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July 20, 2003

Conflict of Interest, for Sale or Rent

This article lays the system out pretty openly.

Let's review:

The politicians are given (by the people) the power to command and control businesses and interest groups.

The politicians make all sorts of rules, and tip the scales of influence and largesse this way and that.

The businesses and interest groups decide which politicians make the rules and tip the largesse the way they like, and they give that politician money so he or she can stay in office.

AND THE PEOPLE KEEP VOTING FOR THOSE POLITICIANS, and keep giving them the power to command and control businesses and interest groups.

Any questions?

GOP Attorneys General Asked For Corporate Contributions (washingtonpost.com)

By R. Jeffrey Smith and Tania Branigan
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, July 17, 2003; Page A01

Republican state attorneys general in at least six states telephoned corporations or trade groups subject to lawsuits or regulations by their state governments to solicit hundreds of thousands of dollars in political contributions, according to internal fundraising documents obtained by The Washington Post.

One of the documents mentions potential state actions against health maintenance organizations and suggests the attorneys general should "start targeting the HMO's" for fundraising. It also cites a news article about consolidation and regulation of insurance firms and states that "this would be a natural area for us to focus on raising money."

The attorneys general were all members of the Washington-based Republican Attorneys General Association (RAGA). The companies they solicited included some of the nation's largest tobacco, pharmaceutical, computer, energy, banking, liquor, insurance and media concerns, many of which have been targeted in product liability lawsuits or regulations by state governments.

The documents describe direct calls the attorneys general made, for example, to representatives of Pfizer Inc., MasterCard Inc., Eli Lilly and Co., Anheuser-Busch Cos., Citigroup Inc., Amway Corp., U.S. Steel Corp., Nextel Communications Inc., General Motors Corp., Microsoft Corp. and Shell Oil Co., among other companies. They also make clear that RAGA assigned attorneys general to make calls to companies with business and legal interests in their own states.

Read the whole sad story

Read It Rating: 9.8
Left/Right Rating: 0
Freedom Rating: -7
Learning Percentage: 65%

Posted by Lance Brown at July 20, 2003 09:31 PM | TrackBack
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