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Everything You Wanted to Know About Which Corporations Fund Which Candidates

Follow Me on Twitter     Message Timothy Gatto
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People have asked me on my radio show http://www.blogtalkradio.com/liberalpro and in comments on my articles exactly who is taking money from corporate America and what corporate sectors they take this money from. I have in the past told them to check out the Center for Responsive Politics and more importantly, their website with all the facts and figures ; http://opensecrets.org . I have decided to reprint information from this important site to let people know who is giving how much to who in case people forget or are not inclined to look these things up on their own. I also would like to point out a few salient facts that have influenced me through the years that I believe will give anyone that cares about our representative republic pause.

I also believe that even the most principled people can forget that their primary responsibility is to represent their constituents. These are the people that live in the districts and the states that they represent, and yes, even the businesses and corporations that may make that location their base. I do not feel that because a large corporation does business there qualifies them to be thought of as a constituent. I also believe that campaign financing is the single largest problem that we face as a nation when it comes to one person=one vote. The inequality of some having a larger voice than others is a problem that invariably leads to an oligarchy, where a certain segment of the population has most of the influence and a large segment of the population is not thought to have much influence at all in their government.

The Presidential Elections give us an opportunity to see who is using their wealth to buy influence in America. When we watch the candidates make speeches to the American people and ask for a chance to represent us, wee must ask ourselves if this is just paying lip service to the people in order to convince us to mark our ballots for them, or is it a sincere statement? I would like to point out that Hillary Clinton and Barak Obama are calling for Universal Health Care for ALL Americans. This is an ongoing campaign issue that is mentioned every four years and never seems to become a reality, fading into the background after the votes are tallied. The same for “saving Social Security”, which was a huge issue in the 2000 elections (remember that famous “lockbox”). Yet look at the money she takes from the insurance sector and the health care industry.

Americans must understand that absolutely nothing is off the table when it comes time to select a President. I could easily bring up many issues that were never acted on after the election of a President. What is different about this election is that the internet, with its access to instant information replete with facts and figures can enable anyone to do research that would have taken much time and a commitment that most people don’t have the expertise to accomplish. With a few keystrokes we can now have that information at hand in minutes. I feel that there is no longer any excuse to take anyone’s word that they are working in our best interests. Here is some information on the Democratic candidates that I have compiled to help you see who has a vested interest (literally) in seeing these candidates are elected. I hope it helps you to see through the smoke and mirrors that the candidates use to prevent you from seeing the truth.

Hillary Clintons Corporate Sponsors:

DLA Piper $356,100 Goldman Sachs $350,050 Morgan Stanley $323,550 Citigroup Inc $307,350 EMILY's List $211,642 National Amusements Inc $193,850 JP Morgan Chase & Co $173,350 Kirkland & Ellis $172,000 Skadden, Arps et al $151,460 Greenberg Traurig LLP $150,900 Cablevision Systems $135,113 Merrill Lynch $125,550 Time Warner $124,150 Lehman Brothers $123,450 Bear Stearns $120,580 Patton Boggs $118,400 Ernst & Young $110,650 Blank Rome LLP $105,100 Latham & Watkins $100,950 News Corp $99,350

Clintons Contributions by Sector:

Agribusiness $526,725

Communications/Electronics $4,358,597

Construction $1,294,220

Defense $125,583

Energy & Natural Resources $574,658

Finance, Insurance & Real Estate $12,275,878

Health $2,642,547

Lawyers & Lobbyists $10,164,698

Transportation $399,232

Misc Business $7,865,353

Labor $84,100

Ideological/Single-Issue $644,373

Other $7,583,119

 

Barak Obama’s Top Donors.

