On Sunday, a 60 Minutes investigative report by veteran CBS reporter Steve Kroft and Government Accountability Institute (GAI) President and Breitbart News Senior Editor-at-Large Peter Schweizer revealed how leadership PAC loopholes allow members of Congress to convert campaign cash into lavish lifestyle upgrades for themselves and their family members.
“It's another example, unfortunately, where the rules that apply to the rest of us, don't really apply to the members of Congress,” said Schweizer on 60 Minutes.
The report, which contained selected material from Schweizer’s forthcoming book Extortion: How Politicians Extract Your Money, Buy Votes, and Line Their Own Pockets, revealed embarrassing and outlandish instances of cronyism and self-enrichment by members of Congress. Despite the fact that funds from leadership PACs are supposed to go to help elect fellow members of one’s own political party, lax campaign laws allow lawmakers to turn their leadership PACs into private slush funds to fund just about anything.
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The 60 Minutes report also revealed that members of Congress are permitted to use leadership PAC money to hire their own family members. As Kroft and Schweizer point out, most corporations have nepotism laws that prevent the hiring of family members. And while congressional rules bar family members from serving on a congressman’s official staff, lawmakers are free to hire family to serve on their campaigns.
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Kroft and Schweizer agreed that leadership PACs are hotbeds of cronyism and self-enrichment.
“The abuse is substantial and pretty widespread,” said Kroft.
Schweizer agreed and said that is precisely how the Establishment likes it.
“We hear a lot about how there's so much partisan fighting in Washington,” said Schweizer. “Here's a great example of bipartisanship. Both sides like this current system.”
Sunday's 60 Minutes report is just the tip of the iceberg. According to Schweizer's publisher, next week's Tuesday release of Extortion will include never-before-released documents and revelations on several top Democrats, Republicans, President Barack Obama, and Attorney General Eric Holder.
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Journalism/2013/10/20/CBS-Congress-Using-Slush-Funds-to-Bankroll-Lavish-LifestyleI watched this expose last night and have come to the conclusion that all of Washington is corrupt beyond anything I've imagined.
