Does Money buy access? Sure. Influence, we will see.
Oh boy. As Bigboy pointed out some of our local Congressman have accepted donations from Time Warner. Here is how much money Time Warner gave our local members of Congress.
Dan Maffei - $2000
Eric Massa - $1000
Louise Slaughter $500
Chris Lee (none as far as I can see)
So, does this mean that our only local GOP rep will be the sane one and oppose Time Warner’s proposed private Internet Tax (otherwise known as the Internet Cap?) because Chris Lee hasn’t taken direct contributions from Time Warner?
Certainly not and based on his recent comments - No.
But let’s look at a time line here
Time Warner donated money to Congressman Maffei in December 2008, Congressman Massa in November 2008, Massa’s election opponent -now former Congressmen Randy Kuhl in May 2008, and Congresswomen Louise Slaughter in November 2007.
Time Warner, in April 2009 floats their private Internet tax, otherwise known as tiered billing, in a market with no competition. Congressman Massa is working on crafting legislation preventing this, Congressman Maffei publicly says he opposes it and discusses using the Judiciary committee to investigate. (public silence from Slaughter - not a dig - like I said, I haven’t seen public comment in the obvious places).
Heck of a way to buy influence. Nothing to see here.
Finally, that is why Congressmen talk to constituents. When I was at the Maffei meeting on Thursday, more than one constituent thanked him for holding these meetings, something his predecessor (Jim Walsh) didn’t do on a regular basis.
Eric Massa’s predecessor Randy Kuhl held regular Town Hall meetings, however as the years wore on - Randy didn’t answer questions and ultimately offered little insight into where he was coming from. Massa? Well, he answers questions. He will debate you and discuss, but you know where he is coming from.
So, Like I said, we will see about the influence.
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