The Definition of Corruption

I heartily agree with Bruce Ackerman and Ian Ayres in "A Hatch Act reply to the high court, (Tuesday, 26 January, 2010 in the Washington Post, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/25/AR2010012502970.html), that all corporations or entities, especially the very large ones, should have to make a choice between receiving money from the federal government and endorsing candidates. Like all Democrats they are outraged by the Supreme Court's decision to uphold the First Amendment and give due deference to Freedom of Speech.
Their solution is to disallow any federal contractor from contributing to political campaigns., and they specifically mention defense contractors, believing that would cut down on money for Republicans. I agree with that, but I would broaden it to any federal payout. If an entity gets a subsidy, whether for a service or a good or not, it should not then be able to turn around and subsidize the person or persons who decided to give them the subsidy in the first place. This is the very definition of political corruption.
Not long after the 1994 political revolution, Newt Gingrich proposed just that, but the proposal did not last through the day. In the lead with the hatchet was AARP; and interested parties included Planned Parenthood, La Raza, ACORN, the NRA et al. There isn't a substantive difference between a company that builds and maintains an airport for the benefit of one politician and 10 of his friends, the company that supplies replacement toilets for the Army, and the group that uses federal money to locate AIDS patients among illegal itinerant workers. Whether the business is for or not for profit, they are all in the business of generating income and they all get their opportunity to do this from the American taxpayer. But, the taxpayer only has the privilege of paying, never of deciding who gets the cash.
So, yes, Mrs. Pelosi, who promised the most transparent and honest government four years ago and who has delivered just the opposite, here's your chance to produce as promised. Follow the advice of these two Yale lawyers, and ban all contributions to members of Congress from entities receiving federal subsidies. Indeed!