.... It was Kennedy who wrote the majority opinion in Citizens United, which dismissed the notion that corruption will arise from unlimited political campaign contributions because all such money will be disclosed. Citizens can see whether elected officials are in the pocket of so-called moneyed interests ... and disclosure permits citizens and shareholders to react to the speech of corporate entities in a proper way, he wrote. This transparency enables the electorate to make informed decisions and give proper weight to different speakers and messages. Yet if any Supreme Court justice knows how ridiculous that sounds, it must be Kennedy -- whose own background as a corporate lobbyist and son of a lobbyist has been forgotten in nearly three decades since his Senate confirmation in 1987. Yes, Kennedy was a respected appellate court judge before Reagan appointed him to the high court. But before that, he grew up and then worked as an attorney in Sacramento, Calif., where his father became a legendary lobbyist in a state capital renowned as freewheeling (a polite term that means routinely corrupt). His father, Anthony Bud Kennedy, was a backslapping, hard-drinking partner in a powerful lobbying law firm run by one Arthur Artie Samish, the secret boss of California who finally went to prison on tax charges in the mid-1950s, while young Tony was studying to enter law school. Samish liked to brag that he had amassed more power than anyone else in the state, including the governor, that he could buy any legislator with a baked potato, a bottle, or a broad, and that he could unelect any lawmaker who didnt vote his way. The major clients of Samish and Kennedy were racing, entertainment and liquor interests, notably Schenley Industries, then owned and run by J. Edgar Hoovers mobbed-up pal Lewis Rosenstiel. When Bud Kennedy died suddenly in 1963, young Tony was only two years out of law school. But he went into the family business and inherited his late fathers clientele. alternet.org/news-amp-politics/justice-bought-justice-kennedys-lobbyist-roots-might-explain-his-vote-mccutcheon?akid=11692.295866.neMy8-&rd=1&src=newsletter979099&t=13
Posted on: Tue, 08 Apr 2014 04:29:53 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015