Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez exposes just how easily lobbyists manipulate policymakers
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) used her Twitter feed on Monday to show voters how corporate lobbyists influence legislators.
The freshman lawmaker shared an Intercept report about a resort event that was attended by dozens of senior staffers of both Republican and Democratic lawmakers. The party was filled with music, wine and talking points from health care industry lobbyists who urged the staffers to fight Medicare for All proposals.
“This event wasn’t about fixing the health care system,” Wendell Potter, president of Business Initiative for Health Policy, told the Intercept. “It was about protecting the health care industry, no matter the cost to patients, families, workers or employers.”
Ocasio-Cortez said this was just business as usual for much of Washington as lobbyists “schmooze policymakers in secret” into accepting their industry-friendly talking points to stay on message:
This is how corporate lobbying works:
Lobbyists ID bills they need to kill to keep profits high (no matter the human cost), come up w/ “sensible” talking points to mask intent + say policy is “misguided,” then schmooze policymakers in secret into accepting said talking points. https://t.co/EB9TDkANYj— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) May 13, 2019
When I was looking at lobbying from the outside, just as a normal voting citizen, it appeared to me as more transactional in nature than it actually is.
It’s not necessarily that a lobbyist calls you and says “vote/don’t vote for this bill or we won’t donate to you again...” /2— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) May 13, 2019
It’s that bundle 💰 for elections, so you pick up their call,accept invites, become friends.
In practice it’s not transactional, it’s social.
So while ppl don’t see how lobbying influences votes, their whole enviro + staff has been exposed to mainly 1 point of view: lobbyists’.— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) May 13, 2019
Earlier this year, Ocasio-Cortez had a viral moment after she shined a light on PACs, “dark money” and the shady world of campaign finance:
This article originally appeared on HuffPost.