Posted on 03/20/2002 5:46:08 AM PST by TroutStalker
When it comes to making money, political connections pay off. Last year, for instance, former U.S. Rep. Jim Talent raked in $320,000 for two part-time jobs while he waited to launch another political race.
One of those jobs, a Sunday story in The Kansas City Star reported, was at privately run Washington University in St. Louis. The former Republican congressman and current U.S. Senate candidate gained a lucrative contract of $90,000 for part-time teaching. The average annual salary for a full-time associate professor at the university is $67,000.
Talent's contract called for one class each semester of 20 students. And no heavy lifting.
The $90,000 wasn't enough. Talent also secured a part-time job with a Washington lobbying and law firm. He earned $230,000 even though federal ethics laws prohibited him from lobbying his former congressional colleagues.
Yet, even with that hand tied behind his back, he was able to lock in some clients for the firm who are, as luck would have it, heavyweight Republican contributors. In effect, their legal fees start looking a lot like campaign contributions. Unfortunately, in this case federal campaign contribution laws don't apply.
The former congressman explained that he thought he was getting an amount comparable to others' teaching salaries. He said he told the university administration how much he needed "to put food on the table."
Lots of Americans would say that is what is wrong with people who have been in Congress these days. They don't have a clue what average folks have to live on. With that kind of money, Talent's table must offer quite a spread.
Talent said he wanted to show students in his class "how a congressman really thinks." In the context of all this money, that is the truly scary part.
Cheap Shots are far easier - especially when no one shoots back. There is only ONE paper in most cities.
This is one of the major reasons that the print media is dying.
For the mathematically challenged class envy worshiping editorialists at the "red" Star please look up "average" in a dictionary. Some people make more than the average and some make less. If you look close enough you might even find some leftists making more than the average and some conservatives making less than the average. No doubt you will admit you were wrong to attack Talent on the basis of this tainted charge to mute possible charges of bias.
They don't have a clue what average folks have to live on.
"Average folks" = the leftwing writers of this tripe who feel themselves entitled to the money evil conservatives earn through their own efforts.
Yet, even with that hand tied behind his back, he was able to lock in some clients for the firm who are, as luck would have it, heavyweight Republican contributors.
Isn't it likely these would be his clients since these are the people he interacts with? What would his success rate have been had he focused on the Star's editorial staff to drum up business for his employer?
I remember now why I dumped this rag fifteen years ago and say "not interested" immediately after they identify themselves during one of their frequent telephone solicitations.
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