Date: 2024-12-21 Page is: DBtxt003.php txt00016263
US Politics
Money in Politics / Above the Law
Watch: AOC schools Congress with ‘Lightning Round Game’ exposing the chilling role of money in politics
Peter Burgess
C-SPAN screenshot
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez schooled her follow members of Congress Wednesday by conducting a rather non-traditional line of questioning in a House hearing on the role of money in politics and how it affects voting rights. AOC, as the Democratic Congresswoman from the Bronx and Queens is called, began by saying, “Let’s play a game. Let’s play a lightning round game. I’m going to be the bad guy – which I’m sure half the room would agree with, anyway,” she snarked, mocking the GOP’s obsession with trying to destroy her reputation. “I want to get away with as much… bad things as possible, ideally to enrich myself and advance my interests, even if that means putting my interests ahead of the American people,” she said, pretending to be the “bad guy.” Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez then asked, “If I want to run a campaign that is entirely funded by corporate PACs, is there anything that legally prevents me from doing that?” Answer: “No.” Embedded video Frank Dale @fwdale .@AOC: 'Let's play a lightning round game. I'm gonna be the bad guy, which I'm sure half the room would agree with, anyway.' 'If I want to run a campaign that is entirely funded by corporate PACs, is there anything that legally prevents me from doing that?'@KHobertFlynn: 'No.' 32K 9:49 PM - Feb 6, 2019 11.1K people are talking about this Twitter Ads info and privacy She continues her questioning, having been told hush money is totally legal. “So I use my special interest dark money campaign to pay off folks that I need to pay off and get elected. So now I’m elected, now I’m in, I’ve got the power to draft, lobby, and shape the laws that govern the United States of America. Fabulous. Now, is there any hard limit that I have in terms of what legislation I’m allowed to touch? Are there any limits on the laws that I can write, or influence, especially if – based on the special interest funds that I accepted to finance my campaign that got me elected in the first place?” Answer: “There’s no limits.” Another question: “Is there anything preventing me from holding stocks in an oil and gas company, and then writing laws to deregulate that industry” in order to get rich quick? Answer: “You could do that.” Embedded video Frank Dale @fwdale Replying to @fwdale AOC: 'Is there any hard limit that I have in terms of what legislation I'm allowed to touch?'@KHobertFlynn: 'There is no limit.' AOC: 'Is there anything preventing me from holding stocks...and then writing laws to deregulate that industry?'@RudyMehrbani: 'You could do that.' 14.2K 9:49 PM - Feb 6, 2019 4,131 people are talking about this Twitter Ads info and privacy She then talks about ethics and laws that control the actions of the President. Walter Shaub, former director of the United States Office of Government Ethics, tells her, “There’s almost no laws at all that apply to the president.” Embedded video Frank Dale @fwdale Replying to @fwdale .@waltshaub: 'There's almost no laws at all that apply to the president.' Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: 'So I'm being held -- and every person in this body is being held -- to a higher ethical standard than the president of the United States?'@waltshaub: 'That's right.' 31.3K 9:49 PM - Feb 6, 2019 9,552 people are talking about this Twitter Ads info and privacy Don't let Silicon Valley contro