Christie curbs Union donations!!!

[Darkwind]

As usual you are so totally full of shit. What a hack. How does the following mesh with the bloviating crap you spew so easily?

http://www.campaignmoney.org/HMO_insurance_spend_to_kill_reform

Industries have spent $585.7 million since 2007 on lobbying and campaign contributions


Washington, D.C. – A campaign finance watchdog’s analysis of insurance and HMO political contributions and lobbying expenses found the industries spent $126,430,438 over the first half of 2009 and $585,725,712 over the past two and a half years to influence public policy and elected officials. The group, Public Campaign Action Fund, found that in the first part of 2009, the industries were spending money at nearly a $700,000 a day clip to influence the political process and that the monthly pace of political spending this year has increased by nearly $400,000 over the average spent per month in the previous two years.

“The insurance and HMO interests are fighting health care reform with hundreds of millions of dollars,” commented David Donnelly, national campaigns director of Public Campaign Action Fund. “Why are so many in Congress willing to listen to an industry that is spending tens of millions every month on politics rather than on lowering their premiums or helping to address the costs of health care? They need the cash to pay for their campaigns. And that’s why we need Congress out of the fundraising game — which can happen if Congress adopts the Fair Elections Now Act.”

According to the Center for Responsive Politics, the insurance interests have 875 registered lobbyists representing its concerns in Washington D.C., and HMOs have 920 registered lobbyists. The total figure for 2009, 1,795, is slightly fewer than 2,000 lobbyists the industries employed in 2008. It is possible that late hires during the important fall months will push 2009 figures past the 2008 record.

The research released today is the first of a two-part study on insurance and HMO industry campaign contributions and lobbying expenses compiled by Public Campaign Action Fund. The study was compiled with data available from the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics and the Senate lobbying disclosure websites. Tomorrow’s release will focus on the political spending by the top for-profit health insurance and HMOs.

(A Common Cause study earlier this year found that health care and insurance interests were spending a combined $1.4 million per day over the first quarter. This study looked at insurance and HMO spending.)

Public Campaign Action Fund advocates for the Fair Elections Now Act (H.R. 1826, S. 752), or comprehensive public financing of elections, The bill was introduced by House Democratic Caucus Chair John Larson (D-Conn.) and Assistant Senate Majority Leader Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and would provide qualified federal candidates the opportunity to run for office with a mixture of small donations and public funding.

The national nonprofit organization is dedicated to advancing comprehensive reform of America’s election laws and works to hold politicians accountable for the favors they do for special interests

If you read this then perhaps you should be choking on all that "we the people shit".

So are you saying that you are all for this kind of influence pedaling?

No. I was pointing out the hypocracy of members such as the california twat. She has been in support of the hmo's unprecidented spending against health care reform. Her "we the people" is disengenuous.

My position on major contributions to candidates to public office is that as a public service, the media which uses our public airwaves and has been granted by the FCC access to our homes, should be required to set aside an amount of that access to be distributed fairly among qualified candidates to make thier pitch to the public. Without undue influence from wealthy contributors and special interests including the wealth, the corporations and the unions we might have better government. Corporations should exist at the pleasure of the citizens...not the other way around. Corporate liscenses should be reviewed every four years and renewed by the public based on the quality of thier community service. The same bar should be set for unions. If they cannot pass a public approval periodically they should be dismantled. Thier leadership and management should be banned from union activvity if it is showen they have misused the public trust. All liscenses of access to public media of all types should be cancled and redrafted with provision of election information to the public. Any manipulation by the media in this proccess should be met with immediate loss of liscense and existance of the corporation owning the liscenses.

Then we can have a discussion about "We The People" without pissing on our forefathers graves.

Actually, she has been in support of the HMO's killing the current legislation. It has been shown that the current legislation is not health care reform and really amounts to political payoffs and bribes.

I'll agree with you that donations to politicians should come from the individual only. Also, the media having a constitutional role as being a watch dog on our government should set aside time, during elections, for all qualified candidates to articulate their positions and what they wish to accomplish while in office.

Oh, and those donations have to go to an individual. Party donations should be eliminated.

 

[The Rabbi]

You won't get rid of it. And efforts to do so have made things worse, not better, favoring incumbents.
So I say more money in politics. But all of it out in the open and reported.

Well, I don't know that I agree with that. Efforts by who and for what purpose? When someone tries to reform something for their own benefit, it often leads to just moe of the same.

Reform of money in politics has to come from the people, not other politicians.

Well, there was the publicly funded matching contributions, the kind you check off on your taxes. That was worthless.
Now there's McCain Feingold, which did nothing but restrict free speech. There are hundreds of laws on campaign finance and the sole result has been incumbents getting re-elected over and over.
Unfortunately "the people" don't make laws, politicians do. So that's where it has to come from.

 

[SwingVoter]

Yeah, let's return to the good old days of sweatshops and child labor.

Because we know they'd come back in two minutes if any SEIU-backed candidates lost.

 

[SwingVoter]

Yes, anything that puts a weed up union's asses is Ay Okay in my book. They are the cause of about half the problems in America.

especially government worker unions, these people are supposed to serve the public, but they wind up serving themselves

 

[The Rabbi]

Serving themselves to a big ole heapin helpin of salary and benefits at our expense. Didn't I see recently that gov't jobs pay far more in salary and benefits than comparable private jobs?

 

[Darkwind]

Serving themselves to a big ole heapin helpin of salary and benefits at our expense. Didn't I see recently that gov't jobs pay far more in salary and benefits than comparable private jobs?

It used to be that the big money was in the private sector.

Look at what 50 years of corruption can do for ya, eh?