Political Quotes

“the Wall Street Journal recently reported that political intelligence is an approximately $100 million industry. The article also says that expert networks employ over 2,000 people to do political intelligence in Washington, DC. We have to say approximately because no one truly knows how many people work in this industry. We don't know from whom they seek information, what happens to that information, and how much they get paid. This is a problem if one believes in transparency in government and if one believes in the purposes behind this legislation, as I do-- the underlying legislation--that Members of the Senate and Congress should not benefit from insider trading information. So we have people in this city or people who come into this city to get information on what Congress might do or what their regulators might do that might affect the stock in some company or something, and this political intelligence information is gathered and given to people who presumably profit from it or I guess these people wouldn't be employed in the first place. So there is a growing unregulated industry with no transparency. If a lobbyist has to register in order to advocate for a school or a church or a private corporation, shouldn't the same lobbyist have to register if he or she is seeking and getting inside information that ends up in making people a profit? This is especially true if that information would make millions for a hedge fund or a private equity firm.…”