More common than you think. Cross reference the list of Betty McCollum’s donors and Congressional allocations in the defense budget.
That’s an open secret in defense tech startup circles. Want money from Congress? Open an office in Minnesota and hold a fundraiser for the Congresswoman.
> Open an office in Minnesota and hold a fundraiser for the Congresswoman
This isn’t what the article describes.
The American public’s lack of understanding around the difference between bribery and post-office job offers, on one hand, and lobbying, campaign donations and PACs, on the other hand, is somewhat mind-blowing given how important it is to civic life.
And, par for the course for a greasy invertebrate like Madigan. Millions of dollars in benefits for AT&T, great personal legal risk to the bribee, but hey, it was almost enough money to buy a new Hyundai Elantra.
Not only are IL pols corrupt, they are very economical to purchase.
If you're going to negotiate sweetheart profiteering deals with government, at least do what the last AT&T did and throw some of it into basic research...
Emperor's new clothes and bikeshedding on minor transgressions. Legalized bribery through lobbyists, continuous fundraising rather than public service, PACs, an utter lack of campaign finance reform legislation, and occasional Mercedes, gold bars, tricked-out RV buses, and fancy vacations is de rigueur for the DC sleaze factory. If Americans wanted public administrators who weren't so corrupt, they would be chosen by sortition for limited terms from professional societies rather than allow celebrities and rando lawyers to milk it as a personal enrichment enterprise for years on end. Pearl-clutching gasp! at the elimination of some "democracy"*, but no, it would really be dispassionate, more ethical "jury service" to accomplish public administration.
* Representative republic gamified by mass media manufactured sentiment largely for the enrichment and benefit of the very rich.
EDIT: I don't have a problem with profits or free enterprise, I have a problem with catastrophic corruption and absurd inequality sowing the seeds of chaos, revolution, and destruction.
1: Every eligible person for the position gets put into a lottery for the position.
2: Each person may recuse themselves if they have no interest in the position.
3: Each person left must then provide a 10 second speech as to why they should be a candidate for the position.
4: A short vote is held, and the top 10 contestants advance to the second round where they may then go through the normal debates (and contest against the incumbent if their term limits are not up)
It would make the elections into more of a dog and pony show but would prevent 2 party institutions from dominating the landscape and usurping the American political system for personal gain.
How? There would be no political campaigns, no billionaire patrons, no popularity contests, and no way to influence who is chosen.
Picking low information, uneducated people wouldn't work. Furthermore, the vast majority of people without advanced degrees are barely literate (through no fault of their own) because of the business theater of insisting on only hiring candidates with college degrees, which has led to a steady increase in cost but a decline in quality of undergraduate studies. The undergraduate side of US universities is nothing like they were pre-1940. Even high school education is a shadow of its former self. Even public high schools in 1938 America used to teach Latin and conversational French to pupils not destined for academia.
> There would be no political campaigns, no billionaire patrons, no popularity contests, and no way to influence who is chosen.
Hmmm... I think I have a very different perception of "professional societies" than you do. I don't see how drawing from their pools would stop any of that.
That's why. Before 2018 he was the state of Illinois. Nothing could pass the state house without him.
Ironically, this was one of the good things about the Trump admin - a lot of Obama staffers returned to Illinois after 2016 and began primarying Madigan and his allies, and they began winning.
I recently visited IL for a graduation, and the state has changed both within Chicagoland and outside compared to the early-mid 2010s. Infra is much better now, and it looks like there are more economic opportunities.
That’s an open secret in defense tech startup circles. Want money from Congress? Open an office in Minnesota and hold a fundraiser for the Congresswoman.