While opponents to public financing argue that there is no problem with lobbying, and that money given to politicians is not meant to influence congressional action, they may find that argument harder to make after the recent actions of one of nation's top 10 corporate donors to politicians.

Welcome to Brent, one of our new interns who started this week and picked up on a good story here. -Josh Zaharoff

Prior to entering politics, State Senator E.J. Pipkin and his wife each donated $1000 to former Lt. Gov. Kathleen Townsend's gubernatorial campaign in 2002, seeking access to a decision-maker who could prevent the dumping of dredge spoil into open water near the Bay Bridge.

This story was recently released by the Club for Growth, a partisan group supporting Sen. Pipkin's rival in the upcoming Republican state senate primary, and published by Brad Olson on the Baltimore Sun blog.

In response to the recent negative publicity, Senator Pipkin told reporters, "I make no apologies for doing whatever it took to protect the bay. At the time, it was the most direct way to reach key leaders that were determining the fate of the dumping issue."