This American Life--Take the Money & Run for Congress

This is an interesting look at the effect of contributions in the legislative process.  Yes there is a lot of money & yes it does influence votes (although not in the way you might think... the podcast reveals some interesting nuance) but one of the things that stuck out to me is this from Barney Frank:

"If the voters have a position, the votes will kick money's rear end any time. I've never met a politician-- I've been in the legislative bodies for 40 years now-- who, choosing between a significant opinion in his or her district and a number of campaign contributors, doesn't go with the district.
And I have had people tell me-- and we talk honestly to each other, we don't lie to each other very often. You don't survive if you do. As chairman of a committee, I'd be lobbying for votes. I have had members say to me, Mr. Chairman, I love you. Barney, you're right. But I can't do that politically because I'll get killed in my district. No one has ever said to me, I'm sorry, but I got a big contributor I can't offend."

He was also reported to have said later in the story that lawmakers rely on lobbyists to tell them about the subject.  The lawmaker has to vote on such a wide array of topics that it's impossible to be well informed on all of them.

This is the only way we can beat the money.  We will never come up with enough money but we can come up with the votes.  We need to be sure we continue to work to educate our lawmakers about the slippery slope of charter companies, over-reliance on accelerated teaching programs, increased testing, etc.  We know two things from our work in the classroom:

1. teaching new concepts takes time and planning 
2. our students need to go over the same material several times and build the "muscle memory" before it sticks.

The work we do with our lawmakers is the same.  Please, continue to educate them.  I can assure you that ConnCAN will still be working to push their agenda.

Transcript | This American Life:
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