[dcaylor]

It is true that things are rarely as simple as we'd like to draw them. It is also true that the current system we have for political contributions breeds corruption, not just in one party or the other, but in our political system in general. Getting into power and staying there is expensive, and it is naive to think that the gifts come without strings. So lists like this are not conclusive evidence of anything other than the raw numbers, but saying you can't draw any useful conclusions is also misleading.