In this case Bezos is donating to a group that is trying to popularize a particular law, which will soon be voted on by the population of Washington state at la

In this case Bezos is donating to a group that is trying to popularize a particular law, which will soon be voted on by the population of Washington state at large -- so he's trying to buy the opinion of the people. It is also relatively common in America for corporations to donate large sums to the re-election funds of officials already in power; they are often then granted concessions in their favour (e.g. George W Bush was very good to the oil industry, Barack Obama is friendly with coal companies). While both forms are legal, people are generally more morally comfortable with the first than the second form.