American politicians
From the New York Times article on John P. Murtha (see here)
Even among donors, mainly defense interests, Mr. Murtha’s standing appears to be slumping. His first-quarter campaign contributions were down by half from the same period after his previous re-election — to about $225,000, he reported this month.
This means that his previous re-election had him with about $500,000 in campaign contributions per quarter, so about $2 million annually.
Frontline documentary “Black Money” on foreign bribery mentions that one Saudi Prince received close to $100 million from BAE. (see videos here)
I’m always amazed at the leverage that lobbyists have over American politicians. A couple of hundred thousand dollars can get you some of the most lucrative contracts in the world worth tens of billions of dollars. Besides the simple truth that this type of situation is unethical it seems to me that it should be stopped more for being lame. A system that drives politicians to such deptsh should be reformed just on principle.
