The Best Democracy Money Can Buy

Special interest groups and lobbyists in Washington spent a whopping 13 billion dollars to influence decisions made by the White House, Congress and other U.S. federal agencies over the past eight years, a watchdog group said Thursday. The Washington-based Centre for Public Integrity said in a report that the money spent by lobbyists to entertain lawmakers at posh restaurants and throw fancy parties, among other tactics, had exceeded total financing for political campaigning. ”Our report reveals that each year since 1998 the amount spent to influence federal lawmakers is double the amount of money spent to elect them,” Roberta Baskin, executive director of the Center for Public Integrity, told reporters on Thursday. ”Today, federal lobbying is an industry in its own right,” she said.

The Best Democracy Money Can Buy
by Emad Mekay
WASHINGTON, Apr 7 (IPS)