Senator Denies AT&T, Verizon Cash Bought Spying Immunity Vote

Submitted by MacRonin on October 23, 2007 - 11:53am

Senator Denies AT&T, Verizon Cash Bought Spying Immunity Vote: "

Telecom executives from companies seeking escape from privacy lawsuits accusing them of illegally collaborating with secret domestic spying programs wrote thousands in checks to the re-election campaign of Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-West Virginia), THREAT LEVEL reported last Thursday.

But in a Tuesday New York Times story, the lawmaker's spokeswoman denies that the telco cash affected Rockefeller's decision last week to include retroactive immunity for those companies in a bill passed by a Rockefeller-led committee.

AT&T and Verizon executives who had donated only a pittance to Rockefeller over the past 6 years donated more than $40,000 to Rockefeller in 2007, even as they were having private meetings with him to plead for his help in escaping from federal court.

Editor: Interesting graphic removed. Go to original site for that [...]

The companies are facing surprisingly effective lawsuits against them for allegedly helping the government data-mine trillions of Americans' phone records, wiretap the internet and listen in on Americans' overseas conversations without a warrant as required by federal law.

AT&T and Verizon executives didn't just mail checks to Rockefeller's campaign; they threw fund-raising parties - a Verizon shindig in New York in March and an AT&T gala in San Antonio, Texas in May, according to the New York Times.

That would explain the otherwise inexplicably high number of
contributions to Rockefeller from Texans other than AT&T executives
(especially from Texas real estate interests) that came in at the same
time frame as the AT&T contributions.

Mr. Rockefeller’s office said Monday that the sharp
increases in contributions from the telecommunications executives had
no influence on his support for the immunity provision.

'Any suggestion that Senator Rockefeller would make policy decisions
based on campaign contributions is patently false,' Wendy Morigi, a
spokeswoman for him, said. 'He made his decision to support limited
immunity based on the Intelligence Committee’s careful review of the
situation and our national security interests.'

AT&T and Verizon have been lobbying hard to insulate themselves
from suits over their reported roles in the security agency program by
gaining legal immunity from Congress. The effort included meetings with
Mr. Rockefeller and other members of the intelligence panels, officials
said.[...]'

Ms. Morigi, in Mr. Rockefeller’s office, said the senator had had numerous
meetings with his aides about immunity for a year and came to believe that the
carriers needed legal protection to ensure cooperation on national security
operations.

In 2003, Rockefeller, one of the eight Congressional officials to be
briefed on the government's secret targeting of American citizens for
secret warrantless surveillance, hand-wrote a letter to Vice President Dick Cheney expressing concern about the legality of the program.

But last week, Rockefeller was able to see a handful of documents
about the program after telling the White House he was amenable to the
retroactive immunity provisions. White House spokeswoman Dana Perino
said Friday that the documents would only be made available to
Congressional committees that would commit in advance to immunity.

Some (including THREAT LEVEL commenters) express skepticism that tens
of thousands of dollars can buy a senator who is reportedly worth
nearly $100 million, largely inherited from Rockefeller Standard Oil
fortune.

'The
idea that John Rockefeller could be bought is kind of ridiculous,' said
Matt Bennett, vice president for Third Way, a moderate Democratic
policy group that has supported immunity for the phone carriers.

'That these companies are going to focus their lobbying efforts
where their business interests are is no revelation,' Mr. Bennett said.
'That’s the standard Washington way of doing business. But you’re not
going to buy a Rockefeller.'

THREAT LEVEL would
counter that AT&T and Verizon executives (and their spouses who
appear to have donated thousands simultaneously without disclosing
their connection to the telcoms) didn't get rich by wasting their money.

Donating money gets something - perhaps only the chance to share a
cocktail and linger a hand on an elbow while sharing a joke about how
the iPhone bulge in the front pocket screws up their putting game. But
donating gets you something -- sometimes quite a lot.

There's a reason drug companies spend millions each year giving
doctors pens with drugs names on them and taking them out to lunch.
Though doctors say they aren't influenced, the truth is they are.

I spent the day poring over spreadsheets of the contributions to Senator Rockefeller's re-election campaign.

And I have to tell you that, with a few exceptions of some small
contributions from West Virginia citizens,the people who the Senator
has been hanging out with and collecting $2300 checks from in his 170
or so campaign fund raisers look nothing like 99 percent of America.

They are Comcast executives, commercial real estate developers, Bass oil money, the Blackstone group, Delta and United Airline executives and self-employed equity investors living on ranches in Montana. (And, of course, Norman Hsu.) A handful are so rich, it's hard to imagine them even bothering with asking the Senator for a favor.

With the exception of those who list their occupations as
self-employed philanthropists or volunteers at the MOMA, most of Rockefeller's donors appear to
be the merely very rich, who want to become even more so, hopefully with
the help of a friendly legislator.

And for the record, neither Verizon nor Rockefeller's spokesperson
has yet replied to requests for comment. The Times, however, was kind
enough to credit Wired News for breaking this story.

See Also:

(Read Original Article - Via Threat Level.)

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