Losing Your Rights on the Cheap

Between now and last March 94 Congressman that call themselves Democrats switched their position on retroactive telecom immunity and flopped to the telecom side. How did that happen? What spectacular global event precipitated this mass migration to the dark side? You don't suppose money from the telecoms had anything to do with it do you? Our Congress persons are above that kind of stuff aren't they?

Not so fast.

House Democrats who flipped their votes to support retroactive immunity for telecom companies in last week’s FISA bill took thousands of dollars more from phone companies than Democrats who consistently voted against legislation with an immunity provision, according to an analysis by MAPLight.org.

In March, the House passed an amendment that rejected retroactive immunity. But last week, 94 Democrats who supported the March amendment voted to support the compromise FISA legislation, which includes a provision that could let telecom companies that cooperated with the government’s warrantless electronic surveillance off the hook.

The 94 Democrats who changed their positions received on average $8,359 in contributions from Verizon, AT&T and Sprint from January, 2005, to March, 2008, according to the analysis by MAPLight, a nonpartisan organization that tracks the connection between campaign contributions and legislative outcomes.

Looks like the price of your Constitution got moved to the bargain table. Who would have thought that you could have bought 94 Congress persons for the bargain price of $8,359 a piece? Who would have thought that your Congress persons would have sold your Constitution down the river for such a price? I could have probably been a little less enraged over this had the average price been in the 6 figures because we all know that most everyone has a price but 8 lousy damn dollars!