From: believer@telepath.com Subject: IP: Attn Should Turn to 'Buying of Congress' Date: Wed, 30 Sep 1998 09:17:32 -0500 To: believer@telepath.com Source: US Newswire http://www.usnewswire.com/topnews/Current_Releases/0929-125.txt Author: Attention Should Turn to 'Buying of Congress' U.S. Newswire 29 Sep 14:54 Nation's Attention Should Turn to 'Buying of Congress' Says Author Charles Lewis To: National and Assignment Desks Contact: Marie Elena Martinez of Avon Books, 212-261-6903 News Advisory: "America's citizens have been so distracted by the barrage of commentary, testimony and endless supposition about the President Clinton/Monica Lewinsky saga that Capitol Hill lawmakers have had a reprieve from even the limited amount of scrutiny that normally surrounds their activities," says Charles Lewis, whose THE BUYING OF THE CONGRESS: How Special Interests Have Stolen Your Right to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness, written with The Center For Public Integrity, has just been published. He points out that while the nation focuses on whether or not President Clinton should be impeached, no one is scrutinizing the acts of grand larceny committed by Congress every day. "The attention being paid to the current scandal means that nobody's minding the store, and the store -- Congress -- needs minding," says Lewis pointing to the ever-increasing influence of big-money special interests and the impact this has on people's lives every single day. Just a few of the detrimental results of Congress's love affair with special interests, as detailed in THE BUYING OF THE CONGRESS, are: little or no action on Social Security, the continued threat to life from e-coli contamination and other poisoned foods, the loss of full health benefits, the number of people who must hold two jobs to make ends meet, the enormous drop in the percentage of federal tax revenue paid by corporations, and low voter turnout. "We've found that members of Congress moonlight for themselves and their wealthy patrons more than they work for us," says Lewis who then enumerates "employers" as varied as Lockheed-Martin, Ameritech, the National Right to Life PAC, and the National Rifle Association. Among the people who are most vocal in their condemnation of President Clinton during this tumultuous time are several whose career patrons are publicly identified for the first time in THE BUYING OF THE CONGRESS, including Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich (R-GA), and Minority Leader Dick Gephardt (D-MO). "With the elections just six weeks away, we can't afford to overlook Congress's own misdeeds," says Lewis. ------ FOR INTERVIEWS OR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION CONTACT: Marie Elena Martinez, 212/261-6903 -0- /U.S. Newswire 202-347-2770/ 09/29 14:54 Copyright 1998, U.S. Newswire ----------------------- NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ----------------------- ********************************************** To subscribe or unsubscribe, email: majordomo@majordomo.pobox.com with the message: (un)subscribe ignition-point email@address ********************************************** www.telepath.com/believer **********************************************