Phone Companies Seeking Immunity Gave Money To Key Senator

The New York Times:

Executives at the two biggest phone companies contributed more than $42,000 in political donations to Senator John D. Rockefeller IV this year while seeking his support for legal immunity for businesses participating in National Security Agency eavesdropping.

The surge in contributions came from a Who's Who of executives at the companies, AT&T and Verizon, starting with the chief executives and including at least 50 executives and lawyers at the two utilities, according to campaign finance reports.

Read the whole story: The New York Times

Comments

[PollM]

Selling out America and the American people, the provision set a real bad precedence.Senator Rockefeller claims sharp increases in contributions from telecoms had no influence on his support for the immunity provision,

Is Senator Rockefeller a crook?--> http://www.youpolls.com/details.asp?pid=773.

[OckhamsElectricRazor]

Big Business: The third house of Congress.

[Liberal2]

Ocky, old boy, whaddaya mean "Third House"??? Hell, they aren't a branch of Congress...they are now the entire US government from local dogcatcher to president.

[Tr0uBle]

STOP Tomarrows on the>>>>>>>>DREAM AMNESTY ACT !
GO To: www.numbersusa.com
sign up for free and use their system to send free faxes to your senator.

Appose the DREAM AMNESTY ACT which will allow millions upon millions of illegal immigrants to flood into the United States and totally overwhelm our most vital systems.

This VOTE is Tomarrow.

Let your voices be heard, ACT NOW !

[gardengoddess]

It doesn't matter whether Rockefeller needs the money or not. It's the perception that he basically took a bribe.

I've called his office - and I hope others will do the same - asking him to return the money, apologize, and make NO DEALS (even if he has to renege on ones already made!) that give ANY telecommunications companies retroactive immunity for breaking the law.

[MoeJava]

gardengoddess - I called his office, speaking with a very harried Adam N, who couldnt give his own opinion about this subject. When I asked him directly - as a citizen of the USA - if he agreed with breaking the Laws and violating the letter and spirit of the Constitution, He said he "had no opinion" and then referred me to Rockefeller's website for "official statements". When I visited the site, there was some side-stepping and no real answers.
Bottom line: If the Administration asked for surveillance BEFORE the 9-11 attacks, there is no justification. Telecoms are guilty and should be held accountable, as well as the law-breaking, constitution-hating GWB Administration is guilty.

[scooperss]

Well said and that's what I told Rockefeller's office in an e-mail.

[Liberal2]

You know what's even more disgusting about all this, gardengoddess? Rockefeller wil never give back the money and never apologize.

But Rep. Stark has apologized for his accurate description of Bush and Iraq. Democrats condemn MoveOn.org, but rethugs defend Limbaugh and his "phoney soldiers" accusation.

Pelosi, Hoyer, and Reid must go. There seems to be no democrat who understands why democrats won in 2006. and this includes Feingold, who refuses to run for president. And Gore, who also refuses to run.

Spineless shits, all of them.

[mtrav]

He should be thrown out of office by his constituents, unless of course, they think he's right that lawbreakers should be granted immunity because they paid him large sums of money to rewrite history and let lawbreakers off the hook, retroactively no less.

[kroses98]

AMEN!!! I hope someone goes up against him in a Primary, and that we all have the opportunity to contribute to that person, and sign petittions FOR that person! THIS IS SERIOUS, & WE MEAN BUSINESS!!! TIME FOR HIM TO GO!!!

[raker]

The main difference between Democrats and Republicans is that Repubs unabashedly take corporate money in exchange for making horrible policy; Democrats take the same money for the same reasons but pretend it pains them to do it.

[kroses98]

ALL DEMOCRATS: "PROTEST" AS I DID LAST WEEK BY Changing your Voter Registration to "Independent." If we did it by the thousands, it would cause them to take notice. One can still vote in the Democratic Primary by declaring on that day.

[leftLibertarian]

I switched my party registration from Democratic to Libertarian.

FU Democrats - you SUCK -esp Pelosi and Reid - 2 worthless pieces of shit.

[maddog2112]

THat's what the repubicants tell you to think, so it must be true. There are many faults and weakneses in the Democratic party today, these do not compare to todays right wing. It's more like John Lennon and Charles Manson. Yes they both are not perfect humane beings, but it would be just as redicuklous to lump them into the same group.

[demigod]

If the telcoms are seeking immunity, they must NEED it. And if Bush wants to give it, he KNOWS they NEED it. It's Big Brother fer sure. No one in hillbilly America knows what Habeas Corpus means. Sounds ferrin'. We don't need it. Just trust Jeeezus.

[Tom95134]

Rockefeller's office should be moved to 8th Avenue in New York City. He'd feel right at home with all the rest of the whores in that area.

[coonce]

Senator Rockafeller, if you agree to this immunity, I will do everything in my power to make sure you do not get re-elected.

This is not RIGHT and you know it.

Coonsey's View
http://www.freewebs.com/coonsey/

[dadw5boys]

This is what Larry Craig has been waiting for.

[FogBelter]

The Rockefellers have always been self-serving parasites in America ... who is really surprised at this?

[PollM]

Selling out America and the American people, the provision set a real bad precedence.Senator Rockefeller claims sharp increases in contributions from telecoms had no influence on his support for the immunity provision,

Is Senator Rockefeller a crook?--> http://www.youpolls.com/details.asp?pid=773.

[eliandbo]

Big businesses are treated like people under stupid laws passed, if we did what they did, we would be convicted and sent to prison.
FISA is a violation under the 4th amendment, just read it.
The warrant should come first, after probable cause!
Just be cause congress passes a bill into law does not make it constitutional.
If we had a good Supreme Court, it would throw FISA out on these grounds!

[demigod]

Exactly why we need a Democratic President this time, so no more Republican hacks get appointed to the Court, to plague us with pro-corporate decisions for a generation to come. Many of the Justices are really old but don't want to retire to give Bush another appointee.

[thromulese]

FISA is a good solid law. The problem is how king george jr and his band of criminals have ignored it while gutting the constitution, the Geneva conventions and the writ of habeas corpus.

RepubliCON=criminal

[tbone99]

..." He has promised not to use any of his personal fortune to finance his campaign."
That would be unethical by Filthy Rich standards

[mellene]

These big companies are only in business to make a profit and do not have any morals to protect Americans civil liberties. Congress has become so crooked and immoral that it doesn't matter much about whether they're a dem or repub. The government must be reformed to eliminate this criminal element.

[naschkatze]

I do not want Sen. Rockefeller to give the money back so that he can say that all is right. He needs an ethics investigation and a boot out the Senate. There were only two senators on the committee who voted against giving immunity to the telecoms and passing the FISA bill out to the whole Senate: Russ Feingold and Ron Wyden. The backgrounds of the rest of the committee, the presidential candidates, and maybe the entire Senate need to be looked into to see how much money has been spread around by the telecom companies. Senators Clinton and Obama are too silent about this. We've come to a critical point in this espisode: loss of Constitutional rights meets up with corruption.

[naschkatze]

I wanted to mention Harry Reid in particular but forgot. He too has received money from the telecoms and is trying to stop Dodd from placing the hold on the bill.