UNIVISION'S CHIEF EXECUTIVE AMONG BUSH'S BIGGEST FUND-RAISERS

On an individual basis, Perenchio, his wife and other family members have given the maximum $2,000 allowable by law for individuals. Other Univision executives and their families have contributed to the Bush campaign, including Vice Chmn. Robert Cahill, Exec. Vp Andrew Hobson and Exec. Vp-Gen. Counsel Douglas Kranwinkle. Altogether, on an individual basis, the Univision board appeared to have donated $38,000 to the Bush effort. At HBC, CEO McHenry Tichenor and his wife each has given the maximum allowable.

Perenchio also is a partner in Chartwell Partners, an investment group that during the 2002 election cycle was responsible for $769,500 in political contributions to Republicans, giving 99% of its donations to the GOP, according to data from the Center for Responsible Politics. Chartwell was one of the Top 20 largest contributors in the TV/Movie/Music industry sector for 2002.

Common Cause Research Dir. Celia Wexler said she saw a “very troubling” correlation between money and influence. “It certainly creates the appearance of a conflict of interest because you have a big fund-raiser now coming hat- in-hand to an agency dominated by appointees from the Administration,” she said. Wexler said it would be “naive” to think that although the FCC was an independent agency, the commissioners were oblivious to what she called “political vibrations.” She said the money in that case was of particular concern because of the growing political importance of the Hispanic demographic in politics. “If Spanish is your primary language, then you're going to tune in to Spanish TV. If your sources of information all come from one company and that company has a pretty clear political agenda, that’s not good for Democracy,” Wexler said. According to data from Common Cause, Univision, which supported the FCC’s loosening of ownership rules, gave more than $1.67 million in soft money and PAC donations to the national parties and federal candidates between Jan. 1995 and Dec. 2002. Univision gave $99,000 to Democrats and more than $1.57 million to Republicans.

Larry Noble, exec. dir. of the Center for Responsible Politics, said the fact that Univision’s executives had given large sums of money to the Bush campaign meant the company “can’t be seen as hurting when they have a merger up before the FCC.” However, he said it was impossible to say in a given case that there was a connection between money and influence. “But it definitely appears that way to people and it definitely raises that suspicion when you see contributions being given when a company has a big issue before the Administration,” he said.

A Univision spokeswoman said Perenchio’s political beliefs had nothing to do with the merger. “Jerry Perenchio’s political affiliation is irrelevant to the way Univision is run, the way its news is covered and the way the company is operated. His political views are irrelevant,” she said. Univision declined to comment further. An NAB spokesman declined to comment, citing a general association policy of refraining to comment on merger applications. An FCC spokesman said the agency reviewed all cases on the merits and denied political influence played a role in that consideration.

Opponents of the merger generally argue that the combination of Univision -- the No. 1 Spanish-language TV outlet -- and HBC -- the No. 1 Spanish-language radio outlet -- would have too strong an influence and drastically reduce competition in many areas of the country. Proponents generally argue that the merger for the first time would give a Spanish-language media company the same kind of muscle as NBC/Telemundo and News Corp. and put it on an equal footing in an era when economies of scale were increasingly important.

One party that has been particularly antagonistic to the Univision merger is Spanish Bcstg. System (SBS), which itself tried unsuccessfully to merge with HBC and which has hinted that the Justice Dept. gave Univision a bye in allowing the merger, even with concessions. The company recently released a document that said DoJ had given the merger “extremely favorable” treatment. The document said the Univision merger decree gave the company considerably more time -- years, in fact -- to divest some Entravision stock than is typical of such orders and didn’t require total elimination of its Entravision interest, “which conflicts with the requirements imposed on nearly all prior parties in consent decrees entered into by the present administration,” the document said.

According to Bush 2004 campaign records, SBS Chmn. Emeritus Raul Alarcon Sr. (father of CEO Raul Alarcon Jr.) gave the maximum allowable $2,000 individual contribution to Bush, as did his wife Alma Alarcon. Records from the Center for Responsible Politics show Raul Alarcon Jr. was a supporter of Democrat Al Gore in his failed presidential campaign, giving at least $2,000. Alarcon Jr. also supported the New Millennium PAC, a Democratic political action committee, giving it at least $10,000, and gave money to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. He also gave at least $5,000 to the Republican Party of Florida Federal Campaign Account for the 2002 election. An SBS spokesman didn’t return several messages seeking comment.