Should a sitting president collect money from lobbyists and others who spend their days trying to shape federal policy or win government business? The issue, like many others, is in sharper focus under Trump than previous presidents. The problem begins with Trump's golf clubs. The clubs are expensive. The initiation fee is high, often more than $100,000 and dues are in the thousands. The profits from the clubs are held in a trust for Trump's benefit. So, for the first time in U.S. history, wealthy people with interests before the government have a chance for close and confidential access to the president as a result of payments that enrich him personally.
USA Today has looked into the matter and found a number of facts that lead one to believe that the clubs can be hothouses for influence peddlers. For example, membership includes top executives of defense contractors, a lobbyist for the South Korean government, a lawyer helping Saudi Arabia fight claims over the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and the leader of a pesticide trade group that sought successfully to persuade the Trump administration not to ban an insecticide government scientists linked to health risks. At least fifty of the members are executives whose companies hold federal contracts and twenty are lobbyists and trade group officials. Two-thirds played on one of the 58 days the president was there, according to scores they posted online.
1 comment:
No, it's not ethical and should be illegal. I believe most Americans thought it was until Trump proved otherwise.
Post a Comment