Here is a good example of how corrupt many of our politicians have become. This serves too as an indicator of how out-of-touch they are. By that I mean that most of them would shrug this off.

Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton sits on one of the transportation and infrastructure committees in the House. She chairs one of its sub-committees.

Recently she was caught on tape pressuring a lobbyist to contribute to her. By pressuring, I mean this. The lobbyist represents outfits that suck at the government teat for infrastructure business. Rep. Norton left a message on the lobbyist’s voice mail, asking for the dough.

In the message Ms Norton goes to good length to remind the lobbyist that she has a lot of clout. She cites several big building projects that come under her cloak.

She goes on to say that she is surprised the lobbyist has not already given money to her. She points out that her work on the committee and sub-committee is essentially in the lobbyist’s sector. This is too frank to qualify as a hint.

This is, quite simply, extortion. Do you suppose she is alone in such activities?  Of course not. And there is the problem. Most of our politicians do it. The worse problem is that they barely notice that what they are doing is corrupt.