If you hadn’t known about this before reading this post just be aware that all elected officials take bribes. They may call the bribes by other names like “favors”, “trade-offs”, “campaign contributions” or some other term. This always surfaces whenever a crucial vote is called for or whenever a revenge/strategic move is planned. The National Rifle Association, The American Medical Association, The American Bar Association, the pharmaceutical industry and so on –all pick their elected official “targets” and find various ways to “reward” them. This is not new. It has been going on for decades. Ask Marco Rubio how much he gets from the NRA. Ask Joe Manchin where he got the money for a $300,000 luxury car and a fabulous yacht. (Hint: the coal industry in West Virginia) Does Congress really pay that well? We don’t think so. So today’s lesson in greed centers around Senator Kristen Sinema of Arizona. She’s being asked to vote for a bill that includes allowing Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices for the millions of senior citizens. The problem here is that Senator Sinema gets the vast majority of her campaign funds from the Big Pharma. So the spotlight is clearly directed to her ethical core values. Does she cave for the good of millions of seniors who will now be able to afford the drugs they desperately need or will she revert to the self-interest priority that protects her campaign money flow? As a side note, a city councilman in Cincinnati was recently convicted of taking $40,000 in bribes from a local real estate developer. He’s going to jail for at least three years. He should have called that $40,000 something like campaign funds. Again the hypocrisy is that most US Congress members get more than $40,000/month and they seem bullet-proof. How does that happen–you may ask? We think it’s a case of “let he (she) among you who is without sin cast the first stone”. Imagine a scene where all members of Congress call out each other…not a pretty sight. Back to Senator Sinema, we’re putting a fine point on this Medicare/drug price negotiation bill because it should be the clearest indication of money-at-work in our Congress. Stay tuned. For documented discussion of bribery in Congress, read “Extortion”.

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