Corporations Have Unlimited Lobbying Power, Lobbyist Says (VIDEO)

Corporations and interest groups have an unlimited ability to spend money on political causes, fostering an unethical and potentially illegal system of influence, a powerful Washington DC lobbyist acknowledged to MSNBC's Dylan Ratigan on Wednesday.

Appearing on the first installment of a series called "Follow the Money," the lobbyist, Jimmy Williams, a principal at Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP, said corporations and interest groups often do not report to the IRS the large amounts of money they give to lawmakers and political action committees, choosing instead to pay a nominal fine. The money goes into a "black hole," Williams said, perpetuating a system he called "corrupt." In 2009, the congressional publication The Hill named Williams one of capital's top corporate lobbyists.

Williams cited the Supreme Court ruling at the beginning of this year in the case Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (pdf), in which corporations received protection for their First Amendment right to spend money on political causes. Essentially, Williams said, the decision gives corporations the same rights he, a registered lobbyist, has -- except the corporations don't have to register as lobbyists. "If the court is saying that a corporation is a person, then why shouldn't they have to play by the same exact rules that I have to play by?" he said.

The solution, Williams said, is to end the practice of lavish fundraisers, in which these corporations and interest groups write large checks to finance political campaigns, and to switch to a system of federally-financed elections. If each taxpayer paid just four dollars more, he said, every lawmaker and the president would have $1 million per election cycle to spend on publicity.

Williams said both major political parties are in the game and special interests are happy to play in the current system. "Everybody's writing a check."

WATCH:

Comments

[Kenz300]

06:31 PM on 10/17/2010

Why are big business and billionaires they afraid to disclose their support for an issue?

The share of total income going to the top 1% of earners was 8.9% in 1976.

The share of total income going to the top 1% of earners was 23.5% in 2007.

Now they want a tax break. Give me a break! #$%^&*()&^#$

The average hourly wage has declined by 7% during the same period.

After 8 years of GWB running the country into a ditch and putting us into the
worse economic downturn since the great depression these people want to be
put back into power.

People have such short memories and are letting the Republicans rewrite history.
The reason we have such high unemployment and a lagging economy are because
GWB took a budget surplus from BIll Clinton and ran it into a huge deficit. We
were losing 750,000 jobs a month when GWB left office.

The economy is on the mend..if GWB and his buddies had not ran the economy into
a ditch we would be in better shape now. He dug us such a big hole that it will take
time to get out.

Democrats need to speak up and get out and vote.

Working class Americans need to understand which party is looking out for them
and which party is looking out for millionaires and corporate elites. Don't
be duped by the spin doctors of the right

[Gatormouth]

12:36 AM on 10/03/2010

“Essentially, Williams said, the decision gives corporations the same rights he, a registered lobbyist, has -- except the corporations don't have to register as lobbyists.”
One would assume that because corporations are now treated as persons under the law, the words over the western façade of the supreme court building,"Equal Justice Under Law", would apply. It seems that some “persons” are more equal than others. … Gee, didn't someone once say that about pigs?

[Wombaticus]

01:45 AM on 10/02/2010

I would gladly pay a lot more each year if it ended one of the fundamental flaws that is killing our democracy. Or should I say 'has killed'?

[rtb61]

12:46 AM on 10/02/2010

Lobbying power is being gutted because it is tied to mass media controlling the public consciousness. The reality the mass of mass media is being stripped away taking with it the power of the lobbyists, leaving only worthless old blow hards who try to gorge themselves at the trough.
The next generation are showing themselves to be careless amateurs as they blatantly try to line their own pockets out of campaign funds and more readily get caught cheating.
Apart from the new Fox not-News program of abandon on semblance of honest politics and putting the biggest sell out politicians directly on the payroll, aint no hiding which Goppers Fox has bought and controls (The ultimate Fox not-News goal the destruction of the internet which has crippled it's ability to sell and control the public mindscape)

[lvdragonlady]

09:56 PM on 10/01/2010

Lobbying was mention to be used to represent THE PEOPLE of America NOT the businesses. These lobbyists are destroying America.
OUTLAW ALL LOBBYING FROM BUSINESSES.
LOBBYING IS FOR THE PEOPLE.

