Silvio O. Conte Quotes
When I bought a new car, the folks back home were sure the lobbyists had gotten to me already.
Silvio Conte, U. S. Congressman (Republican, MA), Roll Call, Febuary 18, 1959
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
Bribing Congressmen was quite common. In those days, money to Congressmen and Senators was not even disguised as campaign contributions. The letters were the short terms for the different agents.
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.
Hanna, managing William McKinley’s Presidential Campaign against William Jennings Bryan, outspent is opponents by a factor of ten to one. Few understood that at the time or the profound effect that money could play in national politics. Hanna was a political strategist far ahead of his time.
Silvio Ottavio Conte was an American lawyer and politician. He was a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives for 16 terms, representing the 1st Congressional District of Massachusetts from January 3, 1959, until his death in Bethesda, Maryland in 1991. He strongly supported legislation to protect the environment, as well as federal funding of medical and scientific research.
