Ralph Nader Quotes
When I go up there, I see coal lobbyists, oil lobbyists, natural gas lobbyists, nuclear power lobbyists, somehow they think that's where the action is in Congress.
Nader, Ralph. Unstoppable: The Emerging Left-Right Alliance to Dismantle the Corporate State. Nation Books, 2014, p. 77.
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,
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.
Ralph Nader is an American political activist, author, lecturer, and attorney. He is noted for his involvement in consumer protection, environmentalism, and government reform causes.
