DISINFO– Wondering how much it costs to buy off the police department? In June of 2011, JP Morgan Chase gave the New York City Police Foundation the largest donation in its history. How the police show their gratitude will presumably determine whether they receive similar donations from companies in the future.

Via Naked Capitalism:

No matter how you look at this development, it does not smell right. From JP Morgan’s website, hat tip Lisa Epstein:

JPMorgan Chase recently donated an unprecedented $4.6 million to the New York City Police Foundation. The gift was the largest in the history of the foundation and will enable the New York City Police Department to strengthen security in the Big Apple. The money will pay for 1,000 new patrol car laptops, as well as security monitoring software in the NYPD’s main data center.

New York City Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly sent CEO and Chairman Jamie Dimon a note expressing “profound gratitude” for the company’s donation.

“These officers put their lives on the line every day to keep us safe,” Dimon said. “We’re incredibly proud to help them build this program and let them know how much we value their hard work.”

Now readers can point out that this gift is bupkis relative to the budget of the police department, which is close to $4 billion. But looking at it on a mathematical basis likely misses the incentives at work. Dimon is one of the most powerful and connected corporate leaders in Gotham City. If he thinks the police donation was worthwhile, he might encourage other bank and big company CEOs to make large donations.

And what sort of benefits might JPM get? The police might be extra protective of your interests. Today, OccupyWallStreet decided to march across the Brooklyn Bridge (a proud New York tradition) to Chase Manhattan Plaza in Brooklyn. Reports in the media indicate that the police at first seemed to be encouraging the protestors not only to cross the bridge, but were walking in front of the crowd, seemingly escorting them across. Over 700 of the marchers were arrested, and the media has a rather amusing “he said, she said” account, with OccupyWallStreet claiming entrapment and the cops batting their baby blues and trying to look innocent.

We simply don’t know whether the police would have behaved one iota differently in the absence of the JP Morgan donation. But it raises the troubling perspective that they might have.

© 2011 Disinfo

Check out Media Roots photos from Occupy Wall Street.

Photo by Flickr user Sasha Y Kimel

MEDIA ROOTS- It’s not very comforting to know that Wall Street lobbyists have been paying off members of the very committee in charge of finding $1.5 trillion worth of deficit measures. Can’t count much on “shared sacrifice” from the banks with bribery like this taking place on the hill.

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TRUTHOUT– Wall Street has given $41 million in campaign contributions to the members of the Congressional “supercommittee” charged with finding $1.5 trillion worth of deficit reduction measures, according to a report released today by two watchdog groups.

The finance, insurance and real estate sector spent $3.7 billion on lobbying and campaign contributions from 1999 to 2008, according to the report, and the 12 members of the bipartisan Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction have all reaped the benefits.

Congressional veterans Sen. John Kerry (D-Massachusetts) and Sen. Max Baucus (D-Montana) top the list, having each received about $6 million in contributions from the financial sector during the course of their careers in Washington. The top GOP recipient on the committee, Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Arizona), has received $5.2 million from the sector.

Donations from the political action committees and executives of Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo – banks that received $95 billion in federal bailout funds – account for one-fifth of the $4.3 million in campaign cash donated by commercial banking interests to the 12 supercommittee members.

The report also identifies 27 former or current aides to supercommittee members who have worked as lobbyists for the financial industry. Manny Rossman, for example, was Kyl’s chief of staff before landing a position at the Breaux Lott Leadership Group, where his clients include Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and Prudential Financial.

“Wall Street bought the deregulation that led to our economic collapse and the American public has paid the price,” said Nick Nyhart, president and CEO of Public Campaign, the group that co-authored the report. “The supercommittee should not give Wall Street and big banks another free ride because of their campaign cash.”

Read more about Wall Street Donated $41 Million to Supercommittee Members

© 2011 Truthout

Photo by Flickr user DonkeyHotey

MEDIA ROOTS- Project Censored spoke about corporate media censorship, managed news and the media blackout surrounding 9/11 at Oakland’s anniversary film festival on September 8, 2011. Watch the powerful talks by Mickey Huff, Director of Project Censored, and Peter Phillips.

Mickey Huff, Director of Project Censored, gives a poignant, powerful talk.

Peter Phillips, former Director of Project Censored, moved the room with this speech.

Learn more at www.projectcensored.org

Photo by Flickr User Meredith Farmer

MEDIA ROOTS- There are some things that are justifiably kept secret within the state bureaucracy, like personal data and information about residents. However, the expansion of secrecy in every avenue of California’s government has made it increasingly difficult to gauge its efficiency and affect change at the legislative level.

