Not much different than a fast-food drive-thru, really, except for the high price and the product. Due to an accidental bit of transparency, the list of prices charged for services provided by “Republican” whores governors has been posted online, and turns out it’s as cheap as the politicos themselves. Big business and their lackeys pay secretly for secret influence over government policy, and it’s a sweet deal for all involved (but not for the rest of us). From the NYT:
The documents, many of which the Republican officials have since removed from their website, showed that many of America’s most prominent companies, from Aetna to Walmart, had poured millions of dollars into the campaigns of Republican governors since 2008. One document listed 17 corporate “members” of the governors association’s secretive 501(c)(4), the Republican Governors Public Policy Committee, which is allowed to shield its supporters from the public.
“This is a classic example of how corporations are trying to use secret money, hidden from the American people, to buy influence, and how the governors association is selling it,” said Fred Wertheimer, the president of Democracy 21, a nonpartisan group that advocates more transparency and controls over political money.
One document states the benefits of a Governors Board membership, for a $50,000 annual contribution or a one-time donation of $100,000, saying it “offers the ability to bring their particular expertise to the political process while helping to support the Republican agenda.”
Board members received two tickets to “an exclusive breakfast with the Republican governors and members of their staff”; three tickets to the Governors Forums Series, where “a group of 5-8 governors discuss the best policy practices from around the country on a particular topic”; and a D.C. Discussion Breakfast Series, among other events. If they bump up to Cabinet Membership — $100,000 annually or a single payment of $200,000 — contributors also receive two invitations to “an exclusive Gubernatorial Dinner,” an “intimate gathering with the Republican governors and special Republican V.I.P. guests” at the Willard InterContinental Hotel in Washington.
Got it, Gentle Reader? Bribery is so common, so endemic, so ordinary for “Republicans” that they provide their customers a handy little price guide to help them decide which product best suits their needs. Whether you favor the fast food or prostitution analogy, it’s a sad commentary on the party that selling their offices for money and giving the bribing bastards whatever they want is so common, so ordinary, such an accepted part of their way of doing “business” as to be reduced to a menu of products and prices.
When a party has become THAT corrupt, there’s no saving it. Time to throw the lot of them in jail for bribery and other corrupt acts, and start a new party to replace it.
Mr. Blunt and Cranky