In a breathless news release last week, FedEx announced that “An overwhelming number of Americans are fed up with special interest legislation designed to benefit corporate America, according to a new public opinion survey” – which FedEx itself (or its lobbyists) appears to have paid for.

“When asked, most of those polled agreed that it is inappropriate for companies to quietly place lobbyist-written provisions in legislation that benefit only their company,” FedEx explained. “Eighty-eight percent said this practice is unfair and more than nine out of 10 respondents said the practice of ‘slipping language in laws and hoping no one notices’ should be discontinued by Congress.”

Well…duh.

It’s embarrassing that FedEx and/or its PR lobbyists would attempt to fool Members of Congress – virtual experts on the use, misuse and abuse of polling – into thinking such a ridiculous question about such a vague subject with such a predictable result would ever be taken seriously by the United States Senate.

Of course, what FedEx is complaining about is an amendment to the FAA reauthorization bill which would close a loophole in labor law that gives FedEx a competitive marketing advantage over its rivals in the package delivery industry. That, FedEx says, is the kind of special interest legislation people don’t want to see slipped into bills, “hoping that no one notices.” A practice practiced by FedEx which FedEx hoped no one would notice.

Oops.

As Harold Meyerson wrote in the Washington Post two weeks ago: “In 1996, as the Senate considered reauthorization for the Federal Aviation Administration, a few words were slipped in allowing FedEx alone to be classed as an express carrier under the jurisdiction of the RLA (Railway Labor Act). This gave FedEx a cost advantage over unionized rivals UPS and DHL and, for that matter, any start-up that might come along.”

So FedEx paid for a poll which showed that 8 out of 10 people object to doing what FedEx did in 1996 – and now Congress isn’t supposed to fix the mistake? Let’s hope ten out of ten U.S. Senators find that notion unfair and vote to discontinue that lobbyist-written corporate welfare benefit which FedEx slipped into the 1996 FAA reauthorization bill.