Follow The Telco Money....To Sen. Rockefeller

Sometimes Most of the time politics is a sickening business. I had dinner with a friend of mine last night and we were talking about how money corrupts in politics, especially since he is a first cousin of one of the Democrats that refuses to speak out against retroactive immunity for the telecommunication companies that violated that law along with the Bush Administration. He knows first hand how it works and the privileges that are doled out to Senators and their families for serving corporations over their constituents. My friend's name isn't Rockefeller, but that family and specifically that Senator exemplifies the problem of money and government.

From The New York Times:

WASHINGTON, Oct. 22 — Executives at the two biggest phone companies contributed more than $42,000 in political donations to Senator John D. Rockefeller IV this year while seeking his support for legal immunity for businesses participating in National Security Agency eavesdropping.

The surge in contributions came from a Who’s Who of executives at the companies, AT&T and Verizon, starting with the chief executives and including at least 50 executives and lawyers at the two utilities, according to campaign finance reports.

The money came primarily from a fund-raiser that Verizon held for Mr. Rockefeller in March in New York and another that AT&T sponsored for him in May in San Antonio.

Mr. Rockefeller, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, emerged last week as the most important supporter of immunity in devising a compromise plan with Senate Republicans and the Bush administration.

It isn't particularly surprising of course that Rockefeller or his many colleagues can be sucked into the mess that is Washington. Nevertheless this is the type of politics that we must speak out against, shine light upon and effect change. One person can't do it, but if enough people get fed up, we can do away with people like Mr. Rockefeller.