Goldman Sachs $369,078 Lehman Brothers $229,090 National Amusements Inc $220,950 JP Morgan Chase & Co $216,759 Sidley Austin LLP $203,325 Exelon Corp $194,750 Citigroup Inc $180,650 Citadel Investment Group $166,600 Jones Day $158,400 Skadden, Arps et al $150,900 UBS AG $146,150 Time Warner $142,718 Harvard University $141,700 University of California $126,972 Jenner & Block $122,419 Kirkland & Ellis $111,951 UBS Americas $106,680 Morgan Stanley $104,425 WilmerHale $102,360 Credit Suisse Group $92,300

Obama’s Contributions by Sector:

Agribusiness

$315,628

Communications/Electronics

$4,417,360

Construction

$863,210

Defense

$59,500

Energy & Natural Resources

$489,909

Finance, Insurance & Real Estate

$9,725,720

Health

$2,139,510

Lawyers & Lobbyists

$8,017,283

Transportation

$270,565

Misc Business

$6,159,079

Labor

$18,750

Ideological/Single-Issue

$272,186

Other

$8,775,424

Edward’s Corporate Sponsors

ActBlue $1,965,274 Fortress Investment Group $187,850 Stearns, Weaver et al $131,000 Lerach, Coughlin et al $93,950 Goldman Sachs $77,100 Whitten, Nelson et al $66,250 Girardi & Keese $64,400 Beasley, Allen et al $61,850 Watts Law Firm $61,000 Morgan & Morgan $60,050 Skadden, Arps et al $54,950 Deutsche Bank AG $54,750 Citigroup Inc $49,200 Sidley Austin LLP $43,950 Brent Coon & Assoc $42,700 Kramer, Dillof et al $36,400 Motley Rice LLC $36,200 Baron & Budd $35,590 Brayton Purcell $35,100 Weitz & Luxenberg $34,600

Edward’s Contributions by Sector

Agribusiness $100,260

Communications/Electronics $897,270

Construction $151,670

Defense $16,000

Energy & Natural Resources $62,306

Finance, Insurance & Real Estate $2,048,905

Health $536,176

Lawyers & Lobbyists $8,180,050

Transportation $52,900

Misc. Business $1,146,929

Labor $24,100

Ideological/Single-Issue $2,026,011

Other $1,903,237

I have decided to include both Democrats and Republicans in the next section as it was just as easy to include them as not. Notice that in the section money taken from lobbyists that as John Edwards has stated, the person that has received the most is indeed a Democrat. Notice also that the two Democrats that claim they have “never taken a dime from lobbyists” have indeed taken many dimes from lobbyists, so much for the truth.

Money Taken from Lobbyists

Hillary Clinton (D) $567,950

John McCain (R) $340,365

Christopher J. Dodd (D) $233,875

Mitt Romney (R) $229,475

Rudolph W. Giuliani (R) $212,100

Bill Richardson (D) $134,950

Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D) $114,460

Fred Thompson (R) $90,000

Barack Obama (D) $76,859

Duncan Hunter (R) $30,900

John Edwards (D) $18,900

Sam Brownback (R) $17,225

Mike Huckabee (R) $6,964

Tom Tancredo (R) $250


Commercial Banks

Hillary Clinton (D)

$935,658

Barack Obama (D)

$865,856

Mitt Romney (R)

$600,091

Rudolph W. Giuliani (R)

$598,501

John McCain (R)

$583,700

Christopher J. Dodd (D)

$454,000

Bill Richardson (D)

$164,114

John Edwards (D)

$153,650

Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D)

$134,575

Fred Thompson (R)

$94,625

Ron Paul (R)

$28,541

Mike Huckabee (R)

$26,500

Sam Brownback (R)

$20,012

Duncan Hunter (R)

$6,900

Tom Tancredo (R)

$2,625

Dennis J. Kucinich (D)

$1,000

Alan Keyes (R)

$201


Computers/Internet

Barack Obama (D)

$940,459

Hillary Clinton (D)

$883,125

Mitt Romney (R)

$555,502

Rudolph W. Giuliani (R)

$310,795

John McCain (R)

$252,675

Ron Paul (R)

$214,394

John Edwards (D)

$182,585

Fred Thompson (R)

$105,161

Bill Richardson (D)

$81,807

Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D)

$49,950

Christopher J. Dodd (D)

$43,775

Sam Brownback (R)

$40,300

Duncan Hunter (R)

$20,550

Mike Huckabee (R)

$16,700

Mike Gravel (D)

$12,550

Dennis J. Kucinich (D)

$11,000

Tom Tancredo (R)

$7,500


Health Professionals

Hillary Clinton (D)

$1,695,830

Barack Obama (D)

