Lest you worry that the corrupting influence of money in American politics would fall by the wayside with the new administration, Brian Ross’ investigative team at ABC News reminds us that Barack Obama did, in fact, raise lots of money from the usual suspects.
Justin Rood’s story is a sobering reminder that despite the campaign’s prohibition on accepting donations from lobbyists and its millions of first-time, small dollar donors, money in politics remains a major, if not the central, driver of corruption at the national level in the U.S. Stay tuned for more on political financing around the world in the upcoming Global Integrity Report: 2008.
— Nathaniel Heller
