The two-way potential for covert dealing between U.S. corporations and elected officials is so obvious that it has been illegal for federal candidates to accept corporate funds, or for executives to offer them, since the trust-busting days of 1907. Yet the laws forbidding such practices, observes Ashland Oil Inc. Board Chairman Orin E. Atkins, are primarily "honored in the breach." Atkins has reason to know. He heads one of seven major U.S. corporations* that have admitted dipping unlawfully into the company till for contributions to Richard Nixon's 1972 re-election campaign. Last week executives from six of the firms testified...
To continue reading:
or
Log-In
