The Money Men Book

Jeffrey Birnbaum subscribes to that old journalistic credo Follow the money. He has made a career out of investigating the role of money in politics, both as a beat reporter (first for The Wall Street Journal, and now at Fortune) and as an author (The Lobbyists). This book describes the men and women who give money to politicians and raise it for campaigns. Far from a dry tome about campaign-finance law, it's a page-turning narrative full of colorful characters and interesting anecdotes. As a D.C. insider once put it, the real scandal in Washington isn't what's illegal, but what's legal. Or, in Birnbaum's words: If you assume that campaign money is so distasteful that you don't want to hear any more about it, you're closing your mind to one of the most fundamental and most fascinating stories in American politics. It's okay to be outraged--more than okay. But it's wrong to be so disgusted that you don't want to read another word. You miss all the good parts that way. Birnbaum intends to correct a few popular misconceptions about how Washington works: "It's wrong to think of [elected officials] sitting studiously through boring congressional hearings or making speeches to Rotary Club luncheons. Think of them, instead, in windowless offices grubbing for money almost every spare moment they get." Some may accuse the author of being unduly suspicious of money's place in political life, but then they haven't had what Birnbaum calls "The Moment"--"that instant when they finally realize that money plays too big a role in politics, way too big." He then describes how one of his sources, a press secretary for a Southern congressman, had his Moment: "The congressman pledged to vote to fund the aircraft in exchange for a VIP tour of the White House for twenty or thirty of his largest and most loyal campaign contributors." The Money Men is crammed with unseemly stories like this, and Birnbaum is admirably bipartisan: he blames both Democrats and Republicans for creating the cesspool in which they live. "Something must be done," he writes. Scandal after scandal has rocked the nation's capital. From overnights in the Lincoln bedroom to illegal foreign contributions from Asia and elsewhere, it is obvious that what was once a hunger for money by politicians has become a form of gluttony. Corporations, labor unions, narrow interest groups, and wealthy individuals are buying their way into our government at a pace that threatens to destroy the democracy that we all hold so dear. Fans of Common Cause and John McCain's campaign-reform ideas will find much to admire on these pages, as will anyone who appreciates good reportage. --John J. Miller Read More