[LeLoup]

08:12 PM on 10/01/2010

Remember these simple facts:

1) under the present system, the cost of a presidential election DOUBLES every cycle.

2) Senators spend 65% of their time raising money. There is ONE day left in the week to vote on legislation, and 1 1/2 days a week to study, debate and do their homework on legislation.

3) The PhRMA lobby has 4 "troopers" for every senator and representatives in Congress. How many lobbyists do the janitors/waitress/admins have?

4) In States with judicial elections, candidates can KEEP the campaign money they collected during the campaign and went unspent. BTW, how does the concept of a judge having to raise money to get elected works for you? Worked real well for a bandit like Massey's CEO, but how many bandits do you want to see buying the Courts? Does that REALLY jives with a world class judiciary??

[Forgive and Share]

01:20 PM on 10/01/2010

REPOST:

FR713...

Your rant is ludicrous.

Corporations and corruption is destroying America.

"We The People" is the root of the Constitution, and thus Government. What Appleton is advocating is that any grant for the existence of Corporations is given by "We The People". The power rests with "We The People". Grants given can also be grants taken away, or modified.

Corporations are not "We The People" nor do they have the right to vote, reserved for "We The People". Thus Corporations are not persons. In fact, they are tools, machines, engines of "We The People" for business and economic progress.

The Constitution needs to be altered to make sure that "We The People" benefit from the tools, machines, engines employed, granted, permitted for the progress and success of "We the People".

Corporations in this country are mostly owned by and exist for "We The People". Thus they are not independent of "We The People". GE, BoA, Boeing, Ford, Exxon, can't leave. "We" the owners are here. These are our engines. Their role needs to be better defined.

"We The People" are not a Fascist entity. Other responders have defined Fascism for you. Educate yourself. But if you, sir, are not part of "We The People", perhaps it's you who needs to move elsewhere.

I grant you that "We The People" are Progressive, True and Collectivists. "We The People!" It is sad that we can also be Racist, Bigoted, Ignorant, Gullible, Proud, Vengeful, Hateful, Greedy, Corrupt... We're called Americans.

[Wombaticus]

01:49 AM on 10/02/2010

IF I may attempt to summarize your excellent post.
Corporations were invented as a tool for collective human effort. They are a TOOL for people. They are NOT people.

[SaneThoughts]

12:37 PM on 10/01/2010

Its the money, stupid!

[bluepond]

09:33 AM on 10/01/2010

The funny thing is, after a while political advertisements are going to be ignored just like product advertisements are now. The public still has both internal and external mute buttons, and will begin to use them to shut out this annoying deluge. So lobbyists and corporations will need to spend more and more money to buy votes. Hopefully, this will come out of CEO and top management salaries. After all, most corporations have already outsourced and downsized about as much as they can. Hahahahahaha.

[Forgive and Share]

10:01 AM on 10/01/2010

Sorry. Lobbyists don't advertise. They grease the palms of elected politicians, mostly in the dark. The game is to milk the taxpayer. The politicians hold the purse strings.

Do you understand the purpose of democracy? What we have is a pseudo-democracy. It's a farce for idiots. We're hijacked by greed, ignorance, pride, indoctrination and propaganda. That describes the American.

I expected Obama to fight from Day1, make public all the corruption in Washington and disgrace the devil and it's bankers out of public affairs.

Instead, Obama played passive, while the GOP kept kicking the donkey's butt. He abandoned his base, made no effort to deliver on his primary promise: 'Change in Washington'.

When the GOP was on the ground blindsided, leaderless, instead of delivering the knockout punch, Obama gives them a hand up, plays nice, while they kick his butt repeatedly. A rare opportunity is lost when a traitorous rogue right-wing Dem gang hijacks the House and Senate.

Blame not the Republicons for Obama's failure to unite his party or disenfranchise, disgrace those who go rogue. Instead he sat back, did nothing. He wasted a golden opportunity and a year on healthcare. If not, everything would have fallen in place and Obama would have been respected.

Where's the leadership?

[bluepond]

10:16 AM on 10/01/2010

One of the reasons politicians need the lobbyists' bribes is to finance their costly reelection campaigns, and one of the reasons for the cost is the need to advertise. So yes, lobbyists do advertise indirectly. The politicians then defend the lobbyists' interests publicly, which is another form of advertising.
Yes, I do understand democracy, and agree with the rest of your points.

