Bought & Paid For Congressional Members

If you thought there was something odd in that vote last Wednesday that could have brought the NSA to heel, you were right. The vote was split by those who received generous defense campaign contributions vs. those who didn't. The House members who voted no on the the Amash Conyers Amendment last Wednesday received more than double the campaign contributions from defense and spying contractors than those who voted yes.

The good folks over at OpenSecrets.org gathered the data, maplight.org crunched it, and Wired wrote about it. The results are pretty clear, vote with the NSA and we'll think of you fondly - see you in the next election cycle (wink, wink).  

Justin Amash received about $1,400 from defense contractors, which might explain how the amendment (pdf) got proposed in the first place. Only Jim Moran (D-VA) voted against the money he received. The rest stayed on their leash.

Bottom Line Maplight Findings:

Lawmakers who voted to continue the NSA dragnet-surveillance program averaged $41,635 from the pot, whereas House members who voted to repeal authority averaged $18,765.

Average contributions given to House members from interest groups that…
opposed this amendment

Average received by House members who

                                                       voted NO         voted YES
Defense aerospace contractors            $19,230         $9,093
Defense electronic contractors             $12,086         $5,794
Defense shipbuilders                           $ 5,988          $2,391
Defense-related services                     $ 3,104          $1,125
Defense Research & Development        $   782           $   181
Defense                                             $   279           $   108
Homeland Security contractors             $   167          $    72
                                                        ______          ______  
                                                       $41,635          $18,765

Interest groups that opposed this amendment gave 122% more to House members that voted NO than to House members that voted YES

I'm not surprised the vote on the amendment dovetailed with money flow, but sometimes I'd like to be proved wrong on these things. The OpenSecrets.org site is experiencing server problems as I write this, so I found a couple other sources and other issues concerning our defense spending.

It's notable that :

Between 2009 and 2011, at least nine of the top-level generals and admirals who retired took positions with these five companies [Lockheed Martin, Boeing, General Dynamics, Raytheon, and Northrop Grumman]. In fact, 70 percent of the 108 three-and-four star generals and admirals who retired during this time period took jobs with defense contractors or consultants.

The idea that there's a revolving door between the governors and the governed corporations isn't new. CREW points these things out regularly. I'd like to see CREW delve into last Wednesday's vote and see if there's more "there" there.

Booz Allen Hamilton is trying to lay low these days for obvious reasons, but maybe they don't have too much reason to worry. If you go by their contributions, they seemed to have put their money on President Obama.

At any rate, it's looks like it will be very difficult to defund the NSA, let alone stop their data dragnet. They are too well connected. Too many people believe in their mission and the U.S. Constitution be damned.