Friday, June 27, 2008

Money talks and Democrats listen

Last week, the House approved compromise legislation shielding telecommunications companies from civil lawsuits regarding their cooperation with the government terror surveillance under FISA. The legislation passed because 94 Democrats who voted against the March 14 version changed in favor on June 20. Maplight.org calculated how much these votes cost:
Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint gave PAC contributions averaging:

$8,359 to each Democrat who changed their position to support immunity for Telcos (94 Dems)

$4,987 to each Democrat who remained opposed to immunity for Telcos (116 Dems)
Maplight provided no information on how much Republican votes cost.

CBSnews, the (UK) Inquirer, and Media General News Service all have stories based on the Maplight press release.

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