Buying Votes

The Sunlight Foundation profiles an example of how special interests trade cash for influence in Republicans Demand Campaign Cash for Votes

1) From the congressional Republican standpoint, it looks like they are getting stiffed in a tough election year by telecom companies even though they are voting to support the bottom line of those same companies. The Republicans expect that their support, by casting votes, should lead to campaign contributions. Conclusion: Voting a certain way gets you money.

2) From the telecom company perspective, Republicans are going to vote to support their interests no matter what, while Democrats are more likely to oppose them. Some of these Democrats could be swayed with cash in their coffers. So the money obviously goes to the members you need to influence, i.e., the Democrats. Conclusion: Money buys you votes.

No one is surprised by this standard operating procedure in government. What is fascinating are the semantic gymnastics legislators go through to ignore these shenanigans. A candidates needs money to run, and the source of those funds are the special interests who stand to benefit or lose by how a representative votes. I read one reform proposal in which special interests would make their contribution to a candidate through an escrow fund that would veil the source of the funds to help break the cycle of quid pro quo. There may be many ways of skinning the cat of special interest influence. But it is important that we keep skinning.