If one follows the news, there are constant reminders of this kind of lobbying going on (corporations asking for special treatment, especially when it comes to taxes) for a whole century. Besides a lot of this is done right out in the open. I mean coorporate lobbying was invented exactly for that -- to push governments for favorable laws, special treatment, laxer environmental and other protections, etc. On top of that, there are all kinds of under-the-table deals (with lots of them exposed frequently) with politicians and corporations.
That said, here are some pointers to the issue. First the general Wikipedia article:
A number of published studies showed lobbying expenditures can yield great financial returns. For example, a study of the 50 firms that spent the most on lobbying relative to their assets compared their financial performance against that of the S&P 500 in the stock market concluded that spending on lobbying was a "spectacular investment" yielding "blistering" returns comparable to a high-flying hedge fund, even despite the financial downturn of the past few years. A 2011 meta-analysis of previous research findings found a positive correlation between corporate political activity and firm performance. Finally, a 2009 study found that lobbying brought a substantial return on investment, as much as 22,000% in some cases. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lobbying#United_States
And the US specific one: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lobbying_in_the_United_States
The Atlantic: http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/04/how-corp...
The Guardian: http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/mar/12/lobbying-10-...
National Review: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/421664/corporate-lobby...
Fortune: http://fortune.com/2015/09/04/lobbying-corporate-washington/
Economist: http://www.economist.com/node/21553020
Forbes: http://www.forbes.com/sites/chrisbarth/2011/12/14/29-compani...
Oxford University Press: http://www.amazon.com/The-Business-America-Lobbying-Corporat...
Lawrence Lessig: http://www.amazon.com/Republic-Lost-Money-Corrupts-Congress/...
The Influence Machine: The Influence Machine: The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Corporate Capture of American Life
Lobbying America: http://www.amazon.com/Lobbying-America-Politics-Business-Twe...
And those are "establishment" sources -- you'd get far better coverage in more outspoken and critical voices.
Regarding Apple in particular: http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/jan/21/us-tech-tax-...
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/sep/30/apple-repa...
I honestly and genuinely don't think that's much of a question.
I encourage you to read Lawrence Lessig's "Republic, Lost"[1] - which talks about how the big money behind campaign financing makes average Joe's feel as if they're choosing a politician based on their will, which turns out to not really be the case. Rather, they're choosing from a select group of politicians already rubber stamped "OK" by deep pocketed donors.
A good quote (not verbatim) from the book is basically how deep pocket donors have a sense of: "Let me choose the potential candidate options, and I don't really care who wins".
So it's the "will of the people" only so far as the people's will aligns with something they have 0 control over - the intentions/ambitions of those with money - which doesn't sound much like free will.
[1] https://www.amazon.com/Republic-Lost-Version-Lawrence-Lessig...