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The Puppet Show
28 Jul 2004 by Matthew Linderman
According to the Washington Post, the only real work going on at the Dem convention is “the nonstop currying of favor of elected officials by the most powerful interests in the country” ( similar piece in NY Times about Dem politicians whoring out to fundraisers). Nice to see both sides are equally adept at sucking up to corporate interests and big money. Some choice.
Corporations, trade associations and labor unions — all now barred from contributing to political parties — have turned conventions into multimillion-dollar spending sprees, capitalizing on exemptions from federal campaign finance law and congressional gift bans to wine and dine all manner of elected officials, from top-ranked members of Senate committees to backbenchers in state legislatures. From the perspective of narrow interests, conventions are the one remaining way they can legally put money behind federal officials without running afoul of the ban on unlimited “soft money” donations.
…Fifteen corporations, unions and foundations have each given at least $1 million to the Boston host committee, including Bank of America Corp., International Business Machines Corp., Gillette Co., Verizon Communications Inc. and the Service Employees International Union. Another 15 have given from $500,000 to $1 million. In 1992, the Democrats did not accept more than $100,000 from any single donor.
1 comment so far (Post a Comment)
29 Jul 2004 | Sunny said...
Hey its Campaign Finance Reform, not Convention Finance Reform.
All the reform talk of McCain-Feingold bill/law just seems like some sort of secret handshake. Its deception masquerading as change / improvement / accountability.
