John F. Kennedy Quotes
Lobbyists are in many cases expert technicians and capable of explaining complex and difficult subjects in a clear, understandable fashion. They engage in personal discussions with Members of Congress in which they can explain in detail the reasons for positions they advocate. Because our congressional representation is based on geographical boundaries, the lobbyists who speak for the various economic, commercial, and other functional interests of this country serve a very useful purpose and have assumed an important role in the legislative process.
Kennedy, John F. "To Keep the Lobbyist Within Bounds." The New York Times Magazine, 19 Feb. 1956, p. 14.
In the 1960s, the cigarette companies and their lobbyists paid consultants and some scientists to demonstrate that tobacco did not cause cancer. By the beginning of the 21st century, the practice of lobbyist bought research was very common. The lobbyists realized that their many might alter the approach and quality of the research so the results would support their political points of view. If the studies did not, the lobbyists and industries simply did not make the results public, and the terms of their financing often prohibited the consultants from releasing information on their own,
Barbour was himself a lobbyist before he became a politician.
Abramoff had bribed over 100 Congressional offices by a combination of campaign donations, paid golf junkets all over the world, free elegant meals at his own fancy Washington Restaurant, free tickets for the Congressmen, their staffs and their major constituents, to Concerts and sporting events including his own Skyboxes, and promises of future employment at very high salaries. Ironically, we was convicted of cheating some of his lobbying clients and did a jail term, but his “bribery” was technically usually legal. In addition to Abramoff, only one Congressman was charged and convicted of corruption, when many if not most had engaged in these corrupt practices. Congress makes the rules with loopholes so that what is bribery and corruption in any other setting is often not against the law if Congress is involved.
John Fitzgerald Kennedy, often referred to by his initials JFK, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. Kennedy served at the height of the Cold War, and the majority of his work as president concerned relations with the Soviet Union and Cuba. A Democrat, Kennedy represented Massachusetts in both houses of the U.S. Congress prior to becoming president.
