BUSH DOMINATES FUND-RAISING AMONG TELECOM EXECUTIVES
If telecom executives were to choose our next President, George W. Bush apparently would win in a walk. With only 5 months remaining before the Iowa caucuses, telecom executives are giving in significant amounts to the Bush reelection effort, with Democrats such as Sens. Kerry (D-Mass.) and Lieberman (D-Conn.) trailing, according to an analysis of 70,000 individual donations reported to the Federal Election Commission (FEC). Lieberman’s poor performance among telecom executives contrasts with his impressive performance among Internet-related executives, highlighted in today’s Washington Internet Daily. These 2 stories conclude a 5-part series (CD Aug 27 p4, Aug 28 p3).
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With soft money to political parties banned under the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA), there is more focus than ever on recruiting hard money for Presidential campaigns, and an accelerated primary schedule has increased the pressure on candidates to raise money early. BCRA raised the maximum amount an individual could give to a candidate in the primary cycle to $2,000, a limit many telecom executives have hit. According to FEC data compiled by the Center for Public Integrity, the communications sector as a whole gave $227 million in soft money to the Democratic and Republican parties in the 2000 and 2002 campaigns, slightly favoring Democrats.
Although most political action committees (PACs) of communications companies in this study have not yet given to a Presidential campaign, many telecom PACs already have begun to give, with all of that money going to Bush. The PACs for AT&T, Qwest, SBC and USTA gave Bush $5,000 apiece, while $2,000 PAC donations to Bush came from BellSouth, CompTel, CTIA and Qualcomm. From speaking with PAC dirs. and company officials for some of these companies, it appears much of this giving stems from aggressive fund-raising by the Bush campaign. That $2,000 donation from BellSouth’s PAC “was the price of admission to an event we wanted to attend,” a company’s spokesman said. “We tend to respond to requests [for donations]… We don’t go running around saying, ‘Here, take our money.'”
Telecom PACs that have yet to contribute to a 2004 Presidential campaign include AT&T Wireless, Avaya, Cable & Wireless, Covad, CTIA, Cingular Wireless, Corning, Lucent, MCI, Motorola, Nortel Networks, NTCA, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon and Verizon Wireless. Presidential campaigns this year have been relying much more on individual donations than on PAC donations, however. Former Vt. Gov. Howard Dean (D), Sen. Edwards (D-N.C.), Rep. Kucinich (D-O.), former Sen. Carol Braun (D-Ill.), Rev. Al Sharpton (D), Lieberman and Bush all have raised 96% or more of their funds from individual donations, which doesn’t include PAC money.
PAC donations don’t always correspond with a company or trade association’s executives. While CTIA’s PAC gave $2,000 to Bush, Democrat Tom Wheeler, outgoing CTIA pres., gave $2,000 to Kerry. However, CTIA Senior Vp-Govt. Relations Steve Berry and Senior Vp-Communications Christina Martin gave Bush $2,000 apiece, and the trade group’s incoming president, former Rep. Steve Largent (Okla.), is a Republican. USTA Pres. Walter McCormick gave Bush $2,000, echoing the $5,000 donation of his group’s PAC.
Telecom issues have not been front and center in the Presidential campaign. Telecom issues aren’t addressed significantly on any candidate’s Web site and haven’t surfaced in stump speeches. But while ILECs are appealing the FCC’s Triennial UNE Review (see separate story, this issue), they have been encouraged by the efforts of FCC Chmn. Powell, appointed by Bush, to deregulate telecom. An examination of past donations by ILEC PACs, however, shows that historically they have given fairly equal amounts to Democrats and Republicans, a record not reflected in 2004 Presidential campaign giving.
Verizon employees seem determined to reelect the President, although the company’s PAC has not donated to any campaign. At least 17 executives gave Bush $2,000 and another 4 gave $1,000. Among the $2,000 donors are CEO Ivan Seidenberg, Vice Chmn. Lawrence Babbio, Verizon Wireless CEO Dennis Strigl and Senior Vp-Public Policy Thomas Tauke; CFO Doreen Toben gave $1,000. At SBC, former FCC Comr. Patricia Dennis gave $1,000 to Bush, but despite the company’s $5,000 PAC donation to Bush, SBC Pres. William Daley gave $2,000 apiece to Rep. Gephardt (D-Mo.) and Kerry. AT&T executives also gave to Bush, including $2,000 from lobbyists James Cicconi, Carol Wilner and Paige Cassidy, and $1,000 from lobbyist Jot Carpenter. Nextel Chmn. Morgan O'Brien gave Bush $2,000.
Among telecom donations of $1,000 or more, Gephardt received 2 from Sprint executives and Lieberman one from BellSouth. Kerry received $2,000 donations from officials of ALTS, U.S. Cellular and Nextel and $1,000 from a Qualcomm executive. Sen. Edwards (R-N.C.) until recently served on the Senate Commerce Committee and now is on the Senate Judiciary Committee, but those seats don’t seem to have helped him recruit telecom donations, as none surfaced in Washington Internet Daily’s analysis. The FEC’s list of donations to Edwards reveals many contributions to the former trial lawyer from employees of law firms.