What do water rates in Casmalia, CA have to do with lucrative telecommunications mergers? According to Thomas Elias of the Marysville Appeal-Democrat both felt the influence of California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's need to appease his biggest campaign contributors.

A report just released by the National Institute on Money in State Politics points to the relatively small percentage of unitemized donations, or small dollar donations, that comprise state-level campaign war chests. In fact the number seems to be getting smaller. All talks of the pending small donor revolution aside, Sen. Barack Obama's (D-IL) recent success may still be the exception rather than the rule.

The panic over the mortgage collapse and its wide-ranging consequences for the national and global economy led to Congress passing a $300 billion bailout plan for lending giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac this week just as newspapers were putting the finishing touches on their sans-serif "Apocalypse" typesettings. How nice for Fannie and Freddie that help was forthcoming in the form of a taxpayer-financed buy-out. Guess those millions they've poured into lobbying and campaign contributions through the years have paid off.

On the recently passed FISA legislation, MapLight did the work for us and found that those who voted for the legislation granting retroactive immunity (and supported by the industry) have received nearly double the amount of money in campaign contributions from industry PACs than those who voted against.

With many in Washington still in shock over the death of Tim Russert last week, members of Congress took to the floor of the House to celebrate Russert's life by passing a resolution honoring him. Some chose to honor big oil.

Yesterday evening the FBI carried out a raid on the home of Maryland State Senator Ullyses Currie (D) and the Lanham, MD headquarters of Supervalu, parent company of Shoppers Food Warehouse for whom Currie provided outside consultant services. He has not reported income received from Shoppers or Supervalu on any of his three most recent filings with the State Ethics Commission, nor has he ever filed forms indicating a possible conflict of interest between this consulting work and his position in the legislature.