Telecom Industry Spends $320,000 Every Day Lobbying Against Policies It Doesn't Like
from the dirty-deeds-done-dirt-cheap dept
We've noted repeatedly that while "big tech" has faced intense scrutiny over the last few years, "big telecom" has largely seen the exact opposite. Despite being every bit as problematic as tech giants (worse in some ways given their natural monopolies over broadband access), in the last few years the media and telecom sectors (one in the same when it comes to AT&T and Comcast) managed to effectively lobotomize the FCC, obliterate longstanding (and bipartisan) media consolidation rules, gut countless consumer protections, and generally turn the U.S. government into a giant bobble-headed doll with a rubber stamp.
Such favors didn't come cheap. A new joint study by the top telecom union (CWA) and Common Cause found that during the last Congress alone the telecom lobby spent $234 million lobbying the government, or roughly $320,000 every single day. Comcast of course was the biggest spender at more than $43 million in lobbying expenditure, with AT&T not too far behind at $36 million. Money spent to gut oversight of the telecom sector while these same companies pushed for dramatically expanded oversight of the "big tech" companies whose ad revenues they've long coveted.
Given our lobbying disclosure and campaign finance laws are garbage this tally is likely a dramatic undercount, and doesn't include all the dodgy nonsense the industry uses to influence policy, press coverage, and public discourse. You know, like the fake consumer groups or dead and fake people the telecom industry created to create the illusion of support for the net neutrality repeal. Or the money funneled into DC via so-called "dark money" groups:
"Under Citizens United and its progeny, ISPs, trade associations, and other corporations can make unlimited expenditures in federal elections and unlimited contributions to super PACs and dark money groups to be spent on supporting or opposing federal candidates,” the report said.
In addition to gutting the FCC, killing net neutrality, crushing telecom specific privacy rules, and generally demolishing federal (and state!) consumer protection authority, the report notes how telecom lobbying during the last Congressional period helped dismantle all manner of laws with bipartisan support. Including laws that would have shored up network resiliency in the wake of industry outages after Hurricanes Irma and Maria, laws that would have helped fund community broadband, and laws that would have restored basic consumer protections like net neutrality:
"The groups found that one of the industry’s top targets during the last Congress was the Save the Internet Act, which would have restored net neutrality and the FCC consumer protection authority stripped away during the Trump administration (amidst a flood of empty promises). Telecom lobbyists also fought against the Accessible, Affordable Internet for All Act, which includes money to help fund local community broadband. And they successfully derailed the RESILIENT Networks Act, proposed as an attempt to shore up Puerto Rico network resiliency after prolonged telecom outages from hurricanes Irma and Maria."
It takes a lot of time and money to keep the U.S. government appropriately feckless and slack-jawed in the face of obvious and rampant regional telecom monopolization. All propped up by a very elaborate ecosystem of think tanks, consultants, economists, academics, and marketing firms hired to pretend there's no actual problem that needs fixing. As such, you really can't fix the U.S. broadband problem (or any of a number of issues, like climate change) until you tackle the underlying corruption that enables it. But if you hadn't noticed, there's no real DC interest in actually doing that, so here we are.
The report recommends shoring up lobbying laws so that lobbyists can't just tap dance around requirements (see Comcast lobbyist David Cohen avoiding requirements by just calling what he did something else). The report also recommends passing the the For the People Act, which includes several provisions shoring up lobbying and campaign finance loopholes. But given the Congressional votes you'd need to pass such laws are compromised by the very lobbying these proposals want to fix, you're stuck with a chicken-and-egg scenario where dysfunction and corruption remains the norm.
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Filed Under: broadband, competition, lobbying, telcos
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Isn't prostitution illegal?
They spend $320,000 per day. That means they are making a lot more than that from the lobbying. When do we get to officially declare the senate a whorehouse?
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We looked at all the dark money come in and this law to stop it and we decided we like money more than we like any of you.
Since so many of you are just single issue voters & ignore everything else we do we'll stay on course.
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Re: Isn't prostitution illegal?
Don't compare them to whores, who are sex workers doing honest work. Most of the people working at the Capitol are anything but honest.
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Re: Isn't prostitution illegal?
Richard Bennett is way ahead of you on that front.
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The legislature and legal system are compromised.
It does sorta raise the question when do we turn to methods that don't depend on passing laws or enforcing them on those with money or political power?
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Its simple
politicians have to give in to lobbyists.
If they don't, then the vast sums spent on lobbying is wasted.
If these companies are wasting vast sums on lobbying, then they're not going to be profitable, and thus they're going to fail.
So for politicians, it's a simple choice of do what lobbyists say, or the industry will collapse and it'll be their fault.
Of course, anyone with a brain will see right through this, but then anyone with a brain would tell lobbyists to - what was the phrase Peter Sunde once used.. oh yes! They would tell lobbyists to go and sodomise themselves with a retractable baton.
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Re: The legislature and legal system are compromised.
These laws apply to everyone, except if you own a theme park...
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Re: Isn't prostitution illegal?
and Who paid them? WE DID.
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Re: Re: Isn't prostitution illegal?
They are the pimps, forcing people to pay money to the hooker, and then giving the money TO THEM.
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They gave the corps the money.
Do remember that the gov. Paid allot of money, more then once.
And now the CLEAN money is coming back.
Isnt there a word for that?
LAUNDERING. isnt that against the law?
Really love the idea, that the gov. pays them to get things done, and they Over price and fake Taxes to customers, and then the money gets paid BACK to the representatives.
When we do that we get put in jail.
Can we go back to the old idea of paying them a Stipend? We cant pay them as much as the Corps do, so WHY PAY THEM if they are getting MORE then we can pay them.
Get the list of those that got/took money and REMOVE their wages and extra's. They can pay their OWN WAY, AS WE DO.
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And this is why all lobbying should be outlawed. Corporation and state need to be completely separated. Forcibly, if need be. Having them entwined is causing too much damage to society.
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These poor suffering businesses that need all of this government protection... how are they able to pay their CEOs stupid amounts & buy off Congress if things are so dire for them that the government needs to allow them to have monopolies & put roadblocks in the way of actual competition like the free markers they love to talk about have...
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Re:
"And this is why all lobbying should be outlawed."
The danger isn't specifically the lobby. Harmful, yeah, but the real danger comes from private money going into political campaigns without auditing. US Politicians would be playing an entirely different ball game if it was known that their campaign funds were 30% Pfizer and Merck, 25% Wall Street, 15% GM, etc.
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With all of that expenditure, wouldn't it be easier for them to just go along with whatever was being lobbied against? Sure, it may reduce their profits slightly, but so does all that lobbying.
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