Surprisingly, lawmakers’ schedules are withheld from public record, widening the divide between the people and the government by limiting a constituency’ ability to shape policy or voice their opinions to representatives. The OC Register recently compiled a report detailing the era of secrecy that reveals how much is actually being kept secret, and why.

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OC REGISTER– Secrecy has seeped into every corner of state government, making it difficult to gauge Sacramento’s effectiveness and discretion. An Orange County Register review of the Government Code found at least 500 provisions that exempt specific records or information from public disclosure while another 16 code sections prohibit the release of broad categories of documents, including every complaint filed with a licensing body or investigatory agency, all communications with members of the Legislature and any document whose release does not serve the public interest.

Official secrets are held in every office and department in state government, from food and agriculture, public health and the DMV to corrections, social services and the Legislature, where the Assembly recently made headlines (and drew a lawsuit) over its refusal to release documents related to members’ current budgets.

California’s deference to secrecy is often couched as a public service, and indeed much of the information held in confidence actually protects residents. Nobody wants the government giving out Social Security numbers or publicly releasing the results of AIDS tests. But the Government Code is also littered with exemptions that freedom of information advocate Terry Francke criticizes as “hard to justify.” Why are the names of asparagus producers, red light camera photos and the urine tests of race horses confidential?

CAPITOL’S BLACK BOX

Nothing is more valuable in Sacramento than access. If you can get a meeting with a lawmaker, you can influence votes and shape public policy. Among Capitol insiders, the personal meeting is thought to be among the most important parts of the legislative process.

How do you get a meeting with a lawmaker? Many legislators pride themselves on taking meetings with any constituent who asks, but it’s widely believed that most lawmakers reserve their time for campaign contributors. In fact, some insiders say lawmakers make no effort to hear both sides of an issue, that they only take meetings with the side that gave them money.

It’s difficult to see if that’s true, however, because both houses of the Legislature say that lawmakers’ schedules are secret – even if legislators want to release them. The Rules Committees of the Senate and the Assembly prevented lawmakers from disclosing their schedules when reporters asked for them earlier this year, saying that the committees, not the lawmakers themselves, actually have possession of the documents.

Read more about In California, Much Is Officially Secret.

© 2011 The Orange Country Register

Photo by Flickr user Mark Luethi

MEDIA ROOTS- Michelle Bachmann’s catapult to fame eerily resembles Sarah Palin’s rise to the top during the 2008 election circus. Both Bachmann and Palin are media made sensations whose extreme antics and shocking ignorance of basic civics have only garnered them more attention. One can’t help but wonder if the popularity of such inept candidates has been in part manufactured by the establishment to provide insurance for another Obama victory.

On a panel discussing Michelle Bachmann’s potential presidential run, Chris Matthews strangely admitted that Bachmann was “created here“– in reference to his MSNBC show Hardball. Was he insinuating that he was partly responsible for Bachmann’s recognition and success?

In 2008, Matthews excoriated Bachmann for her suggestion to catalog and investigate ‘dissenters’ in the House of Representatives, then proceeded to give her a platform to speak at length on his show. Bachmann’s empty rhetoric equating liberalism with anti-Americanism became a viral hit online.

Michelle Bachmann on Hardball with Chris Matthews

Later on Real Time with Bill Maher, Matthews repeats himself, adding gleefully that “Bachmann’s going to win the nomination.” Maybe Matthews is smiling because he is hoping for his Frankenstein-esque creation to fall on her own sword, creating an easy victory for Obama. Tricks or so called ‘dirty’ ones have always been a part of the election cycle. Matthews is an influential partisan talking head, who is experienced enough in the media world to know exactly what he’s doing.

In a recent Media Roots Interview, Cindy Sheehan said that Sarah Palin was picked as Mccain’s VP as “insurance” for an Obama victory. Whether or not that’s true, it’s undeniable that a large amount of Americans voted for Obama in 2008 solely because of how terrifying the prospect of a Mccain/Palin presidency was.

It’s a sad state of democracy when people are fear-mongered into voting against their own interests. As long as the media continues to prop up such extremist GOP candidates, people who identify themselves as liberal, green and libertarian will continue to knee jerkily vote for bought-and-paid for establishment candidates that will proceed the policies that have bankrupted and demoralized this nation.