{"id":168650,"date":"2016-07-14T14:21:38","date_gmt":"2016-07-14T20:21:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=168650"},"modified":"2016-07-14T14:21:38","modified_gmt":"2016-07-14T20:21:38","slug":"special-interests-look-to-influence-political-conventions-discreetly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2016\/07\/special-interests-look-to-influence-political-conventions-discreetly\/","title":{"rendered":"Special interests look to influence political conventions \u2014 discreetly"},"content":{"rendered":"

Protestors will shout. Delegates may revolt. Factions will haggle over rules and platform proposals.<\/p>\n

\"Money\"<\/a>

Pictures of Money \/ Creative Commons<\/p>

Special interests concerned about chaos under their corporate logos shouldn\u2019t fret. There are plenty of ways to show support for the quadrennial bacchanalias and discreetly secure access to lawmakers and political power players without earning unwanted attention. (photo cc info<\/a>)<\/p><\/div>\n

But come later this month, no amount of friction will stop corporations, unions and special interests from spending tens of millions of dollars to bankroll nonstop partying at the Democratic and Republican national conventions. Thank federal campaign finance rules that allow\u00a0unlimited contributions<\/a> to support them.<\/p>\n

Special interests concerned about chaos under their corporate logos shouldn\u2019t fret. There are plenty of ways to show support for the quadrennial bacchanalias and discreetly secure access to lawmakers and political power players without earning unwanted attention.<\/p>\n

Certainly some high-profile companies and individual donors \u2014 the list includes billionaire Paul Singer<\/a>, Apple<\/a>, Coca-Cola<\/a>, Microsoft<\/a> and Wal-Mart \u2014 are scaling back on giving to the host committees this time.<\/p>\n

Some reportedly want to distance themselves from controversies<\/a> surrounding presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump. Hillary Clinton, the Democratic nominee-in-waiting, is also historically unpopular with the public and attempting to weather fallout from her State Department email imbroglio<\/a>, in which the FBI last\u00a0week deemed her conduct<\/a> \u201cextremely careless,\u201d although not worthy of criminal charges.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, many special interests, from Comcast Corp. to financial giant JPMorgan Chase to insurer Blue Cross Blue Shield, will participate in convention-related activities, but they\u2019ve become more creative in how they influence conventioneers \u2014 or are altogether refusing to discuss their convention plans.<\/p>\n