AllPolitics 'Toonist Bob Lang looks back at Watergate. A total of 21 corporations, were found guilty of illegal giving to Republicans and Democrats, including American Airlines, Ashland Oil, Braniff Airways, Carnation Company, Goodyear, Gulf, Hertz and Northrop. But it didn't last. The Supreme Court has ruled that money is speech protected by the First Amendment. And, this time, it was mostly legal.
Disclosure still works, maybe too well.
What seemed a scandal then is old news now. So much money. Campaign finance reforms were not the only things to go sour. Watergate also produced systematic efforts to root out corruption. But watchdogs became attack dogs.