Don't let them conflate the two
Reuters reports today that the law firm Milberg Weiss Bershad & Schulman LLP that has been recently convicted of fraud in class action lawsuits it initiated donated almost exclusively to Democratic candidates, PACs and the DNC and the Congressional re-election committees. The summary ends with:
Fraud is, quite obviously a serious breach of attorney responsibility and the law, but the fact that the firm gave to Democrats indicates no corruption in and of itself with the Democratic party or legislators. It merely signals another reason why turning politicians into prostitutes doesn't serve America. The key point in this last paragraph is that Jack Abramoff "pleaded guilty...into possible attempts to bribe lawmakers". There are no such allegations with Milberg Weiss. The only bribery going on (at least from what we know at this point), was the legalized bribery that is called campaign finance. The Abramoff affair was a corruption issue, while the Milberg Weiss scandal is one of a scummy law firm that happened to give to Democrats. They joined the party that supports peoples rights to sue corporations and probably saw the donations as ways to help ensure that class action law suits were still possible (of course, for them to exploit). It says nothing of any connection between the Democrats and the fraudulent law firm. To claim that this rebuts claims by Democrats that the Republicans are promoting a "culture of corruption" is ridiculous (according to the Reuters article, "Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics, said Republicans would likely use the donations as ammunition in the November congressional elections and to blunt criticism about recent corruption scandals involving Republicans."). Of course, the Republicans will do this, but it is invalid. The main solution to what the Milberg Weiss case has highlighted is to eliminate corporate donations. All corporate donations do is buy off politicians and make them beholden to corporate interests, so they will be able to be re-elected. With public financing of campaigns (like they have here in Portland, Oregon), grass-roots candidates who are not corporate whores can get elected and they will enter office with no campaign financing ties to corporate interests (they may have preconcieved ties), but it would allow candidates to challenge the conventional wisdom of corporate dominance of politics. That is the main lesson to take from this incident. Do not be fooled by Republican talking points or the corporate purchase-hold on government will be continued.
Republicans and Democrats have returned more than $200,000 in contributions from clients of lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who pleaded guilty in January in a wide-ranging investigation into possible attempts to bribe lawmakers.
Fraud is, quite obviously a serious breach of attorney responsibility and the law, but the fact that the firm gave to Democrats indicates no corruption in and of itself with the Democratic party or legislators. It merely signals another reason why turning politicians into prostitutes doesn't serve America. The key point in this last paragraph is that Jack Abramoff "pleaded guilty...into possible attempts to bribe lawmakers". There are no such allegations with Milberg Weiss. The only bribery going on (at least from what we know at this point), was the legalized bribery that is called campaign finance. The Abramoff affair was a corruption issue, while the Milberg Weiss scandal is one of a scummy law firm that happened to give to Democrats. They joined the party that supports peoples rights to sue corporations and probably saw the donations as ways to help ensure that class action law suits were still possible (of course, for them to exploit). It says nothing of any connection between the Democrats and the fraudulent law firm. To claim that this rebuts claims by Democrats that the Republicans are promoting a "culture of corruption" is ridiculous (according to the Reuters article, "Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics, said Republicans would likely use the donations as ammunition in the November congressional elections and to blunt criticism about recent corruption scandals involving Republicans."). Of course, the Republicans will do this, but it is invalid. The main solution to what the Milberg Weiss case has highlighted is to eliminate corporate donations. All corporate donations do is buy off politicians and make them beholden to corporate interests, so they will be able to be re-elected. With public financing of campaigns (like they have here in Portland, Oregon), grass-roots candidates who are not corporate whores can get elected and they will enter office with no campaign financing ties to corporate interests (they may have preconcieved ties), but it would allow candidates to challenge the conventional wisdom of corporate dominance of politics. That is the main lesson to take from this incident. Do not be fooled by Republican talking points or the corporate purchase-hold on government will be continued.
posted by Biafra27 at 11:57 PM
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