Tag Archive | open secrets
Earmark Pigs Are Not Flying But Breeding Oligarchy
UPDATE: The ban on earmarks by the House in 2010 is proving difficult to uphold. Apparently the ban applied to passing legislation with earmarks and did not in any way apply to existing earmarks. Representative Harold Rogers, a Republican who is now the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, added an earmark to a 2009 […]
JP Morgan Chase Investors Are Our Representatives
In addition to receiving campaign contributions from JP Morgan Chase, at least 38 members of Congress own shares in the bank. According to OpenSecrets.org data, 15 Democrats and 23 Republicans owned shares in JPMorgan Chase worth a total of between $2.1 million and $3.8 million in 2010. Two Senators and four House members owned at least […]
Politics Is Big Business
For some reason, we continue to expect our elected representatives to make rational decisions while they “compete” with each other to earn the most campaign contributions. Take the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) Caucus deciding on a trillion-dollar program as an example: ~ Contractors building the fighter have contributed $326,400 to members of the Caucus supporting it […]
Enforcement of Campaign Laws Is Weak
The agency that’s supposed to oversee and enforce the campaign finance laws is the Federal Election Commission. The commission consists of six members – three Democrats and three Republicans, nominated by their respective parties. Because that’s an even number, no ruling can have effect unless it gets at least a 4-2 vote. […]
