No, I’m not going to stoop so low as to write about how Congressman Kevin Brady‘s waistline is expanding because he eats too much sweet stuff at breakfast. The issue is sadly more serious than that.
The Republican politician, who represents the 8th congressional district in Texas, is having a special kind of breakfast this morning, at which he will meet with… anyone who can pay him the cost of the meal. “Please join us for coffee and pastries…” he writes on the invitation. And how much does a breakfast of coffee and pastries cost these days? $1,000.
Do you think it’s really coffee and pastries that people attending this breakfast will be buying?
Today’s fundraising event is the last in a series of three weekly opportunities to breakfast with Representative Brady set up by his re-election campaign staff. The invitation to these three fundraisers announces that each breakfast will be limited to just six attendees, and specifically recommends that attendees pay for all three breakfasts with a special one-time gift of $2,500 to Brady.
Imagine the opportunity to sit down with a member of Congress for breakfast, with just five other people in the room, perhaps some of them from your own company, for three sessions within just one month. That sounds like the perfect opportunity to make a political deal, doesn’t it?
If I were a lobbyist working for a corporation with business before the congressional committees on which Kevin Brady sits, would I see a few thousand dollars as a reasonable price for that kind of access? Sure. In fact, I might call it a steal.
Pay to play is alive and well in our faux democracy.