Bribery and the beltway.Jeffrey Birnbaum ("The End of Legal Bribery bribery Crime of giving a benefit (e.g., money) in order to influence the judgment or conduct of a person in a position of trust (e.g., an official or witness). Accepting a bribe also constitutes a crime. ," June) writes a good story on how Jack Abramoff's conviction may open the floodgates to legally tying questionable campaign contributions to bribery charges. Unfortunately, he keeps a good story from being a great one by throwing in this sentence at the start of the sixth paragraph: "At the same time, congressional campaigns must be privately funded." Must be? I'm inferring that Birnbaum is implying there's some constitutional restriction. He passes right by the whole issue of public campaign financing of congressional elections as though it doesn't even exist. He also ignores the fact that earlier this year, public campaign financing legislation (albeit, legislation that would have been punitive pu·ni·tive adj. Inflicting or aiming to inflict punishment; punishing. [Medieval Latin p  n to third-party candidates) started circulating cir·cu·late v. cir·cu·lat·ed, cir·cu·lat·ing, cir·cu·lates v.intr. 1. To move in or flow through a circle or circuit: blood circulating through the body. 2. . A good story, but it could have been a great one. Steve Snyder Lancaster, Texas Lancaster is a city in Dallas County, Texas (USA). As of the 2000 U.S. Census, the city population was 25,894 (though a 2007 estimate placed the city's population at 35,050). |
|
||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion