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Forum Post: Top Sources of Political Funding

Posted 13 years ago on Oct. 30, 2011, 5:49 p.m. EST by bronxj (150)
This content is user submitted and not an official statement

Top 20 All-Time Donors, 1989-2012 http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/list.php?order=A

1 ActBlue $55,745,059

2 AT&T Inc $47,571,779

3 American Fedn of State, County & Municipal Employees $46,167,658

4 National Assn of Realtors $40,718,176

5 Service Employees International Union $37,634,367

6 National Education Assn $37,051,378

7 Goldman Sachs $35,790,579

8 American Assn for Justice $34,715,804

9 Intl Brotherhood of Electrical Workers $34,292,471

10 Laborers Union $31,876,950

11 American Federation of Teachers $31,681,366

12 Teamsters Union $31,285,842

13 Carpenters & Joiners Union $30,769,258

14 Communications Workers of America $30,192,447

15 Citigroup Inc $28,842,146

16 American Medical Assn $27,880,935

17 United Auto Workers $27,539,652

18 United Food & Commercial Workers Union $27,344,608

19 National Auto Dealers Assn $26,966,358

20 Machinists & Aerospace Workers Union $26,879,727

http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/list_stfed.php?order=A Top National Donors 2008 election Based on Combined State and Federal Contributions, 2007-2008

1 National Education Assn Total $56,228,408 Federal $2,676,297 State $53,552,11

2 Pechanga Band of Mission Indians Total $43,969,951 Federal $599,754 State $43,370,197

3 Penn National Gaming Total $40,557,472 Federal $65,100 State $40,492,372

4 Morongo Band of Mission Indians Total $39,063,909 Federal $600,312 State $38,463,597

5 Community Financial Services Assn Total $34,841,693 Federal $198,760 state $34,642,933

6 Service Employees International Union Total 30,405,549 Federal $2,921,463 State $27,484,086

7 National Assn of Realtors Total $28,788,109 Federal $4,888,640 State$23,899,469

8 Lakes Entertainment Total $25,694,898 Federal $2,000 State$25,692,898

9 Tribes for fair Play Total 24,754,413 Federal $0 State $24,754,413

10 ActBlue Total $23,184,380 Federal $23,184,380 State $0

Federal PAC Contributions 2010 Election Cycle http://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/list.php

Unions Total Amount: $63,665,882

Finance, Insurance & Real Estate Total Amount: $62,909,712

Ideological/Single-Issue Total Amount: $60,279,974

Health Total Amount: $54,641,685

Misc business Associations Total Amount: $37,791,850

Energy & Natural Resources Total Amount: $28,858,057

Agribusiness Total Amount: $22,950,208

Transportation Total Amount: $21,118,906

Lawyers & Lobbyists Total Amount: $15,916,526

Construction Total Amount: $15,534,354

Defense Total Amount: $14,263,964

28 Comments

28 Comments


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[-] 3 points by GlobalSucks (87) 13 years ago

This little propaganda piece left out the total of all corporations, imagine that? I guess that's not important to the simple-minded

Did this come from fox news? It reeks of their “fair and balanced” style of propaganda

[-] 1 points by bronxj (150) 13 years ago

Not Fox

http://www.opensecrets.org/about/tour.php

"OpenSecrets.org is the nation's premier website tracking the influence of money on U.S. politics, and how that money affects policy and citizens' lives.

The Center for Responsive Politics launched the website following the 1996 elections. Before that time, the Center, founded in 1983 by U.S. Sens. Frank Church (D-Idaho) and Hugh Scott (R-Pa.), published its work tracking money in politics and its effect on elections and public policy in extensive reports and books. The first Open Secrets book, published in 1990, was a massive 1,300 pages and analyzed contributions by political action committees in the 1988 congressional elections. Featuring contributor profiles for every member of Congress, it was an unprecedented resource that illuminated money's role in congressional elections and policymaking. Open Secrets also profiled the spending patterns of interest groups and major industries, and included an extensive "Big Picture" section on the patterns of PAC spending and the flow of PAC dollars to each congressional committee. The second edition of Open Secrets, published in 1992, added an analysis of large individual donations — a mammoth task that had never before been attempted.

