The Dirty Secret Behind Rep Latta’s Anti-Net Neutrality Bill

[Commentary] Why is Rep Bob Latta (R-OH) claiming to be a champion of the open Internet while proposing legislation that helps ISPs shut it down? A big part of the answer can be found at the Center for Responsive Politics, which aggregates data on campaign contributions, including those made by phone and cable companies and their trade groups to members of Congress.

Rep Latta is an industry favorite, having raked in a whopping $320,000 in campaign contributions from the communications sector since he took office in 2007. In the 2014 election cycle, Rep Latta has already received contributions from nearly every major ISP and supporting trade group in the country -- including a veritable “who’s who” of network neutrality haters. By now it should be clear that Latta’s bill is for the biggest companies that punch his campaign dance ticket, and not for the millions of people who have urged the Federal Communications Commission to protect the open Internet by making these same companies common carriers. But while Rep Latta may be pushing this bill, he’s not alone on Capitol Hill. Nor is his congressional brand of quid pro quo limited to one side of the aisle.