Slashdot Mirror
State Senator Admits Cable Industry Helped Write Pro-Industry Legislation
jamie sends in news of comments by David Hoyle, a State Senator in North Carolina, about recently defeated legislation he sponsored that would have limited the ability of government to develop municipal broadband. Hoyle readily admitted that the cable industry had a hand in writing the bill. We discussed the cable industry's extensive lobbying efforts in that region last year. From the article:
"The veteran state senator says cities should leave broadband to the cable companies. 'It's not fair for any government unit to compete with private enterprise,' he says. In the last legislative session Sen. Hoyle tried to put a moratorium on any more local governments expanding into municipal broadband. When the I-Team asked him if the cable industry drew up the bill, Senator Hoyle responded, 'Yes, along with my help.' When asked about criticism that he was 'carrying water' for the cable companies, Hoyle replied, 'I've carried more water than Gunga Din for the business community — the people who pay the taxes.'"
Well, at least Slashdot continues the tradition of not naming the party of a politician when it's a Democrat and making sure to note when the politician is a Republican.
"Lack of speed can be overcome. In the worst case by patience." --Znork
David Hoyle is... a Democrat
Somehow I suspect that if he was a Republican that would have been mentioned once or twice in the /. Story.
Of course it would, a corrupt Republican Party politician is news, a corrupt Democratic Party politician isn't. It's only news when a Democratic Party politician isn't corrupt, at least that's the only explanation I can think of that explains why news reports so rarely mention party affiliation when that affiliation is Democrat. Well, it could be that most news organizations are biased in favor of the Democrats, but they keep telling me they aren't, so...
The truth is that all men having power ought to be mistrusted. James Madison
I saw a comic the other day I think describes our voting process. There was a cow staring at two corridors. One was to the left, and one was to the right. The caption said, "The illusion of choice". Both corridors when to the slaughterhouse. That's our political system in a nutshell. If you vote Democrat or Republican, you're going to be sent to the slaughterhouse; choice is an illusion.
As for biting the hand that feeds, that's some of the problem. We pay our President $400,000 + benefits. Pick any large corporation you like, and the salary + benefit package for the CEO is probably much better. Yet, the president has far more burden on his shoulders than any CEO. So, if corporation X comes along and offers him a significant chunk of change redeemable as his leisure, what keeps the President beholden to the voter other than some words? The same could be said of the Congress and comparing them to the board members. What keeps Congress beholden to our interest if we don't pay nearly as well as the lobbyists? Yet every day, we read or hear someone complain about how much such and such official makes. My opinion is that I'd rather pay the government official fair market rate if it keeps him beholden to my interests as a voter. I don't give a damn that I'll never make $10,000,000 in my life time; if that's what it would take to keep the President beholden to the people, then I'd say it's a bargain. I was reading an article the other day demonstrating how companies are paying $10-$100M to lobby for bills, and it's a good deal since they make 10x-100x return for that money. The more we limit the salary of congress, the more they will look for funding elsewhere. I want it to hurt their bottom line if they get kicked out for corruption. So, we should pay like stocks with a system of vesting. When the politicians time is done, a corruption review is done, and if they pass, they get the money. If they don't, their time is done. At the worst, they'd be more subversive about helping out megacorps or in there for only 1 term.
None of this will pass, so I figure in 50 years we won't pay a penny to those in congress and they'll give no pretense of being beholden to the voter.