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Lobbying: Senator, I hope you enjoyed this really nice dinner we cooked for you. Also, you are free to use this yacht (which is worth $800 million but we’ll ju

by parsimo2010 7y ago

Lobbying: Senator, I hope you enjoyed this really nice dinner we cooked for you. Also, you are free to use this yacht (which is worth $800 million but we’ll just day it’s worth a couple bucks to keep the ethics committee happy) any time you please. No, this isn’t a bribe, the registration and taxes for the yacht will remain with our company but you can use it whenever you desire as long as you continue to help pass laws that are favorable to us. We’ll even write the legalese for how the laws should read. Not so different. Granted, honest lobbying does occur at some levels (my friend’s dad lobbies for firefighters at state legislators), but there are some really scummy corporate lobby activities that look like bribery with extra steps.

onetimemanytime 7y ago
>>Also, you are free to use this yacht (which is worth $800 million but we’ll just day it’s worth a couple bucks to keep the ethics committee happy) any time you please. Weird. Can you name one case where this happened? https://ethics.house.gov/travel/travel-connection-official-duties-paid-private-source https://ethics.house.gov/travel/travel-connection-official-d... https://www.ethics.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/gifts https://www.ethics.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/gifts
jjeaff 7y ago
Seems like you're just imagining how things might happen. Your example would be a clear violation of congressional rules regarding lobbying.
TheOtherHobbes 7y ago
It's only lobbying if you don't get caught. https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2018/08/08/chris-collins-list-congressional-lawmakers-indicted-since-2005/934800002/ https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2018/... It's not exactly challenging to disguise these gifts as "fact-finding missions", "consultancy", or some other sneaky misdescription that disguises their true nature. The only way to fix the problem would be to remove all private money from politics. Politicians get a campaign fund and an expenses fund and that's it. If they can't make do with that, they don't have the skills to do the job. Currently getting rewarded for lobbying is the definition of the job. It's just that most voters don't realise that the system is based on corporate sponsorship, and their vote is only useful as a rubber stamp on decisions that have been made for them.

onetimemanytime 7y ago

>>Also, you are free to use this yacht (which is worth $800 million but we’ll just day it’s worth a couple bucks to keep the ethics committee happy) any time you please. Weird. Can you name one case where this happened? https://ethics.house.gov/travel/travel-connection-official-duties-paid-private-source https://ethics.house.gov/travel/travel-connection-official-d... https://www.ethics.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/gifts https://www.ethics.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/gifts

jjeaff 7y ago

Seems like you're just imagining how things might happen. Your example would be a clear violation of congressional rules regarding lobbying.

TheOtherHobbes 7y ago

It's only lobbying if you don't get caught. https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2018/08/08/chris-collins-list-congressional-lawmakers-indicted-since-2005/934800002/ https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2018/... It's not exactly challenging to disguise these gifts as "fact-finding missions", "consultancy", or some other sneaky misdescription that disguises their true nature. The only way to fix the problem would be to remove all private money from politics. Politicians get a campaign fund and an expenses fund and that's it. If they can't make do with that, they don't have the skills to do the job. Currently getting rewarded for lobbying is the definition of the job. It's just that most voters don't realise that the system is based on corporate sponsorship, and their vote is only useful as a rubber stamp on decisions that have been made for them.