Bandow's Soul Selling is S.O.P. for A.L.E.C.
| By MattSinger - Dec 16th, 2005 at 5:20 pm EST |
| Also listed in: Campus Progress Blog |
Blogs are slightly abuzz this morning about news that Cato Fellow and syndicated columnist Doug Bandow was busted by Business Week for trading cash for opinions. To whom did Doug sell out? None other than Jack Abramoff, a.k.a. the point of singularity in the black hole of Republican scandal.
Bandow has resigned from his position at Cato, where his employers said they did not know of his activities. Apparently even Cato thinks that the market has limits. That's good.
What has gotten noticeably less attention is how Bandow's actions fit right into the standard operating procedure of another organization with which he is affiliated.
Bandow is the James Madison Scholar at the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). As I explained in an article at CP earlier this summer, ALEC is the go-to outfit for corporations pursuing changes in state law. ALEC has a number of task forces comprised of corporatist state legislators and representatives of corporate America who buy seats (and votes) at the table.
These task forces produce model legislation written exclusivively for corporate benefit that then gets introduced by state legislators across the country under the guise of Jeffersonian principles.
Bandow's sin is a major one, but it's hardly out-of-the-ordinary for such a connected invidual in the right-wing infrastructure. In fact, in many ways, it's business as usual.
Bandow has resigned from his position at Cato, where his employers said they did not know of his activities. Apparently even Cato thinks that the market has limits. That's good.
What has gotten noticeably less attention is how Bandow's actions fit right into the standard operating procedure of another organization with which he is affiliated.
Bandow is the James Madison Scholar at the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). As I explained in an article at CP earlier this summer, ALEC is the go-to outfit for corporations pursuing changes in state law. ALEC has a number of task forces comprised of corporatist state legislators and representatives of corporate America who buy seats (and votes) at the table.
These task forces produce model legislation written exclusivively for corporate benefit that then gets introduced by state legislators across the country under the guise of Jeffersonian principles.
Bandow's sin is a major one, but it's hardly out-of-the-ordinary for such a connected invidual in the right-wing infrastructure. In fact, in many ways, it's business as usual.
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Color me jaded, but this is typical inside the Beltway for those on either side of the aisle.
Even when it's not cash payments; it's lunch with a high-profile legislator that gets you seen and talked about, or other favors, or access you wouldn't usually have, getting to think of yourself as a player, the "As I was telling Mr. Important Person X the other day..." stories that are almost a form of currency in Washington.
I agree that whenever caught, it should be punished - I'm just a bit cynical about the idea that there's anyone really writing opinions who *isn't* influenced in such a way.
Everyone plays to their audience; so-called "principled stands" are always scored against the people who weren't really the primary audience to begin with. Novak is a master of this. So is Barack Obama (See his stinging yet subtle rebuke to DailyKOS). Sister Souljah, and whatnot.
The columnists are just a bit more brazen about it because they're the kid in high school that is gracefully allowed to tag along, but can be booted out of the clique easily if he becomes uppity. They write while fully knowing this, taking what they can while the getting's good.