(A politician soliciting funds from a lobbyist is illegal]
http://biggovernment.com/capitolconfidential/2010/09/15/shock-audio-facing-obligations-from-leadership-democrat-house-member-puts-the-squeeze-on-lobbyist/
They have the audio of that voicemail.
Here are my questions.
1. Since the "source" that gave this recording to Breitbart has redacted the name of the person to whom she was calling, how do they know she was calling a lobbyist? Maybe she was calling someone from whom she could legitimately request money. How do they know that it was a lobbyist?
2. If Breitbart is being set up, and it turns out that the audio came from a perfectly legitimate phone call, how much further will that destroy Breitbart's credibility?
Having said that.... I do think the entire position of lobbyist should be abolished because really, what are they but people who bribe politicians to vote their way? The same with Political Action Committees. PACs donate to politicians all the time, you're telling me that's not bribery?
Anyway, here's the transcription of the audio:
This is, uh, Eleanor Norton, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton. Uh, I noticed that you have given to uh, other colleagues on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. I am a, um, Senior Member, a twenty year veteran and am Chair of the Sub-committee on Economic Development, Public Buildings and Emergency Management. I’m handling the largest economic development project in the United States now, the Homeland Security Compound of three buildings being built on the uh, old St. Elizabeth’s hospital site in the District of Columbia along with uh, fifteen other, uh, sites here for, that are part of the stimulus .
I was, frankly, uh, uh, surprised to see that we don’t have a record, so far as I can tell, of your having given to me despite my uh, long and deep uh, work. In fact, it’s been my major work, uh, on the committee and sub-committee it’s been essentially in your sector.
I am, I’m simply candidly calling to ask for a contribution. As the senior member of the um, committee and a sub-committee chair, we have (chuckles) obligations to raise, uh funds. And, I think it must have been me who hasn’t, frankly, uh, done my homework to ask for a contribution earlier. So I’m trying to make up for it by asking for one now, when we particularly, uh, need, uh contributions, particularly those of us who have the seniority and chairmanships and are in a position to raise the funds.
I’m asking you to give to Citizens for Eleanor Holmes Norton, PO Box 70626, DC, 20024. I’ll send you a follow-up note with appreciation for having heard me out. Thanks again.
What are the obligations she is talking about? According to this article:
By way of background, with their prospects for November quickly deteriorating, Congressional Democrats are scrambling to assemble the financial resources they hope can stave off their electoral armageddon. Speaker Pelosi and her leadership team are putting a lot of pressure on Democrat members to pony up campaign contributions to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. In the article linked above, Politico noted:
In August, Pelosi and other top leaders wrote members, saying, “We need to know your commitment is to maintaining a strong Democratic majority now” and pleading with them to call “to let us know what you are able to do and when.”
The pressure is especially strong on members from “safe” districts, who need little campaign money of their own to win reelection. The catch, though, is that many of these members haven’t amassed vast campaign war-chests, for the simple reason that they haven’t needed them. So, they are scrambling to meet their Pelosi-imposed obligations. Holmes Norton is from one such “safe” district–the District of Columbia.
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