Senator Denies AT&T, Verizon Cash Bought Spying Immunity Vote

[babsbunny]

http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2007/10/senator-denies-.html#previouspost

By Ryan Singel October 22, 2007 | 12:34:53 AMCategories: NSA, Surveillance
Telecom executives from companies seeking escape from privacy lawsuits accusing them of illegally collaborating with secret domestic spying programs wrote thousands in checks to the re-election campaign of Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-West Virginia), THREAT LEVEL reported last Thursday.

But in a Tuesday New York Times story, the lawmaker's spokeswoman denies that the telco cash affected Rockefeller's decision last week to include retroactive immunity for those companies in a bill passed by a Rockefeller-led committee.

AT&T and Verizon executives who had donated only a pittance to Rockefeller over the past 6 years donated more than $40,000 to Rockefeller in 2007, even as they were having private meetings with him to plead for his help in escaping from federal court.

[razors edge]

1. Kiss the ring.

Did they remember to call them God Father? It makes a difference.

[Mojambo]

2. Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight. n/t

[thunder rising]

3. Let's see...It quacks like a duck. It looks like a duck ...

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

4. It's all just a big coincidence - the big donation and the vote

Yeah, that's what it is. A big coincidence