It sure looks that way.
The unusual “blanket hold” placed on Obama administration nominees by Senator Richard Shelby, represents an effort to support a firm that has contributed more than $100,000 to the Alabama Republican over the course of his long political career, according to a Center for Public Integrity analysis.This is about as prime an example of Washington's culture of corruption as I can think of off the top of my head. Posted by Linkmeister at February 5, 2010 01:19 PM | TrackBackShelby reportedly initiated the blanket hold in an attempt to back a $35 billion tanker contract for Northrop Grumman and EADS; the plane would be built in his state.
[snip]
The fourth-term Senator has received at least $108,233 in PAC contributions to his political campaigns and leadership PAC from Northrop Grumman’s corporate PACs. This includes contributions, dating back to his first Senate election in 1986, from the company’s political action committee and from the PACs of companies that are now part of Northrop Grumman.
Why does NOBODY ever complain about this in Congress? Because they're all doing it. They're all dirty. And they'll all fight public campaign financing to the last tooth and nail. If I remember the tanker contract mess, Boeing won it on merit but lost it because the CEO was screwing his DOD contact - literally.
Posted by: hedera at February 5, 2010 07:17 PM