An article in the New York Times last week reported that T-Mobile USA’s parent company, Deutsche Telekom, bought Metro PCS,... View Article
Continue readingRepublicans Demand Campaign Cash for Votes
It looks like congressional Republicans have seen MAPLight.org - the insanely useful money-for-votes tracker - and they like the idea. (Also see: National Association of Home Builders.) That idea being that money equals votes and votes equal money and therefore interests that they vote in favor of should kick back some campaign cash to reward their votes:
With the House Democrats’ refusal to grant retroactive immunity to phone companies — stalling the rewrite of the warrantless wiretapping program — GOP leadership aides are grumbling that their party isn’t getting more political money from the telecommunications industry.
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Burns Connections Pay Off:
Former aides to Sen. Conrad Burns (R-MT) have used their connections to the Senator and institutions connected to him to reap some $20 million in lobbying fees and secure Burns-authored earmarks for their clients, according to Roll Call. The newspaper reports that, “more than a dozen companies in the telecommunications and high-tech sector … have paid lobbying retainers to former Burns aides … As chairman of the Commerce, Science and Transportation subcommittee on communications through the end of 2004 — and as an ongoing member of the Commerce and Appropriations committees — Burns holds significant sway over how the government regulates and aids the telecommunications industry.” Burns consistently backed legislation and pushed for tax breaks for companies that employed his former staffers as lobbyists.
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