The Americans better start using those rights they seem to wank off about, cuz if they don't they're about to get sold to the highest bidders
Campaign donations are limited to elected officials or to those standing in an election. Now it's anyone in government. Most government works are not elected, and now they could have free reign.
He has an estimated net worth of $3M. He is 82 years old and makes $174K a year. Even if he made substantially less than $174K (adjusted downward for inflation) before he became a representative in 1991, he can benefit from compound interest just like the rest of us. Hell, I have been investing for slightly less than 33 years myself and I have a substantially similar net worth, and for a good part my early career I definitely was not making the salary of a congressman. Hell, it hasn't even been all that many years since I started making more than a congressman made in 1992.
It's more surprising that $3M is all he's got. If I keep working until I'm 82, I should be deep into 8 digits of net worth. God I love compound interest. I hope my kids are listening enough of the time when I talk about it.
Now do his stepchildren, and exactly how much of their net worth came from Bernie's "campaign contributions".
The way the game is often played is to hire other family members as "consultants" at extremely high salaries (Bernie didn't invent this, by any means -- take a look at how many congresscritters have relatives on the campaign payroll) . In theory, you can't spend campaign money on yourself, but paying it to "consultants" is allowed. And if those "consultants" happen to be relatives, and they happen to use some of their "salaries" to buy luxuries for Dear Old Dad, that's perfectly fine.
Another good one is to set your relative, or even yourself, up in some ancillary business (e.g. advertising or printing). The late Oral Roberts (a TV preacher) was the innovator there. He was always crying about how he sent free Bibles and other religious stuff all over the world, and how many millions it cost. This was absolutely true.
What he never mentioned is that his non-profit ministry hired his very-much-for-profit printing company to print all this stuff.
As far as the government goes, there are pretty strict rules against paying actual government money out to relatives (though it does happen). The rules against paying out campaign contributions are a lot more lenient.
Moreover it's a moot point because every state has a law that bans these payments. The feds do not.
> Section 666 proscribes bribes to state and local officials but does not make it a crime for those officials to accept gratuities for their past acts.
As such, I see it applying to all government officials, whether elected or not.
Every country has at least some district in the capital city with fancy restaurants and rooftop bars and luxury shopping. If you go to such a place in a rich country and ask people what they do you'll get many answers, you'll find people who do technical work in specialized industries, managers, business owners, etc. In poor countries it is always the same answer, everyone you will meet in these places works for the government.
One thing that I think escapes many is that in corrupt countries, it isn't like the clerk who issues permits decides one day to be corrupt and gets rich. People already know these jobs offer opportunities to make a lot of money and compete fiercely for them. This is a high status job. The people who get them are usually capable and motivated and would serve their economy much better in some other role. It acts like a sort of internal brain drain.