| Slade's Filibuster |
| DC Moneyball |
| by Julius Slade |
| In DC, there are a million and one ways to peddle influence, but the number one way still remains good old fashioned cash. one of the very first things my lobbying mentors told me was that money can buy access, but never votes. This of course would refer to legal amounts of money, not the estimated $2.4 million in bribes taken by now disgraced former Congressman Randy “Duke” Cunningham. |
The most brazen of these bribes took place in 2003 when Cunningham sold his home, worth approximately $900,000, to a defense contractor for $1.6 million. The contractor then sold the house a few months later for the actual price taking a $700,000 loss. This of course was pocket change in comparison to the $41 million worth of government contracts Cunningham helped secure.
Cunningham’s case is just one currently circulating around Capitol Hill however, and by next year, you can count on several more politicians resigning or deciding not to seek reelection. The Washington Post front page is covered with the names of other politicians from both parties in trouble with the law for allegedly taking bribes and other financial wrongdoing. Names like Delay, Frist, Ney and of course Abramoff jump off the page. Yet, lesser known politicians and lobbyists are buried in the story as well. Michael Scanlon, Conrad Burns and William Jefferson are all facing problems of their own, and this doesn’t even mention the number of governors and state officials currently caught up in criminal investigations.
I have been involved with decisions on whether or not to give money to a candidate or a challenger, to attend a fundraiser or not, to use money to curry some face time with the important people, but I am careful not to flaunt the law. Every lobbyist should examine their expenditures for legality and ethics. Money should be used to support the friends of your causes and curry favor and an open ear with those who have influence. In the land of 2 million dollar campaigns, you can’t buy a vote for $2,000, lobbyists shouldn’t be finding ways to go around that fact.
The question I have for the crooked lobbyists is “how did you think you could get away with it?” I am not naïve enough to say that laws are technically broken every day on the Hill. Lunches will go five dollars over the limit, some congressman will not completely leave federal property before breaking out the cell phone for a fundraising call, but in the world of influence peddling, these are jaywalkers compared to murders.
The vast majority of lobbyists are honest men and women working hard within the rules to advance the causes of their clients. Yet for every 10,000 quality people, you will find the one Jack Abramoff that advances the stereotype of sleazy lobbyists buying votes. It is time for politicians and the lobbying industry to clean house. Scandals such as the Cunningham case and the ever widening Abramoff case provide fodder for people to lose faith in government and those who work in and around it. Politics is an honorable profession, and its time that the honest majorities from both parties take it back. |
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