Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Listen in as apparatchik Eleanor Holmes Norton shakes down lobbyist

An unknown lobbyist divulges their phone recording.

Start at .21 and skip the gasbag entirely. Eleanor finishes her shakedown at 1.54.


Ignore their subtitles, They're trying to be amusing.

"...have given to others on transportation and infrastructure, I am senior member twenty-year veteran and am chair of the subcommittee on public buildings and emergency management am I'm handling the largest economic development project in the US 

I was frankly surprised to see that we don't have a record that I can tell of your having given 

♪ to 

me 

despite my 

lo -- hooo -- hong

and deep 

uh

work ... " 

Well. There you go.  Congresswoman, Delegate representing Washington D.C. , so non-voting, House of Representatives, still heading important committees. She brags how she spends stimulus money. And she is showing entitlement to other people's money by stating she affects their sector. It is so utterly natural. 

Didn't listen to the gasbag all the way, he sounds like Hannity or perhaps antiHannity, but Eleanor's (we're on first name basis) wikipedia page has her curricula vitae, and on balance it is not so hard to see how that total experience would blend Government with Party so fully as to be inseparable.

Apparently this is what is great about America, that you can insinuate yourself into its government and use Party to wrench government and business and individuals to do your bidding even as your vote doesn't count. 

13 comments:

The Dude said...

DC license plates have the motto "Taxation Without Representation".

They should read "Representatives Without Morals".

But then again, every state's tags could read that way.

Chip Ahoy said...

I used to think, "Gee, being a lobbyist must be hard."

I was imagining Lobbyists working diligently to attain access then a delivering a hard sell to an unwilling customer, the whole thing taking a lot of schmoozing and boozing and wining and dining and maddening interconnectedness and endless activities, but now I think it's more like sit back and wait for the rats to come calling.

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

My greatest disppointment was that she wasn't nearly as articulate or commanding as Senator Pat Geary.

ndspinelli said...

Great post. Eleanor Holmes Norton is a classic DC no account. I just finished a good book titled, This Town. It documents this horseshit. In the 1970's, 3% of retiring members of Congress went on to become lobbyists. It's now 48% and rising fast.

edutcher said...

There's nothing wrong with the District of Columbia that flooding the swamp again won't cure.

KCFleming said...

Them that's got shall get
Them that's not shall lose
God bless the child that's got his own

virgil xenophon said...

Norton is a classic case of the cancerous malignancy that has spread throughout modern government. Worse, her attitude/actions are considered as "business as usual" by today's jaded "chattering classes," politicians and former politicians turned lobbyists alike.

GREAT capture of the essence of the problem in the proverbial nutshell, Chip.

Cody Jarrett said...

Do we know why the lobbyist released the audio?

This can't be going over well in stanky armpitville.

bagoh20 said...

Well, bless her heart. I'm so proud to be paying her salary. Good people are so hard to find.

bagoh20 said...

So I assume she will not be getting his "contribution".

Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...

The gimme gimme gimme corruptocrats.

Americans like them.

deborah said...

re windbag...yeah, I can't stand that guy from the Young Turks. There's a reason his show isn't on cable.

Eleanor would have done herself a big favor to just go hat in hand and ask for the money without mentioning her seniority.

Michael Haz said...

Multiply this by a zillion and you will understand how the Congress works.

What's surprising is how brazen EHN is in requesting money. The requests are usually made by intermediaries.

She is a black Dem, so nothing will happen to her for this breaking of the law.