Bonum Certa Men Certa

Microsoft Executives Go Personal, Pay Obama Instead of Their Lobbyists

Change: why accept money from lobbyists? Just accept it directly from their funding source.

TWO MONTHS ago we showed that Steve Ballmer and Bill Gates personally make donations to politicians. They almost literally put money in their bank accounts. Why? What for?



Obama seems to be repeating the same mistakes as the Republicans -- assuming financial gain is an ethical issue for a diplomat. For the Obama administration to accept such payments (up, close and personal even) is not a smart move. Obama is already receiving advice directly from Bill Gates, who is passing billions of dollars to many governments (not for 'charity', either). Bill Gates and his father also used Abramoff to subvert the United States government. That was before Abramoff got sentenced to jail.

Here is a breakdown of the latest collection of money:

Ballmers, Gateses give combined $200k to Obama inauguration



[...]

The committee's website also lists "William Gates" for a $50,000 donation, although it's not clear [i]f that's the Microsoft co-founder or his father, who are often confused in elections filings. Melinda Gates is listed separately for another $50,000 donation, as is Ballmer's wife, Connie. That's $200,000 total from the Gates and Ballmer families, for anyone keeping track.

[...]

Rob Glaser, RealNetworks CEO, $50,000 Steven Van Roekel, Windows Server Solutions, $50,000 Nick Hanauer, Second Avenue Partners, $25,000 Craig Mundie, Microsoft chief research and strategy officer, $25,000 Brad Smith, Microsoft general counsel, $25,000 Mike Mathieu, former CEO of All Star Directories, $25,000


More here:

Microsoft's Ballmer helps fund Obama's inauguration



Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer may not have contributed to Barack Obama's election campaign, but he is chipping in to help fund the president-elect's inauguration.


They put money on the table. Kiss trust goodbye. Here are some more details:

He has said that he will not accept donations from corporations, lobbyists or political action committees.

A Microsoft spokeswoman said, "These donations are personal contributions from the named Microsoft executives, and not representative of Microsoft the corporation."


If these payments do not come from Microsoft's lobbyists (Microsoft tops the lobbying chart by the way) but from typical funders of these lobbyists, does that make it all right? It sure seems like a verbal loophole -- saying you won't accept money from lobbyists [... but will accept it from their paymasters]. It's not as if Microsoft does not align its legion of lobbyists to more effectively influence Democrats [1, 2].

“It's not as if Microsoft does not align its legion of lobbyists to more effectively influence Democrats.”As the comments from the above say, "What happens to the 24MM dollars (publicly visible) donated so far?"

And also: "I don't get this. How does one benefit by donating money to the inauguration? I assume you get a bunch of invitations to pass out to your friends, but that seems a bit on the expensive side.

"I don't think anyone donates $50,000 out of the goodness of their heart."

By keeping people out of the public arena, those who are involved in this affair hope to receive no flak for what they do.

Microsoft: it does politics... and some software too

Lincoln_address 1958
'Excerpt from Lincoln's famous speech, noted for the phrase "a house divided against itself cannot stand," when accepting the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate from Illinois in June of 1858.'

Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

Comparing U.E.F.I. to B.I.O.S. (Bloat and Insecurity to K.I.S.S.)
By Sami Tikkanen
New 'Slides' From Stallman Support (stallmansupport.org) Site
"In celebration of RMS's birthday, we've been playing a bit. We extracted some quotes from the various articles, comments, letters, writings, etc. and put them in the form of a slideshow in the home page."
Thailand: GNU/Linux Up to 6% of Desktops/Laptops, According to statCounter
Desktop Operating System Market Share Thailand
António Campinos is Still 'The Fucking President' (in His Own Words) After a Fake 'Election' in 2022 (He Bribed All the Voters to Keep His Seat)
António Campinos and the Administrative Council, whose delegates he clearly bribed with EPO budget in exchange for votes
Adrian von Bidder, homeworking & Debian unexplained deaths
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Sainsbury’s Epic Downtime Seems to be Microsoft's Fault and Might Even Constitute a Data Breach (Legal Liability)
one of Britain's largest groceries (and beyond) chains
 
People Don't Just Kill Themselves (Same for Other Animals)
And recent reports about Boeing whistleblower John Barnett
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, March 18, 2024
IRC logs for Monday, March 18, 2024
Suicide Cluster Cover-up tactics & Debian exposed
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Gemini Links 19/03/2024: A Society That Lost Focus and Abandoning Social Control Media
Links for the day
Matthias Kirschner, FSFE: Plagiarism & Child labour in YH4F
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Linux Foundation Boasting About Being Connected to Bill Gates
Examples of boasting about the association
Alexandre Oliva's Article on Monstering Cults
"I'm told an earlier draft version of this post got published elsewhere. Please consider this IMHO improved version instead."
[Meme] 'Russian' Elections in Munich (Bavaria, Germany)
fake elections
Sainsbury's to Techrights: Yes, Our Web Site Broke Down, But We Cannot Say Which Part or Why
Windows TCO?
Plagiarism: Axel Beckert (ETH Zurich) & Debian Developer list hacking
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 18/03/2024: Putin Cements Power
Links for the day
Flashback 2003: Debian has always had a toxic culture
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
[Meme] You Know You're Winning the Argument When...
EPO management starts cursing at everybody (which is what's happening)
Catspaw With Attitude
The posts "they" complain about merely point out the facts about this harassment and doxing
'Clown Computing' Businesses Are Waning and the Same Will Happen to 'G.A.I.' Businesses (the 'Hey Hi' Fame)
decrease in "HEY HI" (AI) hype
Free Software Needs Watchdogs, Too
Gentle lapdogs prevent self-regulation and transparency
Matthias Kirschner, FSFE analogous to identity fraud
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Gemini Links 18/03/2024: LLM Inference and Can We Survive Technology?
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, March 17, 2024
IRC logs for Sunday, March 17, 2024
Links 17/03/2024: Microsoft Windows Shoves Ads Into Third-Party Software, More Countries Explore TikTok Ban
Links for the day
Molly Russell suicide & Debian Frans Pop, Lucy Wayland, social media deaths
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Our Plans for Spring
Later this year we turn 18 and a few months from now our IRC community turns 16
Open Invention Network (OIN) Fails to Explain If Linux is Safe From Microsoft's Software Patent Royalties (Charges)
Keith Bergelt has not replied to queries on this very important matter
RedHat.com, Brought to You by Microsoft Staff
This is totally normal, right?
USPTO Corruption: People Who Don't Use Microsoft Will Be Penalised ~$400 for Each Patent Filing
Not joking!
The Hobbyists of Mozilla, Where the CEO is a Bigger Liability Than All Liabilities Combined
the hobbyist in chief earns much more than colleagues, to say the least; the number quadrupled in a matter of years
Jim Zemlin Says Linux Foundation Should Combat Fraud Together With the Gates Foundation. Maybe They Should Start With Jim's Wife.
There's a class action lawsuit for securities fraud
Not About Linux at All!
nobody bothers with the site anymore; it's marketing, and now even Linux
Links 17/03/2024: Abuses Against Human Rights, Tesla Settlement (and Crash)
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, March 16, 2024
IRC logs for Saturday, March 16, 2024
Under Taliban, GNU/Linux Share Nearly Doubled in Afghanistan, Windows Sank From About 90% to 68.5%
Suffice to say, we're not meaning to imply Taliban is "good"
Debian aggression: woman asked about her profession
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Gemini Links 17/03/2024: Winter Can't Hurt Us Anymore and Playstation Plus
Links for the day