Doesn’t Cost All That Much to Influence Your Senator or Representative
“A lobbyist is a person who’s supposed to help a politician
make up his mind . . . not only help him, but pay him”
Will Rogers
It’s stunning how cheap influence comes in Washington. Lockheed Martin came up with $39 million last year to lock down $94 billion in contracts which, if my math is correct is about a dollar for every $2,500. Talk about return on investment. Not to take away from Lockheed, which is a fine company until and unless we learn otherwise as we did with giant Boeing. But the fact still is that influence is cheap.
I wrote a piece some time back about where the money mostly goes and how we might slow it down, but small business and state government are in on this as well. The US Chamber of Commerce coughed up $193 million and 1,400 local governments sidled up to the trough to the tune of about $35 million. That’s chump-change for corporations doing billions. And if you wonder why your Congressman or Senator isn’t drivin…