Posted on 10/21/2013 4:08:03 PM PDT by afraidfortherepublic
Members of Congress must pay secret fees known as “party dues” to the Democratic and Republican parties to secure and maintain top committee chairmanships and assignments, newly uncovered internal documents reveal.
The never-before-published lists are reprinted inside the new book Extortion: How Politicians Extract Your Money, Buy Votes, and Line Their Own Pockets, written by Government Accountability Institute President and Breitbart News Senior Editor-at-Large Peter Schweizer.
Senior congressional staffers say the committee price lists have long been rumored to exist but that few people on Capitol Hill have seen them, giving them an almost "mythical" quality.
The book contains copies of the Democratic and Republican price lists detailing how much money lawmakers must raise to obtain and keep their seats on congressional committees. The so-called “party dues” lawmakers must contribute for committee assignments are separate and apart from the fundraising they conduct for their own campaigns. If lawmakers fail to make their tribute payment to their party, they can lose their place on a powerful committee.
“These party dues are not voluntary,” writes Schweizer. “Members are not asked to pay—they are required to pay.”
In the 2013-2014 election cycle, the going rate for a Democratic assignment as the ranking member on a top committee like the House Ways and Means or Financial Services Committees is $500,000. Schweizer reports that Democrats also use a “members points system” that rewards its members for attending party fundraisers.
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
Yep. It’s crimina.
Now we know why so few good people bother to run for office!1
What do they get in return for caving?
So the conservatives that Bohner threw off the commitees, it was all about money?
oh, come on now, you didn’t think the chairmanships went to the most qualified and capable, did you? If so, I have three words for you:
Sheila
Jackson
Lee
I really think we should require them to wear togas
and laural wreaths.
It certainly isn’t any better than ancient Rome.
This is just disgusting. I want all of these clowns, except Jeff Sessions, to hit the road.
This thread is related, posted today and didn’t get much attention.
Sarah Palin Shreds D.C.’s ‘Corrupt Bastards Club’ in Scathing Anti-Obamacare Op-Ed
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/3081472/posts
Yup, this Bud’s for me and my committee chair.
Everyone needs to read This Town by Mark Leibovich. The past speakers and majority leaders never leave DC, they just move across the street and make millions.
This is as bad or worse than anything in the Gilded Age.
Extortion for the benefit of third parties, such as a political party or campaign fund, is still extorton. _U.S. v. Margiotta_, 688 Fed.2d 108 (2nd Cir. 1982). This is a federal criminal conspiracy, and everyone who agreed to act in concert to demand or pay such contributions is a member of the conspiracy.
We're looking at almost all of Congress here. Hopefully some of the better known freshmen, such as Ted Cruz, Rand Paul and Marco Rubio haven't gotten any chairmanships yet. If they have paid for chairmanships, they're history and the future Presidents for a long time will all be ex-Governors with no Congressional experience.
I can definitely see ex-prosecutor Chris Christie (of gangsters, no less!) accusing his Congressional opponents in the 2016 Presidential race of being racketeers. He'll flatten them if they even try to debate him on television. At this point the election is probably his to lose. I'm not happy that this pretty much puts Christie in the White House. At least former Governors make far better Presidents than former Senators.
And this is the end of Hillary Clinton, which will satisfy my Democratic friends no end.
The Congress is a pack of thieves.
I am shocked, shocked, to hear there is gambling at Rick’s Cafe.
Is it really news that money greases the gears in DC?
Revolting!
It’s the ones making millions while in office that concern me. Once saw a list of net worth before being elected vs worth when retiring. They get appointments for family to add to their own !
Time to expose the crooks and throw them out. How many left because of the banking scandal?
Half a mill for ways and means. I would have paid 2 mill
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