in our own area of interest Alex Bell gave lots of money to organizations working with deaf people. When his wife Mabel died, she left even more. Every one of them cynics, is that it? PAT]