Corporations buy influence and ‘civic pride’ with DNC cashBy J.C. O'Connell 7/23/08 8:55 AM
More than 100 sponsors, many of them corporations, are footing the bill for this summer’s Democratic National Convention in Denver Aug. 25-28. Most donors won’t respond to queries about why they coughed up cash; others say their companies have given out of civic pride. But some say such corporate donors are seizing a political opportunity as they pump cash into the system via convention host committees.
-snip
From the report:
Since the FEC loosened its restrictions on donations to host committees for convention expenses in 1994, private financing of conventions has exploded from $8.4 million in 1992 to at least $103.5 million in 2004. Between 1992 and 2000, the number of donors who gave at least $500,000 to a host committee increased from one to thirty-two, including fourteen givers of at least $1 million. 2004 has seen the advent of the $5 million cash donor.
While campaign finance reform laws forbid corporate giving directly to candidates running for federal office, and big businesses routinely skirt contribution limits by contributing to PACs, convention host committees can serve as a legal way of funneling money to major political parties.
Depending on how much a company donates, its representatives may get a variety of benefits, including access to the convention, a mention in the convention’s guide, invitations to welcoming events, and even hotel rooms during the convention, Lopez said, although he couldn’t outline the different levels of sponsorship the committee had asked for or their respective perks.
Qwest has given the Denver host committee what appears to be, at $6 million, the highest donation. The telecommunications company contributed an equal amount to the Republican National Convention in what some call a “cover your bets” strategy that’s aimed at getting access to more than convention-related perks.
The committee’s Web site contains a secondary sponsor list of “Summit Club members,” or local organizations that have contributed undisclosed, but presumably smaller, amounts to the committee.
Allstate, State Farm, Target and Lockheed Martin are among the companies donating equal, undisclosed amounts to both convention host committees, according to company representatives.“You want access to the White House no matter who wins,” Duffy added.
CFI has already identified 37 companies that are donating to both conventions’ host committees this year.
Lopez said the host committee will continue to solicit donors until the convention’s Aug. 25 kickoff. The committee’s online list of recognized sponsors isn’t necessarily comprehensive, he added.
He said he was unaware of the total number of donors, the number of repeat donors or the average donation amount.
Among the companies that have made more than one contribution is Wells Fargo, which initially donated $250,000 to the host committee and contributed an additional $52,800 after a request for funds from Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, said company spokeswoman Cristie Drumm.
Hickenlooper, Gov. Bill Ritter, Sen. Ken Salazar, host committee chairwoman Elbra Wedgeworth and Denver lawyer and political power broker Steve Farber have been soliciting potential donors on the host committee’s behalf, Lopez said.
“That such high-level political firepower as senators and governors and big-time national party fundraisers has to be deployed, and special access to policymakers dangled, to coax out the corporate money suggests it is sometimes not something they want to do naturally,” Weissman said. “In many cases their executives are already giving significant limited contributions, and corporations have well-connected lobbies. But once they give unlimited ‘soft money’ to support the party convention, it does create additional pressure on politicians to be supportive.”
Duffy puts it another way: “What they’re hoping is that somebody will remember
.”
http://coloradoindependent.com/4490/corporations-buy-influence-and-civic-pride-with-dnc-cash
---------
It’s…………Party Time!
POSTED BY
Ellen Miller
Today, we are launching a new Web site, Party Time, a project to track parties thrown at the 2008 Democratic and Republican National Conventions as well as fund raising activities by all lawmakers running for Congress that happen all year round in Washington, D.C. and beyond.
The count of parties and events we’ve heard about scheduled for the Democratic and Republican National Conventions is now above 400-and counting. As we noted the other week, here, these convention parties are often sponsored by corporate interests such as Citi, Eli Lilly and Qwest, as well as powerhouse lobbying firms such as Patton Boggs. They continue despite new ethics reforms intended to rein in excesses of special interest bashes for members of Congress. Many of these party hosts are also sponsors of the conventions’ host committees, major donors to federal candidates and party committees and are also big spenders on federal lobbying.
So, for example:
* AT&T is hosting more than a dozen parties at both conventions, most of them parties for different state delegations. The company is also underwriting both the Democratic and GOP Convention committees, and happens to be the #2 top donor to federal and candidates and parties since 1989, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. AT&T has spent more than $3 million on federal campaign contributions and lobbying combined in 2008 alone, 60% of which is directed to the GOP. It has also spent another $3.2 million on federal lobbying.
* Qwest’s CEO, Ed Mueller, is hosting an event at the Denver Art Museum on Monday, August 25. The company is also giving the Democratic and GOP Convention host committees a total of some $12 million in direct and in-kind contributions. Qwest has given $682,000 to federal candidates and parties so far this election cycle, and spent $1.7 million on lobbying.
* A long list of financial service powerhouses are sponsoring a “financial literacy brunch” at the Democratic National Convention, including Allstate, AEGON, Bank of America, Capitol One, Charles Schwab, Edward Jones, Fidelity, Genworth, MasterCard, Mutual of Omaha, Nationwide, Principal Financial Group, State Farm, NASDAQ, US Bank, Visa, Wachovia and Wells Fargo. These companies are major campaign contributors and lobbying forces in Washington.
http://blog.sunlightfoundation.com/2008/08/19/it%e2%80%99s%e2%80%a6%e2%80%a6%e2%80%a6%e2%80%a6party-time/#more-5078
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
