Bill Moyer provides one of the most comprehensive looks at the Abramoff scandal and the scandal's link to the problem of money in politics in "Capitol Crimes." Those who didn't get a chance to see it, check out the Web site. It's filled with information and clips as well as a transcript of the broadcast. What is most striking are the details given about how House Republicans bullied lobbyists into not contributing to Democratic candidates.
"And the important fact is they gave out a list with 150 names of lobbyists to Congressional staff who were there, essentially saying, 'This is who they're giving to. Pay attention to that the next time they come to your office and ask you for something.' I'd never seen anything like that before."
Hilary Rosen, former lobbyist in "Capitol Crimes"
This is very similiar to what is believed to have happened in Connecticut during the 2002 gubernatorial race. Rowland was getting an enormous amount of campaign contributions from state contractors whereas his opponent only received one contribution from a state contractor. The Democratic state party chair, Ed Marcus, at the time openly called out the Rowland campaign for the bullying tactics: "There's no question that people who do business with the state were absolutely told, 'If you want to keep doing business with us, we'd better not see your name on a Curry financial report.' "
The bottom line, as we have always said: The corruption trail starts on the campaign trail.
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