The OpenSecrets.org website not only allowed the Center to expand its reach beyond those willing to invest in its voluminous and expensive publication, but also greatly accelerated the timing and depth of its analysis, making the Center's research more readily available to those making decisions about candidates, policy and the influence of money. For the 1998 elections, the Center produced online contribution profiles for every federal candidate well before Election Day. For the 2000 elections, the Center unveiled several new groundbreaking features on OpenSecrets.org, including detailed contribution profiles of more than 100 industries and special interest areas, fund-raising breakdowns for federal party committees and analyses of contributions from special interests to members of specific congressional committees.

Today, the Center has expanded the information it analyzes beyond just the Federal Election Commission's offerings on campaign finance. OpenSecrets.org has become a clearinghouse for data and analysis on multiple aspects of money in politics — the independent interest groups flooding politics with outside spending, federal lobbying, Washington's "revolving door", federal earmarks and the personal finances of members of Congress, the president and other officials.

Each year, the Center delivers information in a summarized and easy-to-understand format about the tens of millions of records that our staff processes, standardizes and codes. In 2010, OpenSecrets.org recorded nearly 30 million pageviews from 4.8 million unique visitors.

The unparalleled data we produce helps power the efforts of news organizations, bloggers and activists, extending the reach of our research. We also collaborate with other transparency advocates to encourage government to provide more information to citizens in electronic formats that allow for easier review and understanding. The Center's work has been rewarded many times from a wide range of organizations, including the National Press Club, Voice of America, Yahoo!, Time.com and Forbes magazine. We're especially proud of the four Webby Awards — or "online Oscars" — that OpenSecrets.org has received over the years as a top political website.

Our own reporters have also broke numerous national news stories on our highly regarded OpenSecrets Blog that, along with the Center's unique data, are regularly cited by news organizations such as the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Fox News, CNN, MSNBC and National Public Radio. The Center's experts routinely appear on national news programs and in the pages of major publications providing analysis on political influence issues.

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See our privacy policy."

[-] 3 points by Democracydriven (658) 13 years ago

If you want truly understand what these numbers mean. You have to know how many personal contributions created the totals

A contribution from a union will be made up of millions of small contributions by union workers. It is against federal law for unions to make political contributions from dues money. I all comes Through PAL or PAC funds that the individual member voluntarily donates to.

If a trade association donates money it usually is bigger chunks of money from a much small group of people. They are employers. They are very few compared to workers

If Goldman Sachs donates money it is not approved by the stock holders. It is approved the board and CEO 8-10 people (figure the dollar per donor on that) As a matter of fact they should follow the same rules and unions. They should not be able to use stockholder money for political gain

It’s the dollar per person that tells the tale. Don’t be misled by a post that will create the misperceptions

This list compares “groups” to “single corporations”. Add up all the contributions of all the corporations and then get back to me. It will be huge eye opener

[-] 1 points by bronxj (150) 13 years ago

Not exactly true. Neither corporations or labor organizations may make contributions or expenditures from corporate or union funds in connection with federal elections. They establish PACs. Corporate and labor PACs raise contributions from affiliated individuals and use those funds to support federal candidates and political committees FEC Campaign Guide: http://www.fec.gov/pdf/colagui.pdf

[-] 1 points by Democracydriven (658) 13 years ago

Why didn't you include the total contributions from all corporations in your totals section?

Excluding them is completely dishonest and makes your whole post irrelevant in terms of validity

[-] 1 points by bronxj (150) 13 years ago

I posted a link to an exhaustive database where anyone can find that information.I'm not going to assemble a database of every dollar attributable to every single special interest group, but I feel I did provide a link where that information and more is available.

[-] 1 points by Democracydriven (658) 13 years ago

That a cop out. You left out the part that tells all and now you want others to go find it.

You should delete this piece of propaganda in order to save your credibility

[-] 1 points by bronxj (150) 13 years ago

How is this propaganda? I posted no opinions, solely a database of top funding sources in numerical order with a link to my source.

[-] 1 points by Democracydriven (658) 13 years ago

Did you read any of my previous post?

