Scrivener.net

Saturday, December 10, 2005


Joe Namath fined for signing a football.

After going to the replay booth, the state Lobbying Commission has reconsidered its penalty levied against Joe Namath.

Broadway Joe, who registered as a lobbyist this year to rally legislators to back the failed West Side stadium, was fined by the watchdog agency for autographing a ball for Senate GOP leader Joe Bruno (R-Rensselaer).

Bruno had a say in whether the Jets got the stadium, and the commission determined that the ball he got from Namath was worth more than the $75 limit on gifts from lobbyists to lawmakers.

[But] the full commission ... voted down the sanction.
[NY Daily News]
OK, Joe beat the rap.

But this is what the political reformer types outlaw, signed footballs. Yet Bruno holding out for $300 million, well that they don't care about.

The thing the reformers miss about politicians collecting money is that it's not bribery, it's extortion.