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Top political donors: 1989-2012

Posted: Fri Dec 30, 2011 5:20 pm
by Wonk
Thought this might interest some folks.  I used to think that the majority of political donations were from corporations and to republicans.  Seems that's not true.  Check this out:

http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/list.php?order=A

I was surprised to learn that none of the top 10 donors in the last 22 years have been primarily to republicans.  Only one(#19) out of the top 20 is decidedly republican.  Four of the remaining 19 top donors are equal opportunity types and an astounding 15 out of the top 20 are decidedly democrat--including Goldman Sachs!  It's amazing how much influence unions have even today.  It would be great if someone organized a PAC for taxpayers to counterbalance the power unions wield over politicians.  Looking at a list like this makes it easy to see why budgets are blowing out at every level of government--from local all the way to federal.

Re: Top political donors: 1989-2012

Posted: Fri Dec 30, 2011 7:17 pm
by Tortoise
That's an eye-opener, Wonk!

Note specifically how the political donations from the big defense contractors on that list--Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Raytheon, General Dynamics, Northrop Grumman, and Honeywell--are all categorized as "on the fence," i.e., about evenly split between Republican and Democrat.

Re: Top political donors: 1989-2012

Posted: Fri Dec 30, 2011 11:17 pm
by Storm
Tortoise wrote: That's an eye-opener, Wonk!

Note specifically how the political donations from the big defense contractors on that list--Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Raytheon, General Dynamics, Northrop Grumman, and Honeywell--are all categorized as "on the fence," i.e., about evenly split between Republican and Democrat.
When you absolutely, positively, must have a war tomorrow, you need to bribe both parties equally...

Re: Top political donors: 1989-2012

Posted: Sat Dec 31, 2011 1:59 am
by stone
What is the point of Goldman Sachs giving money to the Rupublicans? The Rupublicans (appart from Ron Paul perhaps) are allready captured. They need to ensnare any voting constituency that would otherwise want to snuff them out.

Re: Top political donors: 1989-2012

Posted: Sat Dec 31, 2011 7:06 am
by Reub
stone wrote: What is the point of Goldman Sachs giving money to the Rupublicans? The Rupublicans (appart from Ron Paul perhaps) are allready captured. They need to ensnare any voting constituency that would otherwise want to snuff them out.
Yeah. That is like Al Sharpton giving money to Democrats. :)