SOPA madness: Money talks, freedom and privacy get squashed

Congressman Lamar Smith, a Texas Republican, House Judiciary Committee chairman and primary sponsor of SOPA, has received US $59,300 from the television, movie and music industries in the 2011-2012 election cycle.

Which goes to show that in this Congress, the ability to enrich yourself is far more important than defending the liberty of the people who sent you there.

No matter which party you belong to, this is what happens. Keeping your job takes priority over doing your job.

Let’s look at this particularly slimy example, from a story my colleague Grant Gross wrote yesterday about 16 former House Judiciary Committee staffers now lobbying for companies involved in the SOPA debate:

The U.S. entertainment industries have long had a cozy relationship with the Judiciary Committees in the House and Senate, said Ed Black, president and CEO of the Computer and Communications Industry Association, a tech trade group opposed to SOPA. There’s been a “revolving door” between entertainment industry groups and the committees and other government posts, he said.

“Clearly, other sectors without that history of a revolving door have had more difficulty being listened to,” Black said.

Three of the most outspoken supporters of SOPA in Congress, Representatives Lamar Smith, a Texas Republican, Bob Goodlatte, a Virginia Republican, and Marsha Blackburn, a Tennessee Republican, all count the entertainment industries among their top campaign contributors.

Smith, the House Judiciary Committee chairman and primary sponsor of SOPA, has received US$59,300 from the television, movie and music industries in the 2011-2012 election cycle. The entertainment industry is the top industry contributing to Smith’s campaign, according to OpenSecrets.org, a website that tracks campaign contributions.

Goodlatte has received $32,500 from the entertainment industry during the current election cycle, with the industry ranking second to the technology industry, with just $1,000 more in contributions to him. Several companies in the technology industry oppose SOPA.

Blackburn, representing parts of Tennessee near country music capitol Nashville, has collected $30,500 from the entertainment industry during this election cycle. Only the oil and gas industry and health professionals have contributed more to her campaign.

Obviously, this sort of evil is nothing new. Politicians have been easily bought by special interest groups for as long as this republic has existed.

But this case is a perfect example of how political corruption puts the average citizen at risk. In this case, our freedom of expression online is threatened by two putrid pieces of legislation.

I’ve said it before, but it needs constant repeating:

These bills stink and must be stopped.

Learning about these campaign contributions and the obvious conflict of interest just makes an already sour situation taste worse.

–Bill Brenner

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