$1,330,743

Mitt Romney (R)

$1,041,267

Rudolph W. Giuliani (R)

$1,026,452

John McCain (R)

$568,880

John Edwards (D)

$419,326

Bill Richardson (D)

$370,443

Ron Paul (R)

$179,550

Fred Thompson (R)

$174,675

Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D)

$122,400

Sam Brownback (R)

$79,879

Christopher J. Dodd (D)

$75,400

Mike Huckabee (R)

$70,750

Dennis J. Kucinich (D)

$20,050

Tom Tancredo (R)

$15,200

Duncan Hunter (R)

$8,550

Mike Gravel (D)

$2,000

Alan Keyes (R)

$1,000

Hedge Funds

Rudolph W. Giuliani (R)

$1,157,900

Hillary Clinton (D)

$980,700

Barack Obama (D)

$976,574

Mitt Romney (R)

$947,500

Christopher J. Dodd (D)

$915,950

John McCain (R)

$331,850

John Edwards (D)

$252,550

Bill Richardson (D)

$129,400

Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D)

$61,200

Fred Thompson (R)

$34,200

Sam Brownback (R)

$20,150

Ron Paul (R)

$6,300

Tom Tancredo (R)

$1,500

Duncan Hunter (R)

$1


Insurance

Christopher J. Dodd (D)

$713,012

Mitt Romney (R)

$629,167

Rudolph W. Giuliani (R)

$530,615

Hillary Clinton (D)

$525,938

Barack Obama (D)

$390,513

John McCain (R)

$246,524

Bill Richardson (D)

$179,508

John Edwards (D)

$129,600

Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D)

$84,575

Fred Thompson (R)

$80,700

Ron Paul (R)

$34,821

Mike Huckabee (R)

$23,550

Sam Brownback (R)

$12,950

Duncan Hunter (R)

$6,350

Tom Tancredo (R)

$1,850

Dennis J. Kucinich (D)

$1,250

Mike Gravel (D)

$500


Lawyers/Law Firms

Hillary Clinton (D)

$9,596,748

John Edwards (D)

$8,161,150

Barack Obama (D)

$7,940,424

Rudolph W. Giuliani (R)

$3,203,396

John McCain (R)

$2,214,820

Mitt Romney (R)

$2,143,975

Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D)

$2,031,848

Bill Richardson (D)

$1,546,715

Christopher J. Dodd (D)

$1,097,750

Fred Thompson (R)

$709,364

Ron Paul (R)

$82,609

Sam Brownback (R)

$72,759

Mike Huckabee (R)

$68,506

Duncan Hunter (R)

$26,300

Dennis J. Kucinich (D)

$19,051

Tom Tancredo (R)

$8,950

Mike Gravel (D)

$2,000


Oil & Gas

Rudolph W. Giuliani (R)

$545,058

Mitt Romney (R)

$309,933

Hillary Clinton (D)

$220,550

John McCain (R)

$189,935

Bill Richardson (D)

$126,600

Fred Thompson (R)

$112,650

Barack Obama (D)

$106,112

Sam Brownback (R)

$54,415

Christopher J. Dodd (D)

$38,550

Ron Paul (R)

$34,102

John Edwards (D)

$27,850

Mike Huckabee (R)

$18,450

Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D)

$16,650

Tom Tancredo (R)

$6,450

Mike Gravel (D)

$2,000

Duncan Hunter (R)

$1,800


Pharmaceuticals/Health Products

Hillary Clinton (D)

$269,436

Barack Obama (D)

$261,784

Mitt Romney (R)

$260,535

Rudolph W. Giuliani (R)

$138,850

Christopher J. Dodd (D)

$84,400

John McCain (R)

$69,300

Bill Richardson (D)

$28,950

Fred Thompson (R)

$26,900

Ron Paul (R)

$20,568

John Edwards (D)

$15,000

Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D)

$13,425

Sam Brownback (R)

$12,750

Dennis J. Kucinich (D)

$5,100

Duncan Hunter (R)

$4,050

Tom Tancredo (R)

$3,250

Mike Gravel (D)

$2,208

Mike Huckabee (R)

$500


Real Estate

Hillary Clinton (D)

