Did "Dallas Business Leaders" lie to Bloomberg?!?

"A lying tongue hates those who are crushed by it,
And a flattering mouth works ruin."
Proverbs 26:28

Yesterday, we wrote a post about Jeb Hensarling, GE, and the Export-Import bank.  It was based upon this report from Bloomberg news.  The Bloomberg piece claimed that GE chose not to relocate to Dallas because Jeb Hensarling's opposition to the Ex-Im bank created an "unfavorable political climate."

Our former colleague Tim Carney is a national expert on the Export-Import bank and its relationship with GE.  When we posted yesterday's piece to Facebook, we tagged Tim.  Strangely, he didn't buy it:

• 

  Tim Carney This cannot be true.

  Like · 21 hrs
• 

  Adam Cahnman What?!?

  Like · 21 hrs
• 

  Tim Carney I don't believe GE would do that. I actually don't.

  Like · 21 hrs
• 

  Tim Carney It's only anonymous sources

  Like · 21 hrs
• 

  Adam Cahnman I've got to imagine Bloomberg would have solid sourcing on a story like this otherwise they wouldn't run it in the first place.

  Like · 19 hrs

This bothered us.  On the one hand, we trust Tim.  On the other hand, Bloomberg news doesn't have a reputation for publishing false stories.

That motivated us to take a closer look at the original Bloomberg report, consider this paragraph:

GE told Dallas business leaders in recent days it would look elsewhere for alternatives to its Connecticut home, said the people, who asked not to be identified because details aren’t public. They said GE cited some Texas lawmakers’ opposition to the U.S. Export-Import Bank, an important source of financing for some overseas sales.

The phrase "[T]hey said GE cited" in the second sentence strongly suggests that the sourcing for this article came from the "Dallas Business leaders" side of the talks.

And THAT'S interesting; Tim might be the expert on GE's method of operation, but this website is the expert on the "business community's" M.O. in Texas.

And it's VERY easy to believe that someone from the Dallas Chamber lied to Bloomberg.

Since the beginning of the year, the Texas Association of Business and their subsidiaries have been DESPERATELY attempting to paint supporters of free enterprise as "anti-business" because we oppose corporate rent seeking.  Last month, in a separate controversy over "business incentives" for Facebook, the Texas "business community's" favorite hack wrote:

It is difficult for some observers to imagine that a senator often described as one of the “the most conservative lawmakers in Austin” would actively argue against her community taking steps to be as competitive as possible in attracting high-quality jobs to her district. After all, bragging about the state’s economic prosperity is one of the Texas Tea Party’s favorite talking points. What they either deny or simply do not understand is that the so-called “Texas Miracle” is the result of a mixture of policies that has for years included economic incentives.

So the attack on Jeb Hensarling fits the narrative.

Bottom Line: We can't prove it, but it makes far more sense for someone from the Dallas "business community" to lie to attack the Tea Party than it does for a major multi-national corporation to go after a sitting Congressional chairman.