[Wombaticus]

01:54 AM on 10/02/2010

Agree absolutely with you on Obama, except that I hold 98% of the rest of the Dem's on the hill even more responsible. He has a particular mandate as president, I don't think he should be blamed for areas that are purely the responsibility of the legislative branch. Each of the 3 branches of government has repeatedly failed their responsibility to the American people over the last decade. If we had an effective Press, then We The People would know who was doing what. But the press is as prostituted as the rest of our sacred institutions. So we wait for info or go rampaging like the Tea Party.

[Ipanemagirl]

11:51 AM on 10/01/2010

THAT WOULD BE GREAT, BUT I DONT SEE IT HAPPENING!
What I do see is a country where the people have les and less power to protect themselves as corporations have all the money to push their way aroud and silence everybody. They already have all our politicians in their pockets! Unfortunately commercial do work , when people are as gullibe as all these fox news viewers are...otherwise why would they spend so much money investing in it , if it didnt help sell their products?
I wish there would be a way to overturn this "Roberts A$$ h--- mandate as being consititutionally and democratically illegal, as it takes democracy for the people by the people from the people and gives it to corporations that are BIG biusiness , not people!

[roadwobbler]

06:43 AM on 10/01/2010

Don't forget that the unions have the same power.

[Forgive and Share]

09:13 AM on 10/01/2010

Wow! That's a statement lacking thought.

So if corporations and unions grease the palms of politicians, that's okay?

Sir, unions and corporations are hand in glove when milking the taxpayers for wasteful spending. It's the major cause of our deficits. Job creation... yes. But every job must deliver payback for taxpayers. That's not happening.

Do you understand the purpose of democracy? What we have is a pseudo-democracy. It's a farce for idiots. We're hijacked by greed, ignorance, pride, indoctrination and propaganda. That describes the American. Study Aristotle. Educate yourself.

[Wombaticus]

02:00 AM on 10/02/2010

No, in fact they don't. They have the same RIGHT to abuse the system, but corporations have BILLIONS to spend on lobbying. The two Koch brothers in CA have billions to spend on lobbying.
http://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/top.php?indexType=s
Tell me how far down you get before you find a union, I couldn't see any on the first page.
Your entire 'unions are so scary' premise is unfounded. Yes, they can be somewhat corrupt. But they are a pimple on the butt of corporate corruption by an order of magnitude. Unions are not killing the world, check out countries where unions are strongest and you will see secure and happy people. You might ask yourself where you learned that unions are bad...

[ScorpioTop]

12:13 AM on 10/01/2010

The problem with lobbyists and corporate largesse is that every dollar they spend returns to them in multiples. Who pays for it? We tax payers do.

[Forgive and Share]

08:36 AM on 10/01/2010

So, you actually understand the problem. Now that's the major cause of our deficits, or maybe you didn't get that far.

So what has Obama done about 'Change in Washington'?

Where is the leadership I expected? Fool me once...

The nation has come to the conclusion that the donkey needs it's butt kicked. Now they're going to do it.

I'm ready to give the country to the Tea Party. We need a catastrophic collapse. The country must be destroyed before it can be purged of crooked politicians and pseudo-democracy; rebuilt with a new Constitution mindful of Aristotle's concerns. The Tea Party will deliver the wrecking ball coupe de grace.

[Ipanemagirl]

11:56 AM on 10/01/2010

Obama has already tried to change a lot ,Much more good things than Bush ever did in 8 years, but republicans are always blocking him at every stage, because they dont want to give him credit for doing good work!. Do you really think the alternative, the Tea party nutjobs who dont even have a brain, will solve your problems? Do you really think they are competent and better than an intelligent man like Obama? Then, my friend, you are really as dumb as they are! And you will be to blame when your country goes to the ground because of them!

[zingdaddy]

08:21 PM on 10/01/2010

You have no clue what you're talking about. Catastrophic collapse? New Constitution? What you'll get at the hands of the Tea Party is a New Afghanistan, with hard right wing warlords carving up the country into tiny little kingdoms which they control with absolute dictatorial violence. A catastrophic collapse will not bring about virtue.

