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The Culture Of Corruption They're all corrupt This week's letter from the Democratic Party addresses the culture of corruption - oops, it addresses only the Republican culture of corruption. Dear Juan, Remember the Republican culture of corruption? The revolving door of Republican politicians moving in and out of top political offices and Washington D.C. lobbying firms? That's Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson. For years, acting wasn't the Law & Order star's profession -- it was a hobby. In the real world, Thompson has made a fortune in a decades-long career as a Washington lobbyist. And just this month, as part of his role as the ultimate Washington insider, Thompson offered to host yet another fundraising event for Scooter Libby's legal defense fund. Thompson has been vocal in his support of Libby, saying that he would "absolutely" pardon him. As he runs for president, he'll try his hardest to hide the truth from the American people. And we need to stop him. Support our efforts to get the truth out about Fred Thompson: http://www.democrats.org/StopTheAct Here's what the USA Today had to say about Lobbyist Thompson: Although the folksy-sounding Tennessean recently told USA TODAY that he would run an outsider, just as he did while campaigning as a "country lawyer" in a red pickup during his 1994 U.S. Senate race, his résumé is that of a longtime Washington operative who has crossed ideological lines to represent corporate and foreign clients. In his most recent stint in Washington, Thompson worked for a London company lobbying Congress to limit liability claims for asbestos-related illnesses. Over the past three years he's made $760,000 fighting for the interests of his corporate clients. Now Fred Thompson wants the American people to believe he's the next Ronald Reagan -- a Washington outsider with Hollywood charisma and conservative appeal. But Thompson just plays the role of straight-shooting outsider on TV. In reality, he's as inside as you can get. He's trying to get to the White House on slick lines and good acting. Help us stop him: http://www.democrats.org/StopTheAct As Fred Thompson tries to go from Washington's K Street to Pennsylvania Avenue, the stakes of his candidacy couldn't be higher. In an interview just last week, for example, he claimed that the Roe v. Wade decision "was fabricated out of whole cloth," and that it was the worst court ruling in the past 40 years. We need to make sure that in 2008, Fred Thompson goes back to doing his acting on Law & Order -- not in the White House. Make a contribution today: http://www.democrats.org/StopTheAct While the Democratic presidential candidates hit the campaign trail, we'll be hitting the Republicans. It's our job to tell the American people the facts about opponents like Fred Thompson and to hold them accountable. We can't finish that job without you. I hope you'll join us. Sincerely, Tom McMahon Mr. McMahon seems to ignore the culture of corruption surrounding Democrats - take for instance Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) (courtesy Captain's Quarters). He has sent out invitations to lobbyists to attend a reception with "donations" starting at $1000 each. Officially, lobbyists are asked to give or raise $2,000 to be a "host" or $1,000 to be a "DSCC friend" in order to meet "individuals representing" Senate Democrats. That's code word for chiefs of staff and staff directors of committees, according to lobbyists who received the fundraising pitch. The image of the invite that was e-mailed to Capitol Briefing included the file name of "chiefs invitation". It's part of what some lobbyists say is an emerging technique in fundraising by the campaign committees -- gathering a group of top advisers to lawmakers rather than the principals themselves. Lobbyists say they've heard that later this year House Democratic chiefs of staff will be the draw at a fundraiser for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
It seems that the more lawmakers pass campaign finance legislation, the more they are forced to depend on lobbyists - the very people the legislation is supposed to minimize. As Captain Ed sums up - Basically, Uncle Chuck has built a bypass to lobbyist money. Instead of coming into direct contact with lobbyists, the Democrats will send their aides instead. Lobbyists will harangue the chiefs of staff and senior aides within the politicians' offices, and this way the politicians themselves have complete deniability. "What's that you say? No, I never met with Lobbyist X. My legislation couldn't possibly have been influenced by him." This way, the DSCC still gets its money, the lobbyists still retain their influence, and everyone inside the Beltway stays happy. The only people who lose are the fools who thought the Democrats would end lobbyist influence and clean up Washington once they returned to the majority. Instead, Uncle Chuck has come up with even more ways to hide lobbyist influence from the prying eyes of American voters. Why aren't you talking about this, Mr. McMahon? |
