

Statements by many lawmakers ghostwritten by lobbyists working for Genentech - kirubakaran
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/15/us/politics/15health.html?_r=1

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sharksandwich
My favorite part:

Asked about the Congressional statements, a lobbyist close to Genentech said:
"This happens all the time. There was nothing nefarious about it."

Not sure the second statement necessarily follows the first..

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dsplittgerber
You can't get the money out of politics before you get the politics out of
money. <http://change-congress.org/>

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jimmybot
I would think that this is more common, and they only got caught because it
was so egregious this time. Someone should take plagiarism detection software
and turn it on the congressional record. Then we'll know for sure.

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nfnaaron
We already know for sure. Their lips are moving.

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jimmybot
Cynical, but likely true. But we shouldn't just throw out everything that's in
the congressional record.

If we have "spam detection for members of congress", we'd usefully know who's
doing the saying, and what was said that was at the behest of lobbyists. If we
have way to recognize who's "clean" and who's not, then we can call them out
on it and vote accordingly.

Or else how do we improve the situation?

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byrneseyeview
Of course, this kind of thing only happens because the government is
insufficiently powerful. Obviously, if we were to make the feds responsible
for trillions of dollars worth of healthcare spending, Genentech's lobbyists
would respectfully decline to meddle in the process. It's just another
illustration of the dangers of deregulation and free markets.

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vaksel
well duh...these things happen all the time. Just look at the guy who wrote
the anti-net neutrality bill to control the internet, you know...John McCain?
The guy who said he needed help just to check his email.

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jrockway
What is the incentive for the members of Congress to insert this into the
record verbatim? I don't see any way this makes them look better than not
saying anything would have. If anything, it makes them look corrupt and
incompetent. (Do they get "stuff" from lobbyists for doing this?)

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InclinedPlane
s/Statements/laws/;

s/Genentech/every company and moneyed interest group ever/;

The health care bill was so long that none of the lawmakers who voted on it
had time to read it all. Do the math. This congress is one of the most corrupt
in quite some time.

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DanielBMarkham
This looks like an example of poor staff work on the part of Congressional
staff.

Not that I'm forgiving of any of it. The Congressional Record has long been a
swamp of total crap. Stuff appears there that was never spoken -- a nice
tactic is to vote against a bill, then insert language in the CR saying how
you support the bill's goals. When campaign time rolls around, you can either
take credit for the vote or run the blurbs from the CR depending on how the
electorate is feeling.

I won't get political, but I will note that the approval ratings of Congress
has continually gotten worse and worse over the last ten or twenty years. I
can't help but think this is tied to the fact that there's not as much
turnover in Congress as there used to be (due to gerrymandering) Incumbents
win their re-election bids something like 80% of the time. I guess if you keep
seeing the same talking heads saying the same thing (or worse, drifting with
the wind) then I'm sure it has to wear on you after a while.

EDIT: Looking at Gallup, it appears that the freefall has been most pronounced
over the last 8 years, not 20. [http://www.gallup.com/poll/123491/Approval-
Congress-Falls-21...](http://www.gallup.com/poll/123491/Approval-Congress-
Falls-21-Driven-Democrats.aspx)

