Today’s New York Times provides a glimpse into the real world faced by lawmakers via an article describing the struggle by fiscal conservatives and liberal activists who want to curb the power of police unions in New York. This quote from a former police officer who is now a lawmaker says it all:
Holding up printouts about the union’s political donations, the former-policeman-turned-lawmaker says, “The root of the evil is the money.” Currently, it’s legal. Public employee unions, like corporations that provide health care paid by the government, donate to elected officials who approve the agreements that pay those providers. But effectively it’s legalized corruption.
California is ground zero for such legalized corruption — and also for lawmakers who loudly proclaim fiscally-conservative or socially-progressive credentials while quietly doing the bidding of rent-seeking corporations and public employee unions that look like this list of donors to one legislator:
California should ban donations from any entity that does business with the state or its subdivisions. GFC is working to make that happen and will always be there for lawmakers who protect consumers of government services from rent-seeking corporations and unions.
