Influence peddling is the illegal practice of using one's influence in government or connections with persons in authority to obtain favors or preferential treatment for another, usually in return for payment. Also called traffic of influence or trading in influence . In fact, influence peddling is not necessarily illegal as OECD has often used the term "undue influence peddling" as to refer to illegal acts of lobbying. http://www.oecd.org/document/32/0,3343,en_2649_37443_42694048_1_1_1_1,00.html However, influence peddling bears the stench of corruption that may de-legitimize democratic politics with the general public.

As of December 2008, The current Governor of Illinois

Governor of Illinois

The Governor of Illinois is the chief executive of the State of Illinois and the various agencies and departments over which the officer has jurisdiction, as prescribed in the state constitution. It is a directly elected position, votes being cast by popular suffrage of residents of the state....

, Rod Blagojevich

Rod Blagojevich

Rod R. Blagojevich is an American politician who served as the 40th Governor of Illinois from 2003 to 2009. A Democrat, Blagojevich was a State Representative before being elected to the United States House of Representatives representing parts of Chicago...

 was accused of influence peddling in attempting to sell the Senate seat vacated by President-elect

President-elect

An -elect is a political candidate who has been elected to an office but who has not yet been sworn in or officially taken office. These may include an incoming president, senator, representative, governor and mayor.Analogously, the term "designate" An -elect is a political candidate who has been...

 Barack Obama

Barack Obama

Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...

.

In April 2009, former Newfoundland

Newfoundland and Labrador

Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada. Situated in the country's Atlantic region, it incorporates the island of Newfoundland and mainland Labrador with a combined area of . As of April 2011, the province's estimated population is 508,400...

 politician Ed Byrne

Ed Byrne (politician)

Ed Byrne was a Canadian politician, formerly a member of the House of Assembly of the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. He served as leader of the Newfoundland and Labrador Progressive Conservatives and opposition leader from 1998 to 2001...

 was convicted of influence peddling for his actions in the Constituency Allowance Scandal. He was the first of four politicians convicted in relation to the Scandal and the remaining politicians are on or awaiting trial.

As well, the mayor

Mayor

In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....

 of Ottawa

Ottawa

Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...

, Larry O'Brien

Larry O'Brien (Canadian politician)

Lawrence Robert O'Brien , was the 58th mayor of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. He is also a current director of Calian Technologies Ltd. and its former CEO and chairman....

, began his trial on similar grounds in May 2009. O'Brien was accused of purported influence peddling. The trial is currently in session and live updates can be found from the Ottawa Citizen

Ottawa Citizen

The Ottawa Citizen is an English-language daily newspaper owned by Postmedia Network in Ottawa, Canada. According to the Canadian Newspaper Association, the paper had a 2008 weekly circulation of 900,197.- History :...

 On August 5, 2009, both charges were dismissed by Justice Douglas Cunningham, associate chief justice of Ontario’s Superior Court.
This crime is punished also in France, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Brazil, Argentina and Romania (P. Semeraro, I delitti di millantato credito e traffico di influenza, Milano, 2000, ed. Giuffrè).

See also

• Bribery
  Bribery
  Bribery, a form of corruption, is an act implying money or gift giving that alters the behavior of the recipient. Bribery constitutes a crime and is defined by Black's Law Dictionary as the offering, giving, receiving, or soliciting of any item of value to influence the actions of an official or...
  
  
• Lobbying
  Lobbying
  Lobbying is the act of attempting to influence decisions made by officials in the government, most often legislators or members of regulatory agencies. Lobbying is done by various people or groups, from private-sector individuals or corporations, fellow legislators or government officials, or...
  
  
• Logrolling
  Logrolling
  Logrolling is the trading of favors, or quid pro quo, such as vote trading by legislative members to obtain passage of actions of interest to each legislative member...
  
  
• Political corruption
  Political corruption
  Political corruption is the use of legislated powers by government officials for illegitimate private gain. Misuse of government power for other purposes, such as repression of political opponents and general police brutality, is not considered political corruption. Neither are illegal acts by...
  
  
• Political finance
  Political finance
  Political finance covers all funds that are raised and spent for political purposes. Necessarily such purposes include all political contests for voting by citizens, especially the election campaigns for various public offices that are run by parties and candidates. Moreover all modern democracies...