Thread: What's the difference between extortion and bribery?

In the Ensign affair:

Asked by the Las Vegas Sun if Ensign paid $25,000 severance to Cindy Hampton out of his own pocket, Doug Hampton said, "To my knowledge, that's correct," though added that he did not know how much money might have exchanged hands.

The senator now acknowledges that his parents paid the Hamptons nearly $100,000.

Ensign's mother and father paid out $12,000 each from his mother and father to Cindy Hampton, Doug Hampton and each of their two children. Because Ensign's parents doled out the payments in smaller chunks, the recipients could potentially avoid paying taxes on the money.

"Of course, it's a problem when a U.S. senator appears to be paying off a family in order to keep his affair quiet," said Melanie Sloan, executive director of the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, or CREW. "But it also looks like they chose this route of having Sen. Ensign's family come in and pay off the money so they could avoid reporting this so that we would all not find out about the payment to the Hamptons sooner."

Crew has called on the Justice Department to investigate the matter.

WTF?

Questions Swirl Around Ensign Family Payments - ABC News

its extortion when the mob does it ... its bribery when the government does it.. just saying LOL

Originally Posted by wingrider

its extortion when the mob does it ... its bribery when the government does it.. just saying LOL

No it is stimulus when the Gov does it.

Bribery takes dirt, anyone can be extorted.

Originally Posted by michaelr

Bribery takes dirt, anyone can be extorted.

I think you have that backwards.

Originally Posted by Heel31ok

I think you have that backwards.

No, if i wanted to extort you, I would say give me money or I will burn your house down. If I wanted to bribe you, I would need dirt on you.

^^^^^^^^looking at it that way, there is no difference

Originally Posted by michaelr

No, if i wanted to extort you, I would say give me money or I will burn your house down. If I wanted to bribe you, I would need dirt on you.

sorry no.Bribery has nothing to do with dirt if you use dirt is is extortion similar to your burn your house down example.Bribery is just a payoff it relies mainly on greed of the recipient not fear of reprisal.

Originally Posted by michaelr

^^^^^^^^looking at it that way, there is no difference

because both are extortion.

Originally Posted by michaelr

^^^^^^^^looking at it that way, there is no difference

because neither one are bribery.