Word: shakedown
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...totals, jumped from flat screen to flat screen last winter in the Washington underground of fund-raising consultants and political-action committees. It had been created by allies of Congressman John Boehner, an Ohio Republican known for massive, raucous late-night parties. A window into the science of the shakedown, the spreadsheet calculated the "efficiency" of fund-raising committees headed by various leaders of the House, showing which were most generous to other Republicans. Boehner's backers were thrilled when the widely forwarded spreadsheet produced a front-page headline in The Hill, a newspaper focused on Congress, saying BOEHNER BOASTS...
There has been no evidence that Street, 61, himself is corrupt, but federal prosecutors say the mayor's close friend and fund raiser, Ron White, partially took control of city contracting and turned the process into a naked shakedown for donations to Street's 2003 re-election campaign. White died before going to trial, but former city treasurer Cory Kemp, a member of Street's administration, and four other defendants await a jury's verdict. The scandals have turned Street into a lame duck a year early. "The city is in a kind of suspended animation as long...
...Launching A Human-Rights Offensive The North Korean regime's disposition to starve its own people is just the flip side of its disposition to play nuclear shakedown abroad. Look for a new push on North Korean human rights next year. The U.S. will soon appoint a special envoy for the issue, under the new North Korea Human Rights Act of 2004. And the European Union may want to cooperate with Washington on this one, given that Pyongyang is the world's worst violator. The self-described human-rights champions who run South Korea these days will be shamefully AWOL...
...like Harvard”—is the committee’s official modus operandi, revealed in the “Senior Gift Solicitation Survival Guide,” which a committee member leaked to me shortly before spring break. Since being on the receiving end of a shakedown is undoubtedly the more unpleasant experience demanding survival skills, I will give seniors some ammunition of their own. The following advice can help the hopelessly-solicited make it through the hectoring no poorer than they started...
...tongue-extending, all done in approximate unison by ten normally rational individuals. Director Aoife E. Spillane-Hinks ’06 orchestrates the catharsis, encouraging her cast to relax and “let out their bellies.” The ceremony finally ends with a “shakedown,” where limbs are spastically shaken one by one as everyone counts down to zero...