$3,939,008

Mitt Romney (R)

$3,271,481

Rudolph W. Giuliani (R)

$2,921,988

Barack Obama (D)

$2,292,188

John McCain (R)

$1,666,880

Bill Richardson (D)

$801,460

Christopher J. Dodd (D)

$716,858

John Edwards (D)

$638,755

Fred Thompson (R)

$493,600

Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D)

$483,034

Ron Paul (R)

graph$122,756

Mike Huckabee (R)

graph$90,607

Sam Brownback (R)

graph$61,408

Duncan Hunter (R)

graph$23,250

Tom Tancredo (R)

graph$20,950

Dennis J. Kucinich (D)

$13,950

Mike Gravel (D)

$1,300


Securities & Investment

Hillary Clinton (D)

$4,735,730

Rudolph W. Giuliani (R)

$4,506,026

Barack Obama (D)

$4,505,199

Mitt Romney (R)

$3,561,387

Christopher J. Dodd (D)

$2,609,566

John McCain (R)

$1,781,260

John Edwards (D)

$773,600

Bill Richardson (D)

$549,250

Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D)

$355,300

Fred Thompson (R)

$300,375

Ron Paul (R)

$89,054

Sam Brownback (R)

$78,201

Mike Huckabee (R)

$77,727

Duncan Hunter (R)

$8,350

Tom Tancredo (R)

$7,600

Dennis J. Kucinich (D)

$1,750

Mike Gravel (D)

$750


Telephone Utilities

John McCain (R)

$176,800

Hillary Clinton (D)

$106,300

Barack Obama (D)

$84,936

Rudolph W. Giuliani (R)

$38,150

Mitt Romney (R)

$25,200

Fred Thompson (R)

$21,950

John Edwards (D)

$18,761

Bill Richardson (D)

$14,450

Sam Brownback (R)

$11,200

Ron Paul (R)

$10,452

Christopher J. Dodd (D)

$10,450

Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D)

graph$1,000

Mike Huckabee (R)

graph$1,000

Mike Gravel (D)

$500


Tobacco

Rudolph W. Giuliani (R)

$77,400

Christopher J. Dodd (D)

$45,900

Hillary Clinton (D)

$36,600

Mitt Romney (R)

$32,400

Barack Obama (D)

$8,885

John McCain (R)

$5,600

Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D)

$4,000

Fred Thompson (R)

$1,250

Bill Richardson (D)

$1,000


TV/Movies/Music

Barack Obama (D)

$2,203,317

Hillary Clinton (D)

$2,142,921

John Edwards (D)

$458,990

John McCain (R)

$386,325

Rudolph W. Giuliani (R)

$376,826

Bill Richardson (D)

$270,200

Christopher J. Dodd (D)

$231,020

Mitt Romney (R)

$181,175

Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D)

$86,850

Fred Thompson (R)

$77,800

Ron Paul (R)

$44,045

Dennis J. Kucinich (D)

$42,125

Sam Brownback (R)

$22,347

Mike Huckabee (R)

graph$13,450

Duncan Hunter (R)

graph$8,800

Mike Gravel (D)

$4,700

Tom Tancredo (R)

$2,000

 

I hope that this gives you a little insight into how our campaign finance system works and how the McCain-Feingold Campaign Reform Act was too little, too late and how it has not made any difference in this election. This is proof on how our government is influenced by corporations. Unless you believe that people can take money from corporations and give them nothing in return, you must also wonder why the corporations continue to give money to politicians. You may notice that the top political contributions have been to Democrats. This was not the case in the last election or the one before that. Corporations give to both sides, hedging their bets. It is interesting how many foreign corporations and multi-national corporations give to politicians. Why would they do that, Patriotism?

That’s the way I see it.

Thanks to The Center for Responsive Politics and http://opensecrets.org for the information provided.

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Timothy Gatto Social Media Pages: Facebook page url on login Profile not filled in       Twitter page url on login Profile not filled in       Linkedin page url on login Profile not filled in       Instagram page url on login Profile not filled in

Tim Gatto is Ret. US Army and has been writing against the Duopoly for the last decade. He has two books on Amazon, Kimchee Days or Stoned Colds Warriors and Complicity to Contempt.

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