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A comment on Anti-municipal broadband budget amendment gets nixed in New York.

Re:Anti-municipal broadband budget amendment gets nixed in N... by Scubabear68 on Sunday April 21, 2024 @05:57PM (#40109584)
What really shocked me most about lobbying and campaign contributions is how little money companies can spend to effect radical change. I always thought there were millions of dollars being given to campaign funds. But it’s often just a few thousand or tens of thousands.

Our politicians are bought cheap.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Anti-municipal broadband budget amendment gets nixed in N... by jfengel on Sunday April 21, 2024 @06:19PM (#40109713)
You can't give millions of dollars to politicians. There are laws, and yes, they're enforced.

It's not even "thousands". Those are actually just the individual employees making donations. You have to name your employer so that the election commission can make sure they aren't filtering money.

The power brokering happens in terms of trading favors. Often, trading votes. (And these days, "issue ads", which was the Supreme Court's big ole fuck-you to election finance laws.)

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Anti-municipal broadband budget amendment gets nixed in N... by Scubabear68 on Sunday April 21, 2024 @06:37PM (#40109839)
PACs let companies nearly bypass that.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Anti-municipal broadband budget amendment gets nixed in N... by non-chalad on Sunday April 21, 2024 @06:06PM (#40109644)
Check politicians' speaking fees.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Anti-municipal broadband budget amendment gets nixed in N... by jfengel on Sunday April 21, 2024 @06:20PM (#40109721)
Ex politicians can make speaking fees. Current ones can't.

There are ways to sneak around campaign finance laws but it's not that simple.

[ Parent | on HN ]