Josh Fox Quotes

In the U.S. you have a system of lobbying and influence on our policy and law makers which is incredibly pronounced. The gas industry spent $250 million getting an exemption from our Safe Water Act. Every one of those dollars is toxic; a contaminant in our political system. It disrupts the normal flow of justice, science, fact and reporting.

Too many members of Congress seem willing to give corporate polluters, many of whom happen to be major political donors, a free pass to poison the air.

Real lobbying reform must end the practice of corporate lobbyists writing our laws.

Even though the Koch brothers' businesses put 4.4 million people at risk with pollutants, the Kochs have poured millions into lobbyists' coffers and political contributions to ensure their bottom line stays unchanged by the most basic safety precaution.

I sometimes suspected that the major qualification for most aspirants for membership on the [Senate] Finance Committee was a secret pledge or agreement to defend the [oil and gas] depletion allowance against all attacks.... [and] campaign funds reinforced these pledges.

The oil and gas lobby, with the vast amount of money at its disposal, is, I believe, the most diabolical influence at work in the nation's capitol. It has for years succeeded in blocking the assignment of public-spirited members to the tax-writing committees of the House and Senate, and also intervened in the election of leaders and assistant leaders in both Houses.

Senators who once supported common-sense legislation have gone silent as stones under the threat of the polluters' spending.

Barack Obama's large contributor was Goldman Sachs - same thing on the Republican side. If you go to both their conventions, you see the same lobbyists paying off both sides so they win either way.

Our laws governing lobbying and campaign contributions have struck the right balance between the wishes of the people and those of private industry, so why are we so quick to doubt that the same great results can be achieved by putting the government's justice-dealing branch on the same market-based course?

The average American doesn't realize how much of the laws are written by lobbyists.

America's political system has evolved over the last 50 years in ways that have enhanced the power of business lobbies.

Policy is no longer being written by politicians accountable to the American public. Instead, policies concerning the defense budget, deregulation, health care, public transportation, job training programs, and a host of other crucial areas are now largely written by lobbyists who represent mega corporations.

Corporations are poisoning our air and water while at the same time lining the pockets of elected officials with political contributions.

The problem is we have a Wall Street-to-Washington access of power that has controlled the political climate. The donor class feeds the political class who does the dance that the donor class wants. And the result is federal government keeps getting bigger.

There might be a lot of difference between Republicans and Democrats on key social issues like women's rights and health care. But when it comes to taking corporate cash, they're pretty much the same beast.

Polluter pork is thriving in Washington.

Industries who profit by the rape of our environment see to it that legislators friendly to their attitudes are elected, and that bureaucrats of similar attitude are appointed.

A liberal doesn’t sell out to the special interests.

We've got a thousand lobbyists in thousand dollar suits giving you a thousand reasons we can't change.

Unfortunately, public officials are largely controlled by the very corporations against which they should proceed.

The financial firms—the same ones who were involved in the 2008 meltdown—are still the most powerful lobby on Capitol Hill. And frankly, they own the place.

This town has become very corrupt. We need reform of lobbying.

Three industries in particular—finance, real estate, and insurance—benefit from the system, which they achieve by lobbying heavily and systematically contributing to political campaigns in order to retain and fortify their privileges.

Almost half our representatives in Washington apparently know more about science than our scientists. Or they pretend to, because big corporations give them a lot of money to make sure they can keep doing the destructive things that they do.

It's time to review what damage the Supreme Court ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission has done to our political system.