{"id":1275,"date":"2004-06-14T12:14:56","date_gmt":"2004-06-14T16:14:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/000af36.netsolhost.com\/wordpress1\/2004\/06\/14\/come_on_indeed\/"},"modified":"2004-06-14T12:14:56","modified_gmt":"2004-06-14T16:14:56","slug":"come_on_indeed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/2004\/06\/14\/come_on_indeed\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cCome On,\u201d Indeed"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Washington Post <\/em>today editorializes<\/a> on Katie Webb, the lobbyist for the Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association, and her decision to write what The Post <\/em>calls a \u201crefreshingly straightforward\u201d letter to six Republicans who asked for money for their campaigns\u2019 treasuries. In her letter, she said no and why<\/a>. <\/p>\n

So in a retaliatory move (much like the GOP\u2019s attempt to remove sales tax exemptions for businesses because the business community supported higher taxes), the GOP called her letter bribery<\/a>. <\/p>\n

In a letter to Attorney General Jerry W. Kilgore (R), Republican Caucus Chairman R. Steven Landes (Augusta) said he believes the lobbyist’s statement violates laws that cover bribery.
\n“Ms. Webb’s suggestion that . . . financial support is contingent upon how we vote creates the impression that this lobbyist is engaged in a systematic effort to trade votes on specific legislation for financial support,” Landes wrote. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Remember: Steve Landes is also the guy who said during the budget debate<\/a> that Virginia should stand by its long-standing tradition of considering expenditures and income separately — as if they don\u2019t impact each other.<\/p>\n

Of course, groups give to candidates because they support their issues. But leave it to Sen. Dick Saslaw (D-Fairfax) to be, as The Post\u2019s editorial says of Webb\u2019s letter, \u201c[r]ight on the money.\u201d<\/p>\n

Senate Minority Leader Richard L. Saslaw (D-Fairfax) defended Webb and said her organization’s actions were no different from those of the National Rifle Association, which rarely gives money to lawmakers who support gun control. <\/p>\n

“This is just the most absurd thing I’ve ever heard. Why would [the hospital association] want to contribute to the campaigns of someone who never supports their issues?” he said, adding that the Republicans’ effort is “tantamount to extortion. They are saying, give to my campaign or I’ll report you to the attorney general. The voters ought to show them the door.” <\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Washington Post today editorializes on Katie Webb, the lobbyist for the Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association, and her decision to write what The Post calls a \u201crefreshingly straightforward\u201d letter to six Republicans who asked for money for their campaigns\u2019 treasuries. In her letter, she said no and why. So in a retaliatory move (much… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1275"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1275"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1275\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}