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Blunt's bribery -- free speech | 72 comments | Create New Account
Comments belong to whoever posts them. Please notify us of inappropriate comments.
Blunt's bribery -- he even advertises
Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, April 11 2013 @ 04:04 PM EDT
Blunt has a long history of press releases touting his openness to lobbyists,
and how all it takes is money.

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

rich dudes
Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, April 11 2013 @ 04:11 PM EDT
The country was founded by rich dudes. It's always been a component to the
system. I'd rather the guy was up front about it instead of lying or covering
it up; I'm more incensed he somehow got stuff onto a bill without anyone knowing
it was him, and that these connections weren't immediately obvious (well,
according to the article- perhaps people more familiar with this already knew?).


Also do the voters that put him into office know this stuff? If they did and
they voted for him anyway, that's fine by me. If he covered it up or something,
that's more disconcerting... The PACs annoy me more with their misdirection
nonsense and attack ads than the amount of money they have.

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Disclosure
Authored by: Anonymous on Friday, April 12 2013 @ 02:16 AM EDT
There's the missing element of mandatory disclosure, which somehow was left out
of both legislation and SC verdict.

It should be with politicians as with sports (and pop) stars: their sponsors
should have their name&logo prominently placed, with size and placement
dictated by the size of their sponsorship/contribution.

Also, if it costs to have a mouthpiece, how can it be free speech?
(That was rhetorical: Free as in freedom and free as in beer, I know. Still...)

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Blunt's bribery -- free speech
Authored by: Anonymous on Friday, April 12 2013 @ 05:56 AM EDT
In Germany bribing politicians is semi-legal. The law (108e) has huge loopholes.
You are not allowed to directly buy a politician's vote for an upcoming ballot.


So the briber just has to make sure that the money, services, goods, favors are
not directly tied to an upcoming ballot in parliament. Handing stuff over
"no strings attached" or after a ballot typically does the trick.

Typical ways to make a politician favorably disposed toward your "good
cause" is to give him or her a seat in a board of directors of some
company. Or you invite him/her to give a speech and pay him/her a huge bundle of
money. Or you hire him as a consultant. After the fact gratifications work, too.


Just check who former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder now works for. While
he was in office he negotiated a huge natural gas pipeline deal between Russia
and Germany with the help of his personal friend Wladimir Putin. These days it
just so happens that Schroeder is the chair of the board of directors of the
Nord Stream AG. Which just happens to be 51% owned by Gazprom. Which just
happens to be the Russian state-owned natural gas company, feeding the above
mentioned pipeline. And of course which just happens to be under full control of
Wladimir Putin, a flawless democrat. All perfectly legal, of course, and all
perfectly ethical.


[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

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