[proxy_user]

He is almost right.

If Politician A chooses to help Politician B now, he may well get a favor in return at a later date.

But it is illegal to ask for payment in cash on the spot.

Blago was too low-class to understand how the game is played.

[glorgau]

... is part of the grease that makes government work.

for insiders.

[pierrem15]

Right: there can’t be any explicit quid pro quo, but you can grant favors and hope for gratitude or a reinforcement of mutual interest later on. But you can’t say, “I’ll give you this if you give me that.”