4 ms·

$20k is such a small amount (to bribe a politician at least). I'm constantly shocked at how small these bribes always seem to turn out. Unless the big ones ar

• lordnacho 4y ago
  Maybe they are so low risk it's a better business model to accept a large number of small bribes rather than a few large ones
  • robswc 4y ago
    Makes sense actually. I guess small bribes are about the limit of what they can realistically get so they take anything.
• bogomipz 4y ago
  Yes but this is only a single special interest. A corrupt politician makes up for this in volume.
• pessimizer 4y ago
  > $20k is such a small amount (to bribe a politician at least). I'm constantly shocked at how small these bribes always seem to turn out. I used to be shocked by this, but at some point I realized how expensive it must be to get a dollar to a politician. Getting $20K to Madigan involves meetings, planning, lawyers, accountants, and bagmen. I'm sure the total expense was closer to $100-$200K. Spent badly in this case because they still got caught, but spent well in the hundreds of cases we don't talk about. It's also capitalism; if Madigan weren't cheap and effective, he wouldn't have lasted as long as he did. He might have gotten a dozen AT&T-sized bribes that month from different sources.