Congressional Charities Pulling In Corporate Cash, page 1

www.nytimes.com

WASHINGTON — Representative Joe Baca has achieved near celebrity status in his suburban Los Angeles district, as much for his record of giveaways — Thanksgiving turkeys, college scholarships, spare boots for firefighters — as for anything he has done in Congress.

That generosity is made possible by the Joe Baca Foundation, a charity his family set up three years ago to aid local organizations. It provides another benefit, too: helping the Democratic congressman run something akin to a permanent political campaign.

Joe Baca T-shirts and caps are given out at the charity’s events, where banners display his name. Local newspapers mention the charity’s donations, and cable stations show appearances by Mr. Baca and his family at functions his foundation supports.

“It’s great,” said Laura Goodloe, 36, as she watched her 8-year-old son, Jordan, play at the arena in San Bernardino, Calif., where the Baca Foundation offered a free basketball clinic last month. “He is giving back to the community.”

But unlike most private foundations, Mr. Baca’s gets little of its money from its founders’ pockets. Instead, local companies and major corporations that have often turned to Mr. Baca’s Washington office for help, and usually succeed in getting it, are the chief donors.

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It's not just Democrats who are pulling in the corporate cash. The article goes on to name several other congressional representatives of both parties who are raking it in.

Now that the Supreme Court has ruled that corporations are people, companies can pour limitless cash into the pockets of these supposed representatives of the people.

Let's face it. People who can buy endless air time are going to get their issues and their points of view heard much more easily than the average Joe.

Corporations do control the airwaves and dictate that their agendas rule.

Until we Americans can loosen the stranglehold of big business and big money we can never hope to take control of our democracy.

This will require all of us working together. Divisions along party lines should not override our common concerns.