3 ms·

$3.7 billion a year is a lot. There aren't that many politicians to bribe.

• elliekelly 8y ago
  >There aren't that many politicians to bribe. I think this is really the crux of the issue. If a CEO met with a politician and said "I've talked to all my CEO buddies and if you do XYZ we're all going to make substantial contributions to your campaign and PACs" that's clear-cut bribery and honest services fraud. But if the same CEO hires a lobbyist to say the exact same thing to a politician suddenly it's "free speech" and we're expected to believe the government can't do anything to reign it in.
  • chimeracoder 8y ago
    > But if the same CEO hires a lobbyist to say the exact same thing to a politician suddenly it's "free speech" and we're expected to believe the government can't do anything to reign it in. This is not what happens during lobbying. If you have any concrete evidence of this sort of exchange happening, please report it, since it's a blatant violation of federal law.
    • elliekelly 8y ago
      It's absolutely how it works: https://www.vox.com/first-person/2017/6/29/15886936/political-lobbying-lobbyist-big-money-politics https://www.vox.com/first-person/2017/6/29/15886936/politica...
• justrudd 8y ago
  If you keep it only at the federal level and assume that staff isn't being "lobbied", 100 senators 435 representatives 1 President 1 Vice President ~7 million dollars per person per year :)
  • refurb 8y ago
    You do realize those aren't cash payments to the politician, right?