Around the time that the John Deere Company hired the former Oklahoma representative J. C. Watts Jr. as a lobbyist two years ago, it also handed him an important mission.Mr. Watts, the conservative Republican superstar, was asked to find black businessmen and women to become John Deere dealers after a lawsuit stated that there was not a single one among the roughly 1,400 dealers nationwide that sold its trademark green-and-yellow tractors and riding mowers.
This May, executives at Mr. Watts’s lobbying and consulting firm in Washington announced that after a lengthy search, they had found the “first African-American” owner for a John Deere dealership. That dealer’s name: the J. C. Watts Companies.
“I am proud to join the John Deere team,” Mr. Watts said in a news release about his firm’s purchase of two small dealerships in Texas. [...]
That's how Barry Meier's New York Times article "Ex-Quarterback Thrives as Lobbyist" starts
posted in articles on November 13, 2006 1:56 PM | t (0)
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