Anybody can see the false message that people are suppose walk away with

Put the total of all corporations, like you did the other groups and it will be the true message.

If you don't comprehend that maybe a high school kid could help you out

[-] 1 points by bronxj (150) 13 years ago

I assume you are speaking of the PAC list. The PAC list is broken down by industry on the website and that is what I relayed. If you want, no one is stopping you from publishing the individual PAC activity of every single corporation, union, ideological issue etc.

[-] 3 points by redgar (55) 13 years ago

If you click on the detail you will see that this is not how much money each company gave. Its the total of PACs, individual employees, and soft money came from that category. I work for AT&T, if I donate to a political cause I have to report to the government my employer and I get included in the totals above. The problem is not that there is too much money. Its that individuals are not giving to politicians who represent them. Instead they are watching American Idol. The answer is not to limit political donations, but to get the average citizen paying attention.

[-] 1 points by bronxj (150) 13 years ago

Of course. Corporations are not allowed to use corporate funds for campaign donations. Neither corporations or labor organizations may make contributions or expenditures from corporate or union funds in connection with federal elections. They establish PACs. Corporate and labor PACs raise contributions from affiliated individuals and use those funds to support federal candidates and political committees FEC Campaign Guide: http://www.fec.gov/pdf/colagui.pdf

[-] 1 points by Democracydriven (658) 13 years ago

Good point. I posted one similar before I read you

[-] 1 points by redgar (55) 13 years ago

What I find disturbing is that my Congressman may look at these numbers and see that a certain amount comes from Big Company X and think that that is a mandate to support regulation in favor of Big Company X. Why are all of my donations categorized based on who I work for? I give to political causes that support freedom, not my employer.

[-] 1 points by bronxj (150) 13 years ago

That's not how it works. Your personal contribution does not have to be lumped in as your employer's See the following guide by the FEC. http://www.fec.gov/pdf/colagui.pdf

[-] 1 points by Democracydriven (658) 13 years ago

My view is that this list was created to make it seem like corporations donate the least amount of money. Any “fool” can see that all these special interest groups donate more that corporations (not)

The list shows totals for most groups but it “excludes” the “group of all corporations” that would make the rest of the donors pale by comparison

[-] 1 points by number2 (914) 13 years ago

people are surprised to see unions on there?

[-] 1 points by Agent007 (12) 13 years ago

I was just going over your list mate.

I have noticed that out of the top 10 on the list, 6 are labor unions.

Out of the top 20 on the list, 13 are labor unions.

By reading through the many forums on this site, there seems to be a large amount of people who want to get money out of politics.

Does this include removing the political influence of labor unions?

Thanks. Cheers mate.

[-] 1 points by number2 (914) 13 years ago

obviously if OWS is serious and not another hypocrit, that would have to apply to unions, as well.

[-] 1 points by bronxj (150) 13 years ago

I believe the influence of money in politics from any and all special interests should be reduced to the greatest extent possible, but that's just me.

[-] 1 points by demonstrator (167) 13 years ago

plus the billions that are done under the table.

this government is corrupt- they won't allow the publishing of real numbers. they will tell you only what they want you to see.

[-] 1 points by MisguidedYouth2 (165) 13 years ago

Unions are not a problem though...nooooo...how much have the donated to OWS?

[-] 1 points by ramous (765) from Wabash, IN 13 years ago

why so many casinos and native americans

[-] 1 points by bronxj (150) 13 years ago

Don't know. I would imagine they (a) are backing candidates who they feel would be helpful in expanding legalized casinos and (b) are staying politically active to ensure no threat to the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act or any Tribal state compacts

[-] 1 points by ludog23 (51) 13 years ago

Or its an easy way to turn cash into a political donation... you know for those interests that need to remain anonymous...

[-] 1 points by bronxj (150) 13 years ago

Then wouldn't they be much higher on all the lists?

[-] 1 points by ludog23 (51) 13 years ago

Sure.

Its casino gaming money. Legal Indian Casino Gambling which is totally uncorrupted and on the up and up. Just good old fashioned folks playing slots generates that much influence in Washington.