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How To: Buy Influence
Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

It’s no secret that power and influence are commodities that are bought and sold every day. It is a thriving market in which integrity wears a "for sale" sign. This is human nature. To think otherwise is naïve. The halls of power in America buzz with this thriving market, and normally it goes unnoticed by the public (super-lobbyist Jack Abramoff being one of the more rare -- and high profile -- exceptions).

Regardless, there are occasions that demand one’s entrance into this market: A society writer slams you or your wife, union demands are throwing a wrench into production, or impending tax legislation threatens to cost you millions. When the time comes, you should know how to approach the journalists, politicians, union leaders, public detractors, judges, and any other influence-wielding gatekeepers whose assistance you might need.

Getting that influence swayed in your direction requires an understanding of the psychological makeup behind each personality. Since money alone won’t always suffice, you should begin by identifying how your approach ought to be tailored toward their particular type; toward spotting and exploiting their individual Achilles heel.
Journalists and gossip columnists
There isn’t a gossip columnist alive who doesn’t crave a good story or something to talk about. The very nature of gossiping about the private lives of others suggests an individual with a low integrity threshold. Add to it the fact that most of these columnists already enjoy a give-and-take relationship with the people they write about; they provide ostensibly "free" -- or at least, "hands-free" -- press for names in the news. Their fellow journalists are not too different, each craving to break a major story in order to step front and center into the public eye.

To buy a journalist's influence, consider offering your own influence to help bolster their wider profile. Promises of a speaking tour or even a book deal (a collection of columns, perhaps?) might be sufficiently intriguing to sway your case or, since many journalists dream of being novelists, you could use your own influence to set them up with the right editor at a publishing house.

Plan B: Numerous people work above the writers of newspapers and magazines, both in print and online. These people may better understand your situation -- perhaps in exchange for their own favors -- and can see to it that the writer in question is either openly demoted or starts to receive assignments meant for younger or inexperienced writers.
Politicians
Congressional representatives, governors, mayors, city council members, and those in virtually every political position are all vulnerable to sway. Few, if any, politicians sustain their do-gooder mentality for long before they become jaded. Some don’t have such a mentality to begin with, but simply crave the power and influence associated with political posts. This "appreciation" for their own power is one of human nature’s Achilles heels -- a typical downfall for any disgraced politician.

In this case, money really does talk. You can fund a politician’s pet project or make campaign contributions, since politicians cannot keep their jobs without special-interest money. Yet you may see more success in securing their influence if you can make promises, post-politics, for them to serve either on prestigious corporate boards or as high-priced, do-nothing “consultants.”

Plan B: In the event that your efforts fail or even backfire, you can consider blackmail, but you may be better off by making known your intentions to support the politician's opponent in the next election. In addition, this will demonstrate the measures you can take to ensure his term is considered deeply ineffective -- by constituents and fellow politicians alike.
Union leaders
In the U.S., the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) guarantees all employees the legal right to form a union, and the same act declares it unfair labor practice on your part to prevent them from doing so. Unions can do you a tremendous amount of damage to you in a wide variety of ways.

However, union leaders typically come out of the workforce itself and can be vulnerable to -- or perhaps even accustomed to -- bribery, whether it be straight cash, vacations or other gifts. A raise or a promotion, however, is likely to raise red flags.

Plan B: If that doesn’t work, recall that union leaders are appointed from within. Therefore, if your efforts with one leader fail, take a page from the CIA’s playbook and work quietly to promote a candidate or leadership more favorable to your interests.
Public detractors
Public detractors, such as environmental activists, are bound to create problems for you, particularly if your business plans encroach on natural reserves or natural habitats. As you may already have experienced, these are typically highly principled or at least highly devoted types for whom offers of money do little.

However, they do understand sacrifice. So consider offering something else that would be in their interests, but that won't get in the way of yours. For example, offer to create an ecological or environmental endowment, either in their name or the name of their organization. The mentality you want to instill in them is this: “Either I can fight for A and potentially lose, or I can sacrifice A for B; isn’t it worthwhile to gain B even at the cost of losing A?”

Plan B: Go after their credibility. Because public detractors shout the loudest and claim so much righteousness, the best way to undercut their power to hurt you is to undermine their credibility as defenders of the public good. A good private investigator can dig up just about anything you need in this regard.
Judges
The U.S. Constitution dictates that Supreme Court justices, court of appeals judges and district court judges are nominated by the President and confirmed by the United States Senate. They enjoy lifetime tenure.

However, lower court judges and State judges are often elected officials; they must campaign for their job, and thus operate no differently than politicians do, making campaign contributions an essential tool to buy influence. All too often, U.S. voters are far more concerned with other elected officials to pay attention to the judicial races, so numerous such races are bought every election year. The results of an American Bar Association poll show that most Americans believe in the justice system despite not understanding many of its inner workings.
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Plan B: If buying an election fails and you need to influence a sitting judge, keep in mind that the huge majority of (but not all) States require judges to have experience as attorneys. And keep in mind that, while some judges may enjoy serving smaller, municipal courts, most have the higher courts in mind. If you have the influence to get a judge appointed to a higher bench, dangle that carrot accordingly, albeit with caution.
Gatekeepers
The men and women who determine access into country clubs or private schools are well aware of their power and influence. Their judgments decide which children enjoy the best education and which businessmen enjoy the networking opportunities afforded by the most exclusive country clubs.

