Yesterday, CBS News' 60 Minutes aired a segment with infamous lobbyist Jack Abramoff. During an interview with Lesley Stahl, Abramoff talked about how he used gifts, campaign contributions, and other legal and illegal bribes to influence members of Congress. In a simple explanation of how the revolving door works, Abramoff said he would use promises of jobs on K Street to lure Capitol Hill staffers into his pocket. He would let a chief of staff know that he was interested in hiring him or her. The promise of a high paying job -- Abramoff made $20 million a year at one point -- would entice the staffer to give Abramoff control over the congressional office. In Abramoff's words, at that point he "owned them": "We owned them. And what does that mean? Every request from our office, every request of our clients, everything that we want, theyà ‚¬ „ re gonna do..." |
Read the rest of the story HERE:
At thinkprogress.org
OpedNews volunteer from 2005 to 2013.
Amanda Lang was a wonderful member of the Opednews team, and the first volunteer editor, for a good number of years being a senior editor. She passed away summer 2014.