The Constitution we have is plenty good enough for me. The heritage we were handed is a good one. What's destroying it are two things: total systemic corruption of our leadership (in business, government, military and law), and a nation that has allowed itself to be divided into two warring gangs with no means for reconciliation.

[battleofmarathon]

10:07 PM on 09/30/2010

OK so anyone who uses thier noodle let me ask you this. Are you surprised? The Federalist Papers purposefully outlined the importance and implementation of social heirarchy. So I see a lot of comments about "Washington is too corrupt" "Washington is a game of insiders". It has always been like this since the beginning.

Doesn't always have to be though. That of course would mean a vast majority of common citizens would actually have to care and be involved. Good luck with that.

[Forgive and Share]

10:20 PM on 09/30/2010

I'm ready to give the country to the Tea Party. We need a catastrophic collapse. The country must be destroyed before it can be purged of crooked politicians; rebuilt with a new Constitution mindful of Aristotle's concerns. The Tea Party will deliver the wrecking ball coupe de grace. I'm ready for it.

The nation has come to the conclusion that the donkey needs it's butt kicked. Now they're going to do it.

Only from ashes can a new nation rise.

[Forgive and Share]

10:01 PM on 09/30/2010

The problem: Washington is gone rouge with corruption.

I expected Obama to fight from Day1, make public all the corruption in Washington and disgrace the devil and it's bankers out of public affairs.

Instead, Obama played passive, while the GOP kept kicking the donkeys butt. He abandoned his base, made no effort to deliver on his primary promise: 'Change in Washington'.

When the GOP was on the ground blindsided, leaderless, instead of delivering the knockout punch, Obama gives them a hand up, plays nice, while they kick his butt repeatedly. A rare opportunity is lost when a traitorous rogue right-wing Dem gang hijacks the House and Senate.

Blame not the Republicons for Obama's failure to unite his party or disenfranchise, disgrace those who go rogue. Instead he sat back, did nothing. He wasted a golden opportunity and a year on healthcare. If not, everything would have fallen in place and Obama would have been respected.

Where's the leadership?

I'm ready to give the country to the Tea Party. We need a catastrophic collapse. The country must be destroyed before it can be purged of crooked politicians; rebuilt with a new Constitution mindful of Aristotle's concerns. The Tea Party will deliver the wrecking ball coupe de grace. I'm ready for it.

The nation has come to the conclusion that the donkey needs it's butt kicked. Now they're going to do it.

Only from ashes can a new nation rise.”

[ScorpioTop]

12:16 AM on 10/01/2010

From the ashes the corporations would rise, and start the whole thing going again

[Forgive and Share]

08:12 AM on 10/01/2010

Perhaps, if the stupid nation learns nothing.

[Ipanemagirl]

12:09 PM on 10/01/2010

It may be impossible to come out of the ashes and be restored! Big money will take over and will not be easy to take it away from them! And other countries will just take over where we left off. I do have to agree with some of your comments....I think I just flipped when you said give it all to the tea party, as that is my worst nightmare! Obama plays a role of being too nice to his enemies who just want to destroy him. I think he's catching on now....it was just not his nature to be mean like the GOP. He believes in compromise,he's a more intellectual kind of guy, with logic and reasoning and diplomacy. not reptile brains like the GOP; but one cannot compromise with the devil who wants to kill you! I see his speeches and rhetoric changing now....I think he's learning from those mistakes. what He needs is to put people in charge who can be more forceful, to push his issues, , since he himself is not that good at it.
All great leaders must have a "consiglieri" in order to be successful! right?

[gmb007]

01:40 AM on 10/03/2010

Well said! :)

fanned

[LJIESQ]

09:31 PM on 09/30/2010

Of all the crimes committed by the GOP and its fruitcake right winged Sup. CT., this is the worst: pretending that corporations are people. Well, if they are to be treated as people in the eyes of the law, then they must be held accountable for their criminal acts.

[battleofmarathon]

10:19 PM on 09/30/2010

Corporation: (noun) An ingenious device to attain individual profit without individual responsiblity.

[Forgive and Share]

10:02 AM on 10/01/2010

Good one.

[electrosef]

08:47 PM on 09/30/2010

Duh...