{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"TinfoilHatsMatter","title":"Follow the Money: How Donor-Friendly Decisions Get Sold as Public Policy","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":1171,"description":"# EP005 — Follow the Money\n## How Donor-Friendly Decisions Get Sold as Public Policy\n**TinFoilHatsMatter** | Episode 005\nPublished: May 6, 2026 | Duration: ~35 min\nAvailable on Spotify · Apple Podcasts · YouTube\n---\n## Episode Summary\nWhat do the shutdown of a nuclear power plant, a Medicare drug benefit, the repeal of net neutrality, and corn ethanol subsidies have in common? In every case, the official justification — safety, access, innovation, clean energy — turned out to be cover for a private transfer of value to someone with a check in hand.\nThis episode maps the money. Starting with the Indian Point Energy Center closure and the federal bribery conviction that revealed who actually benefited, then widening the lens to three of the most well-documented cases of donor-capture in recent American policy history: the Medicare Part D prescription drug ban on price negotiation, the repeal of net neutrality by a former Verizon lawyer, and the decades-long ethanol subsidy regime built by one company through bipartisan political donations. The throughline is simple: decisions that look dumb in hindsight are often calculated in real time — calculated to benefit someone who will not be named at the press conference.\n---\n## What We Cover\n**Indian Point Energy Center — New York**\nThe closure of a 2,000-megawatt carbon-free nuclear plant in 2021, ostensibly on safety grounds, was accompanied by a federal bribery prosecution revealing that a natural gas company — Competitive Power Ventures — had paid $287,000 in bribes to Governor Cuomo's top aide Joseph Percoco, specifically in exchange for advocacy toward closing Indian Point. The CPV gas plant that replaced Indian Point's generation is now running on fracked natural gas. New York's carbon emissions from the electric sector rose after closure. Governor Hochul is now building a new nuclear plant.\n**Medicare Part D — Washington, DC**\nIn 2003, Congressman Billy Tauzin (R-LA), as Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/-glpmAsVCFY-EfsGN-A8fxw_UdMIBMxTpkR5sEYti4c/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS8zOGM0/ZDE4YTI4MGE1Y2U4/YjRhMTA4NWQyZDY2/MDIxMC5wbmc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}