WATCH: Former Obama Intern and Democrat Campaign Worker Speaks Out After Attending the DNC as Volunteer

“Why not stand up against it? Record what goes on and by whom. Throw the crooks under the bus, with full details of what is going on.”

You’re an officer running a company as an employee. You have to pick your battles because they have a cost to the stockholders whether you lose or win. And if you win, what is it you won for the stockholders? Ninety-nine percent of the time you spent the stockholder’s money and got nothing for it. When governments do something bad to a company, it’s usually not outside their legal rights. So, they imposed a cost on you. That’s what governments do. What is there to fight or complain about. “But it isn’t FAIR!?” That’s not going to get you or the company or the stockholders anything. The government owns the game. They set the rules. You have to maneuver inside the bounds they set. doing otherwise is trying to bet against the house. It’s a losing proposition. So, you hire Hillary Clinton on the board and a bunch of lobbyists. That’s how the game is played. Trying to beat the system is a guaranteed loss. And remember, it’s not your money you’re gambling with. You have a fiduciary responsibility to do the thing most advantageous to the stockholders. Tilting at windmills is not part of your job.

“It is not tilting at windmills at all to report corruption within the government, that ONLY people in the higher levels of corporations can know of and prove.

Your defense of doing nothing has as its reason, responsibility to make money. Isn’t it a higher responsibility to do what is right?”

It’s not corruption. The government has the power to do anything they want. If they do something that’s not in your favor it’s because of, say, “Stopping Global Warming.” So, you’re running an oil company, and they are essentially going to tax you into running at a loss. That’s within their power to do. You really can’t even sue over it because government runs companies out of business all the time. Generally, it’s just by accident the same way a bull in a China shop will have unfortunate effects on the inventory.

The way bribes and kickbacks work there’s now almost no way to prove that’s what happened. Actually, you read about this all the time. A favorite is book contracts as it’s totally deniable and each step is in-and-of-itself totally legal. Politicians didn’t ask for any money. What I’m about to describe is, with minor variations, exactly how this works.

Your lobbyist goes to some minor functionary who has access to the big guy. They’re generally well “advertised.” Even you and I know who they are. In the case of Hillary Clinton that person was apparently Huma Abadin. (Of course, I’m using Hillary Clinton and Huma Abadin as straw “persons” as we know they’d never be involved in anything like I’m describing.) Your lobbyist just “chats” about whatever the subject is. Huma just chats about how Hillary wants to write another book. In this chatty moment your lobbyist may mention he’s been dealing with the publisher Harper-Rowe. Huma chattily says Hillary has been working with Random House and they’re negotiating around the three-million-dollar mark. When the chat is over...and your lobbyist knows when that is, he makes a call to Random House. He makes an appointment. If it’s on the phone, they may talk about the weather and then he may mention he’s been talking to Huma Abadin. The publisher will mention he’s thinking of giving Hillary a contract and it’s worth three million dollars.

I’m a bit fuzzy on how they get the money from the lobbyist to Random House, but it apparently happens. The one time I have direct knowledge it was at the state level and times were simpler. The lobbyist chats about the problem then says, “I’ve been thinking about giving the party (not the politician) a donation. What do you think is appropriate?” In the case I know about it was five thousand dollars or ten percent of the alternative. Check stroked, exemption delivered the next day by currier.

There is probably a dozen different legal and taxable ways this happens. Paying the taxes at every stage is important. That’s your fig leaf. A sum of three million plus, with probably ten percent to Random House, who will end up with a turkey that Costco will mark down to a dollar after just three weeks. But they aren’t out any money and they’re up the percentage.

The unspoken part of this transaction is your company probably won’t have any other issues for as long as that politician is in power. What did it cost? If you’re an oil company, then three million is a rounding error. According to the guy I used to know who was a director there’s an unspoken rule that once you’ve paid the vig they go away and don’t bother you.

Now let’s address the morality of this. Is it moral? Oh, hell no. But you’re a CEO running an oil company. What are your options? You might be able to go to court, but essentially what you’re claiming is the government isn’t being fair. They’re running you out of business or costing you profit. The court is going to say, “Well, that’s their right. You don’t have a cause for a case.”

Remember, nobody asked for a bribe. Everything that happened has what cyber security people call an “air gap.” Your lobbyist says, “I talked to Huma, and I think I can solve your problem. It’ll cost you four million dollars.” (I’m sure you can figure out who got what.)

You really do not have a choice. This is how the real-world works. If you, as the CEO, take any other route you are not acting as a fiduciary to the owners. In other words, any other action on your part is borderline criminal behavior.

You don’t like it. I don’t like it. It’s immoral. It’s unethical. I’m not advocating this reprehensible behavior. I’m just explaining how the world of politics works.

Think about Trump’s hush money case. I think the lawyer there may have been trying something like I described but he either got wrong or was trying to profit himself beyond a reasonable fee. Whatever he did, he screwed up. Or, others involved like the hooker, didn’t follow the “rules.” But whatever, I’m sure Trump didn’t know what was going on. You as the CEO won’t know the details either. And if the politicians are “honest” crooks, you get hit once and then you go back to making money. A good leach doesn’t’ try to suck any one mark dry or they will eventually go down badly. It’s a small community and the people in it all know each other. Which is why a phone call between Hillary Clinton and Jessy Jackson makes Jackson move on to another target.

In the above, what is right? The government does something it is impowered to do. You the CEO use the well-oiled, time honored method that governments have operated by for centuries to protect the people he works for. Much as this is horrible and dirty, if you don’t want to do it, you’ll need to find another job.

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