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

[AurigaRa]

How anyone with the name Rockefeller got elected to office in this country is beyond me? Don't folks know what his family has done to this country?

[MsLiz]

Perhaps it is because he is from West Virginia, which had it's minerals mined by out of state corporations for decades and made little money off of it. I figure he only claimed to be a Democrat in order to get elected.

[naschkatze]

And you raise up an interesting point. How many mine inspections has he avoided by cuddling up to the Bush administration?

[ConcernedAboutRFuture]

Auriga,

No, they don't! The american education system is a joke....so to expect 'folks' to know what the ROckers have done is... well... too much.

[ErnestineBass]

ConcernedAboutRFuture

So how are we supposed to differentiate between the good, the bad and the ugly?
Hmmmmmmm.
Americans need to initiate a stealth voter's movement in both the Repub and Dem primaries, and choose the candidate who's raised the LEAST amount of money.
That might be a good place to start.

[loki]

But at least now I have an idea what the $23 extra dollars charged under " OTHER" on my phone bill for the last 4 months is for. ATT refuses to tell me no matter how many times I called about it, but I assume its so they can bribe Congress.

[sparkey]

You do know that ATT can disconnect you for saying something bad about them, don't you? It's in their 'terms' statement. They haven't disconnected me,yet. I guess they still need more money to bribe some more congressmen and senators. But, if they have nothing to hide, why do they want immunity?

[loki]

Anyway, They , congress to president, all know that no matter what they do or who they screw or kill, the majority of the American public can be easily misdirected and will forget about all of this in a couple weeks.
And it is us, who allow them to do this time and time again.
WE are the ones who WE should be made at, not the capitalistic greedy thugs WE elected out of our own Greed because they promised us what WE wanted to hear. WE all know they all lie. So WE are the assholes here, not them. WE put them in the position to use US, so WE obviously must like approve.

[plainsman]

No s#!t. We're just sheep that baa alot. If we actually do march, they just steer us toward the barricade. Get out of line, and they'll snatch you up and sheer you.

In all reality, what the hell are we supposed to do? The gov't is broken. They don't listen. They only represent themselves and their conflated sense of their own legacies. We can't be real patriots...we'd be snatched up and labeled enemy combatants. WTF! I'm thinking I could live with saying 'eh' after every sentence, eh. And I love maple leafs.

[loki]

They all do it. Hands out and smiling faces to capitalist and corporations, while their backs are to the American citizens. From Democrat and Republican to the self proclaimed Independent, they all are guilty of treason to the American people. Its not going to begin to change until you disinfect, fumigate and remove everyone from from the Hill and the White House. All the way from the head man himself to the interns, aids, guards, gardener , janitor, maid, cooks and servers. Wash the whole place clean , purge all lobbyist and all access from lobbyist, no one with any corporate involvement allowed to correspond with an elected official during their term, and any law later found to have been influenced in anyway by corporate, capitalist, greed, wealth, money, military, strong arm, threats, or any other influences besides what they were elected to do in the first place, is automatically null and void, period.

[jazzman]

No, they all don't do it. There are actually Senators who have integrity. They just don't make the news.

[naschkatze]

I'd like to point out that Senators Russ Feingold and Ron Wyden were the only two committee members who voted against immunity and recommendation of the bill to the whole Senate, that the revelation of this story is due thanks to presidential candidate Sen. Chris Dodd, and that Senators Biden, Leahy, and Spector have come on board. This event should be used to expose which ones "do it" and which ones do not.

[RandyRanson]

The robber baron, caught with his hand stuck in the till.

[researcher]

business as usual in wash dc.

third party anyone?

[JewishJesus]

No!....unless you create a "Christian Party", assuring that the Repukes lose power in America forever!!!

[Bobleblah1]

Rockefeller stays way too quiet considering the unbelieveable amount of influence his family has.
I dont trust him at all.
Not because he's rich, I'm a capitalist like the rest of you, but because he's playing a role in the systematic destruction of the American democratic republic;
All for god knows what. Seriously! Why are these people who the public has entrusted to represent the best in us, doing this to us? Its as if they hate us all. One may only speculate and even with all the information out there, its not that often that you can really know another mans thoughts. damn it breaks my heart that this beautiful thing called THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, that we can make even better, is being dismantled by the very people who we have entrusted to maintain it with dignity and honor in all our names.

What the fuck is going on?

[realitytrumpsbull]

Woohoo! Real-time censorship!

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----------
(Read in that reallyfastbluritalltogetherradioannouncerdisclaimervoice)

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december31st,2008.

[nagamaki]

Just imagine what might happen if any John Q public citizen sat on a grand jury while accepting donations from the defendants, and then voted to grant immunity to the same defendants when all evidence points towards indictment and guilt. Ethics in government has sunk to an all time low! It's the for profit lobbyists stupid!

It's difficult enough wanting to support a bunch donkeys these days without one of them going off and acting like jackass.

[republicansscareme]

How the Rockefellers keep such a low - almost invisible profile - is amazing to me. They are the most powerful and corrupt family in America. They and their corrupt empire should be in the news everyday.

[sparkey]

Money can make people vanish if they say something bad against those who have the money.

[stlrfan]

Talk to the hand.

[JewishJesus]

Wdid nothing wronghy would a rich man give a shit about $42,000 in campaign contributions? He can buy and sell the rest of the senate. While his decision to grant immunity to corps. the Prez says did nothing wrong makes no sense, why do you lefty loser loons think a few thou to a multimillionaire would buy him? Again, his decision ....blows, but that's not my point here!!

[JewishJesus]

Sorry, spacing key on laptop screwed up....but you get the drift

[DocTwain]

JJ, AT&T and Verizon threw fundraisers for the man--something that should be illegal.

I've had enough.

We need fully publicly funded elections NOW.

What follows will sound dramatic, but it is not. It is what is necessary to preserve democracy in America.

IMPEACH ROCKEFELLER!

END THE CARTELS' CONTROL OF CONGRESS!

DEMAND THE IMPEACHMENT OF ANY CONGRESSPERSON WHO DOES NOT SUPPORT FULLY PUBLICLY FUNDED ELECTIONS!

REJECT ANY CONGRESSPERSON, SENATOR OR PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE WHO ACCEPTS _ANY_ DONATION FROM _ANY_ CORPORATION OR CORPORATE EXECUTIVE FOR _ANY_ REASON!

WRITE YOUR CONGRESSPEOPLE AND SENATORS AND DEMAND FULLY PUBLICLY FUNDED ELECTIONS NOW!

[hugs4u]

The richer a man is, the greedier he is.

[hugs4u]

Rockefeller is brought and paid for, that makes him a manwhore.

[bluesky49876]

"Mr. Rockefeller’s office said Monday that the sharp increases in contributions from the telecommunications executives had no influence on his support for the immunity provision."

Yeah, right. The politicians of both parties, actually one party with two factions, are scum. They both feed from same corporate trough. Why do you think the Democrats are voting the way are; who is pulling their strings.

[MsLiz]

Then he should give it back!

[naschkatze]

That is not enough. We cannot accept his recommendation for immunity for these telecoms now under any circumstances or the passage of the FISA bill. Let him keep the money and choke on it but get the hell out of our government.

[dolphy]

The Rockefeller fortune came from the blood of the unfortunate workers of his granddad (just like the Nazi supporter grand daddy of the evil one occupying the WH). They died at an average age of 35 working unprotected in the Rockefeller mills. What did you expect from the spawn of one of the robber barons?