They’re no strangers to efforts at bribery. Yet, while money may indeed buy you the necessary influence, you have no idea what kind of bribery offers you’re competing against. Without that knowledge, you’re best avoiding basic pecuniary bribery. Rather, for people who enjoy a position of power such as these, in order to get yourself or your children in the door, you should consider what’s in it for him. What can he gain? Depending on the situation, perhaps the offer of a relatively lucrative or prestigious job -- either within your company or through one of your contacts -- will see your "bribe" outdo the competition.

Plan B: Keepers of the gate are never lords of the manor. Your second-best chance is to go over their heads.
influential purchases
Virtually every single person in a position of power is for sale, from the government to the halls of justice to the ministry to media establishments, and more. The question often comes down to what it is you’re offering and how you package your offer.

May 29, 2008 | 6:00 AM Comments  0 comments
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Here are 5 things you didn't know about condoms
Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

The historical effort to make a condom that prevents pregnancy and the exchange of STDs while being as unobtrusive as possible during the sexual act has been mired by religious mores, outright denial and extreme levels of creativity. Most parties, regardless of their general opinion on the use of condoms, have come to accept that sex is all but inevitable between human beings. With that in mind, it stands to reason that condoms serve a number of noble purposes. Shocking and sad to think it took thousands of years for humans to figure that out.

Unfortunately, the condom suffers from at least one massive PR problem: namely, that the condom always looks like a great idea after the fact. However, before and during the act when it matters the most, not so much.

In an effort to give their profile a boost, we took a look at five things you didn’t know about condoms.
1- Condoms have appeared in cave paintings
In Johnny Come Lately: A Short History of the Condom, author Jeannette Parisot claims the appearance of condoms in cave paintings are estimated to be 15,000 years old. Although Parisot notes that the condom is being used during sexual intercourse, that doesn't signify the condition for which the man was wearing the condom. This is another matter altogether, since the man in the cave painting could have been brandishing the condom for one of three reasons: some sort of ritual, as protection against pregnancy or as protection against an STD.

All three are reasonable possibilities. There is no cause to think that the clever minds behind cave paintings hadn't also discovered some connection between the sexual act and one of any number of outcomes, including pregnancy or a stretch of days featuring extremely painful urination.
2- Condoms used to be available only by prescription
Condoms have come a long way toward both general acceptance and availability. An 1824 text, described as state-of-the-art, offers a condom-making recipe with no fewer than a dozen extremely time-consuming steps involved in making condoms from sheep's "intestina caeca." With so much time required, it is little surprise that early condoms were considered reusable.

In the U.S., there was a time that condoms were available only by prescription, but doctors held up a double standard -- they would prescribe them to men so that husbands could protect themselves against getting STDs from prostitutes, but they wouldn’t prescribe them to women so they could prevent themselves from getting pregnant or for any other reason.
3- The oldest rubber condoms date back to 1855
Discovered during excavations of Dudley Castle in West Midlands, England, these condom fragments were made from the guts of animals and it is believed they were distributed to slow the spread of venereal diseases (now known as STDs) during the English Civil Wars.

Distributing rubber condoms to soldiers to slow or prevent STDs has not always been common practice. In the U.S., during World War I, condoms were discouraged by the American Social Hygiene Association, which felt that if you were foolish enough to have sex, you deserved the STD you got. One of the chief proponents was the Assistant Secretary of the Navy at the time, Franklin Delano Roosevelt. No surprise that many of those vets brought STDs home.

By World War II, the outlook was decidedly more reasonable and American GIs heading overseas were led by films encouraging them: "Don't forget -- put it on before you put it in."
4- Condoms have been sold in vending machines since 1928
The condom available in vending machines celebrates its 80th anniversary in 2008, courtesy of the company who manufactured the first brand-name condom, Germany-based, Fromm’s. Their product, Fromm’s Act, not only appeared in vending machines first, they also had a presumably unauthorized Mickey Mouse as their pitch-man.

Putting condoms in machines has, at times, proven controversial, especially in the U.S. when they appeared in high schools. The concern was that this kind of availability would promote sex -- i.e., you weren’t thinking about having it until you saw the condom. This has often been the stance of conservative or religious groups who pitch abstinence.
5- Invisible condoms may be next
For all those folks forced to use leather, silk, velvet or rubber as thick as an inner tube, the invisible condom could only be a pipe dream. In this case, "invisible" actually means a gel that hardens according to increased temperatures.

Clinical trials on the invisible condom have been carried out by Quebec’s Laval University, in conjunction with the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Centre Hospitalier de l'Universite Laval.

It is one of a number of products being developed which falls into the category of a female condom, some of which have received government approval. The Invisible Condom, however, is still awaiting approval.