Tom L. Johnson Quotes
When you see a situation you cannot understand, look for the financial interest.
Tom L. Johnson, 1854-1911, U. S. Congressman (Democrat, OH), Mayor of Cleveland (Democrat), Frequent Advice
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
The bill went down to a narrow defeat, but the Republican leadership of the House held the vote open for a record setting 3 hours, until they could persuade enough members to reverse their vote. After the 3 hours, the bill passed by one vote. The House Ethics Committee did not see that as sufficient reason to start an ethics investigation.
Hollings who was one of the senior experienced senators was offended by the degree to which the George W. Bush Administration and the Republican leadership had turned to lobbyists to draft legislation and amendments to pending legislation. Lobbyists often have specialized information that members of Congress do not have, so there has been in modern times communications between lobbyists and members of Congress and their staffs. However, during the Bush Presidency the practice reached an extreme where lobbyists would even write the legislative language and give it to the members in whom they had invested by giving them large campaign contributions and many perks. K Street is the fanciest street in Washington DC with some of the most expensive office space. A substantial proportion of the lobbyists have K Street offices, hence the metaphor.
His father Cornelius, one of the great, creative industrialists of America, was not at all of the same mindset and saw corporations and the Railroads as having an important role in America with substantial obligations to the society which enabled the economic development and supported the railroads. He described his son as a “blockhead”. William goes down in American history as the arrogant industrialist and capitalist whose wealth was produced by his talent of being born to the right father who built the great empire.
This appears to be the first publication with the expression of “an axe to grind”.
Tom Loftin Johnson was an American industrialist, Georgist politician, and important figure of the Progressive Era and a pioneer in urban political and social reform. He was a U.S. Representative from 1891 to 1895 and Mayor of Cleveland for four terms from 1901 to 1909. Johnson was one of the most well known, vocal, and dedicated admirers of Henry George's views on political economy and anti-monopoly reform.
