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
| $935,658 | |
| $865,856 | |
| $600,091 | |
| $598,501 | |
| $583,700 | |
| $454,000 | |
| $164,114 | |
| $153,650 | |
| $134,575 | |
| $94,625 | |
| $28,541 | |
| $26,500 | |
| $20,012 | |
| $6,900 | |
| $2,625 | |
| $1,000 | |
| $201 |
| $940,459 | |
| $883,125 | |
| $555,502 | |
| $310,795 | |
| $252,675 | |
| $214,394 | |
| $182,585 | |
| $105,161 | |
| $81,807 | |
| $49,950 | |
| $43,775 | |
| $40,300 | |
| $20,550 | |
| $16,700 | |
| $12,550 | |
| $11,000 | |
| $7,500 |
| $1,695,830 | |
| $1,330,743 | |
| $1,041,267 | |
| $1,026,452 | |
| $568,880 | |
| $419,326 | |
| $370,443 | |
| $179,550 | |
| $174,675 | |
| $122,400 | |
| $79,879 | |
| $75,400 | |
| $70,750 | |
| $20,050 | |
| $15,200 | |
| $8,550 | |
| $2,000 | |
| $1,000 |
Hedge Funds
| $1,157,900 | |
| $980,700 | |
| $976,574 | |
| $947,500 | |
| $915,950 | |
| $331,850 | |
| $252,550 | |
| $129,400 | |
| $61,200 | |
| $34,200 | |
| $20,150 | |
| $6,300 | |
| $1,500 | |
| $1 |
| $713,012 | |
| $629,167 | |
| $530,615 | |
| $525,938 | |
| $390,513 | |
| $246,524 | |
| $179,508 | |
| $129,600 | |
| $84,575 | |
| $80,700 | |
| $34,821 | |
| $23,550 | |
| $12,950 | |
| $6,350 | |
| $1,850 | |
| $1,250 | |
| $500 |
| $9,596,748 | |
| $8,161,150 | |
| $7,940,424 | |
| $3,203,396 | |
| $2,214,820 | |
| $2,143,975 | |
| $2,031,848 | |
| $1,546,715 | |
| $1,097,750 | |
| $709,364 | |
| $82,609 | |
| $72,759 | |
| $68,506 | |
| $26,300 | |
| $19,051 | |
| $8,950 | |
| $2,000 |
| $545,058 | |
| $309,933 | |
| $220,550 | |
| $189,935 | |
| $126,600 | |
| $112,650 | |
| $106,112 | |
| $54,415 | |
| $38,550 | |
| $34,102 | |
| $27,850 | |
| $18,450 | |
| $16,650 | |
| $6,450 | |
| $2,000 | |
| $1,800 |
Pharmaceuticals/Health Products
| $269,436 | |
| $261,784 | |
| $260,535 | |
| $138,850 | |
| $84,400 | |
| $69,300 | |
| $28,950 | |
| $26,900 | |
| $20,568 | |
| $15,000 | |
| $13,425 | |
| $12,750 | |
| $5,100 | |
| $4,050 | |
| $3,250 | |
| $2,208 | |
| $500 |
| $3,939,008 | |
| $3,271,481 | |
| $2,921,988 | |
| $2,292,188 | |
| $1,666,880 | |
| $801,460 | |
| $716,858 | |
| $638,755 | |
| $493,600 | |
| $483,034 | |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
| $13,950 | |
| $1,300 |
$122,756
$90,607
$61,408
$23,250| $4,735,730 | |
| $4,506,026 | |
| $4,505,199 | |
| $3,561,387 | |
| $2,609,566 | |
| $1,781,260 | |
| $773,600 | |
| $549,250 | |
| $355,300 | |
| $300,375 | |
| $89,054 | |
| $78,201 | |
| $77,727 | |
| $8,350 | |
| $7,600 | |
| $1,750 | |
| $750 |
| $176,800 | |
| $106,300 | |
| $84,936 | |
| $38,150 | |
| $25,200 | |
| $21,950 | |
| $18,761 | |
| $14,450 | |
| $11,200 | |
| $10,452 | |
| $10,450 | |
|
| |
|
| |
| $500 |
| $77,400 | |
| $45,900 | |
| $36,600 | |
| $32,400 | |
| $8,885 | |
| $5,600 | |
| $4,000 | |
| $1,250 | |
| $1,000 |
| $2,203,317 | |
| $2,142,921 | |
| $458,990 | |
| $386,325 | |
| $376,826 | |
| $270,200 | |
| $231,020 | |
| $181,175 | |
| $86,850 | |
| $77,800 | |
| $44,045 | |
| $42,125 | |
| $22,347 | |
|
| |
|
| |
| $4,700 | |
| $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.
