Putting Relatives on the Payroll

What's the most effective way to influence a Congressman? Put a relative on the payroll.The Village Voice reports:

In the Abramoff scandal, prosecutors have zeroed in on the wives of several different congressmen who they believe may have taken payoffs.

In one case, The Washington Post reports, California congressman John Doolittle's former chief of staff, Kevin Ring, was employed by Greenberg Traurig, Abramoff's firm. In that capacity, according to Post sources, Ring was responsible for getting the firm to hire Julie Doolittle, the congressman's wife, to do fundraising for a charity. Doolittle's firm, Sierra Dominion Financial Solutions Inc., was subpoenaed by a grand jury investigating Abramoff. Doolittle and his wife have emphatically denied any wrongdoing.

On the Democratic side of the aisle, Indiana senator Evan Bayh's wife, Susan, is a law professor who serves on several corporate boards, including Curis Inc., a therapeutic-drug development company; Dendreon Corporation, a therapeutic-drug development company; Dyax Corp., a biopharmaceutical company; Emmis Communications, a big media company; and Wellpoint Inc., a Blue Cross and Blue Shield company. Before that, Susan Bayh was a director of Cubist Pharmaceuticals Inc., from 2000 to 2004, and Esperion Therapeutics Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, from 2000 to 2003. From 1994 to 2004, she was a distinguished visiting professor at the College of Business Administration at Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana. From 1994 to 2000, she was a commissioner for the International Joint Commission of the Water Treaty Act between the United States and Canada. From 1989 to 1994, Susan Bayh was an attorney in the pharmaceutical division of Eli Lilly and Company.

Evan Bayh has voted on a variety of health issues in support of the Medicare drug benefits, backed allowing drugs to be imported from Canada, and supported the rights of patients to sue HMOs for punitive damages.

Big government means big corruption.No lobbying reform can prevent relatives from getting on the payroll of private companies looking for a hand out from the federal government.You can't have corruption and lobbying at the Department of Energy if the department doesn't exist.