Money of course..lots and lots of it. From Glen Greenwald's column at Salon:
Then again, AT&T is the second largest contributor overall to officials in Congress, having poured into the Beltway a total of $38 million in campaign contributions for the election cycles for which these records are available. Verizon is in 33rd place with over $15 million; BellSouth in 39th place with with over $14 million; Time Warner in 28th place with $17 million; and MCI in 83rd place with $8 million. The Communications Workers of America, which lobbies for all sorts of pro-telecom legislation, is in 13th place with close to $25 million. That's $118 million of telecom money poured into the coffers of members of Congress, and the real total is much higher since this is only from the top 100. And now Congress, on a more or less bipartisan basis, is passing a law declaring that this industry shall be completely immune from any consequences even if they are found to have broken multiple federal laws in allowing illegal spying on all of their customers.
Now, it all makes sense doesn't it? Methinks the majority of elected Dem's are really just Rethugs in sheeple's clothing.
Tags: Telecoms, Harry Reid, lobbying money
