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Lobster with Kerry: $25,000. Golf with Chambliss: $15,000. Access to Congress: Priceless
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ShareOctober 17, 2006 4:27 PM
For $25,000, lobbyists and big contributors could have had a lobster dinner with Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) or any of the other 16 Democratic senators who spent a weekend this summer in Nantucket at a special "retreat."
For $15,000, Senator Elizabeth Dole (R-NC) and eight other Republican senators offered the same kind of crowd golf, skeet shooting and lavish dinners at the five-star Greenbrier resort in White Sulfur Springs, W.Va.
Despite calls for reform in the wake of the scandal surrounding corrupt lobbyist Jack Abramoff, the cozy relationship continues between members of Congress and lobbyists for big corporations and special interests.
THE BLOTTER RECOMMENDS
"They talked the talk, but they didn't walk the walk," says Gerry Hebert of the Campaign Legal Center.
House and Senate candidates have again raised more than $1 billion dollars in contributions this campaign cycle. More than half of the money raised by House incumbents typically comes from lobbyists and their political action committees, according to the Campaign Finance Institute.
But don't just blame the lobbyists, Hebert says. "Members on the Hill have a responsibility not to make it seem as if their public offices are for sale to the highest bidder," he tells ABC News.
More to come.
October 17, 2006 | Permalink | User Comments (4)
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Harr Harr Harr.......so what if those CIA pilots had a couple of bottles of wine. Nothing compared to the phoney crap that goes on in Washington. Greased palms. No matter who is in office, money talks.
Posted by: David | Oct 17, 2006 4:39:38 PM
If half of all campaign contributions are coming from lobbyists who expect favors in return or in return for favors already granted, than something is clearly wrong with Congress. In my state we have public financing of elections for those candidates who wish to accept it, which is almost all of them. We have none of the corruption and bribery so endemic in Congress.
Posted by: Chris Baker | Oct 17, 2006 8:23:00 PM
Yes, but in Kerry's defense, the market price of lobster that day was 24,000.
Posted by: Sean | Oct 18, 2006 1:20:23 PM
Kerry is extremely ethical. He's not for sale. Raising money is not unethical. Trading votes for money is. Kerry would never do that. His clean 30 year record proves this. In fact, many Dems have accused Kerry of being too ethical in 2004. The cheaters and liars won and Kerry took flak for that.
Posted by: Bill Jacobs | Oct 18, 2006 7:39:34 PM
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