The Beltway Shakedown

Compelling argument by Tim Carney in the Washington Examiner:

Apple has held out, though. Every couple of years, Politico, the trade publication of the Beltway, has run a piece warning Apple of the dangers of ignoring Washington. “Its low-wattage approach in Washington is becoming more glaring to policymakers,” a 2010 article said, pointing out that the company doesn’t have a PAC and its lobbying spending was a paltry $1 million.

The 2012 Politico warning to Apple included an explicit threat from a Judiciary staffer-turned-lobbyist, Jeff Miller: “There have been other tech companies who chose not to engage in Washington, and for the most part that strategy did not benefit them.”

★ Thursday, 23 May 2013