A prediction: The U.S. is due for a huge scandal involving big money, bribery and politicians. Not the small fry that dominates the ethics fights in Washington; really big stuff; think Watergate.
It is axiomatic in politics that without accountability there is abuse. This year, there is a massive infusion of special-interest money into U.S. politics that is secret, not reported. Corporations and other interests will spend more than $250 million of undisclosed funds to affect the outcome of the Nov. 2 national elections.
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Corrado, noting the Chamber’s political sophistication, doubts that. It really misses the point. It would be perfectly legal, for example, for the Chamber to receive secret money from a U.S. subsidiary of London-based BP Plc, or Houston-based Citgo Petroleum Corp., the U.S. subsidiary of the Venezuelan oil company, or health-insurance companies, or big oil companies, or smut peddlers. The issue is that the public doesn’t know the source.
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They are shrewd at deflecting attention from their clandestine operations. Gillespie says the Democrats always operate the same way; in an e-mail he cites a news report that labor unions and their political-action committees spent almost $450 million to help the Democratic nominee, Barack Obama, in the 2008 presidential contest.
Donor Identity
Gillespie, a former Republican Party chairman, intimately familiar with the rules, knows political-action committees have to disclose contributors; and unlike in the case of Crossroads GPS, voters know the identity and general purpose of money spent by a labor union.
Rove, donning his civil-libertarian cap, expresses outrage at government or politicians threatening to reveal the identity of secret, wealthy campaign contributors.
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