Partisianism Aside... Why Aren't People Freaking Out over This?

[mrplunkey]

Bribery assumes they got something specific in exchange for their vote. Is everyone who contributes to a campaign attempting to bribe?

There are groups who try to link voting records with campaign money but again, the system is so full of holes it seems worthless to me.

Maybe we just need hard-and-fast rules about taking money and voting. Perhaps making it an ethics violation to vote on bills when you've received more than some amount (i.e. $10,000) from a specific contributor? Force them to vote "present" if they have a conflict of interest?

I don't have the answer to this one and no, this wasn't meant to be a partisan thread. People just don't understand the scale of this -- what was Enron's failure's cost? 100B? (I really don't know). At that number, these housing failures could cascade and easily cost investors or taxpayers 10x that. So think about how much fall-out Enron generated and multiply by what? 10x? 20x?

 

[Lestat]

another candidate for the politics forum!

 

[Dial_tone]

There are groups who try to link voting records with campaign money but again, the system is so full of holes it seems worthless to me.

Maybe we just need hard-and-fast rules about taking money and voting. Perhaps making it an ethics violation to vote on bills when you've received more than some amount (i.e. $10,000) from a specific contributor? Force them to vote "present" if they have a conflict of interest?

I don't have the answer to this one and no, this wasn't meant to be a partisan thread. People just don't understand the scale of this -- what was Enron's failure's cost? 100B? (I really don't know). At that number, these housing failures could cascade and easily cost investors or taxpayers 10x that. So think about how much fall-out Enron generated and multiply by what? 10x? 20x?

I think the bottom line is most companies play both sides of the fence when it comes to contributions. Somebody has to pay for it all.

 

[mrplunkey]

I think the bottom line is most companies play both sides of the fence when it comes to contributions. Somebody has to pay for it all.

I wonder if this will get the same degree of scrutiny and criminal investigation as Enron. Again, I'm guessing it's 10x larger (or more) and somehow I don't think the criminal prosecutions and congressional inquiries will happen.

 

[75th]

I wonder if this will get the same degree of scrutiny and criminal investigation as Enron. Again, I'm guessing it's 10x larger (or more) and somehow I don't think the criminal prosecutions and congressional inquiries will happen.

You think a democrat congress would look into something like this knowing how many democrats it would lead back to?

 

[mrplunkey]

You think a democrat congress would look into something like this knowing how many democrats it would lead back to?

No, actually, I don't.

I'd just like to know how much money they really received.