Last night, AT&T threw Blue Dog Democrats a private party at Mile High Station in Denver, according to Salon.com’s Glenn Greenwald and Democracy Now.  Members of the press with full convention credentials were barred from the event. 

 

It is speculated that the party was for Democrat members of Congress who reversed their initial March 14 vote in the House which would have rejected retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies who helped the National Security Agency carry out their illegal wiretapping program without proper warrants.  On June 20, 83 Democrats reversed their original position and voted in favor of immunity.

 

According to maplight.org, a non-profit organization that tracks contributions to members of Congress:

 

Comparing Democrats’ Votes (March 14th and June 20th votes):

 

Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint gave PAC contributions averaging:

$8,359 to each Democrat who changed their position to support immunity for Telcos (94 Dems)
$4,987 to each Democrat who remained opposed to immunity for Telcos (116 Dems)

88 percent of the Dems who changed to supporting immunity (83 Dems of the 94) received PAC contributions from Verizon, AT&T, or Sprint during the last three years (Jan. 2005-Mar. 2008). See below for list of these 94 Dems.

 

All House Members (June 20th vote:)

Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint gave PAC contributions averaging:

$9,659 to each member of the House voting "YES" (105-Dem, 188-Rep)
$4,810 to each member of the House voting "NO" (128-Dem, 1-Rep)

 

Greenwald opined about the circumstances of elected officials meeting in private with such high-profile, influential corporate interests:

 

It was really the perfect symbol for how the Beltway political system functions — those who dictate the nation’s laws (the largest corporations and their lobbyists) cavorting in total secrecy with those who are elected to write those laws (members of Congress), while completely prohibiting the public from having any access to and knowledge of — let alone involvement in — what they are doing. And all of this was arranged by the corporation — AT&T — that is paying for a substantial part of the Democratic National Convention with millions upon millions of dollars, which just received an extraordinary gift of retroactive amnesty from the Congress controlled by that party, whose logo is splattered throughout the city wherever the DNC logo appears — virtually attached to it — all taking place next to the stadium where the Democratic presidential nominee, claiming he will cleanse the Beltway of corporate and lobbying influences, will accept the nomination on Thursday night.

 

There have been approximately 40 lawsuits filed against telecommunications corporations for their breach of privacy.  Those lawsuits would have potentially cost those companies billions of dollars.