COMMUNICATIONS GIVING TO CANDIDATES DOWN IN 2004 CYCLE

Communications companies had given $53.4 million to federal candidates as of July 5 -- on pace for about $70 million for the election cycle. That would be about 1/2 the $133.3 million given the last Presidential election cycle, and also significantly less than the $114.9 million in the 2002 congressional election. In those elections, however, soft money made up about 1/2 the totals -- $72 million in 2002, $67.7 million in 2000. This year the soft-money figure is zero.

In theory, there needn’t be a drop in communications industry giving, because BCRA also doubled the amount permitted to be given to individual candidates. Now individual donations can be $2,000 in the primary cycle and another $2,000 in the general election cycle, while political action committees (PACs) can give $5,000 each cycle. Donations to parties, while no longer unlimited, are still allowed at $25,000 annually per individual and $15,000 from a PAC. Unlimited donations -- for now -- also are legal to so- called 527 organizations, advocacy groups not affiliated directly with parties (and nicknamed for an Internal Revenue Code section).

But there’s little evidence much of those donations once given as soft money are being rerouted to candidates, parties or 527s. The $39.7 million in donations to individuals by the communications industry as of July 5 surpassed the 2002 cycle total of $25.4 million, but trails the total from the last Presidential election cycle, which was $48.9 million. PAC donations this cycle, at $13.9 million, also have passed the 2002 total of $17.5 million but trail 2000’s total of $16.8 million.

The communications sector is composed of telecom utilities (classified as ILECs, CLECs and IXCs for this survey), telecom manufacturers, mass media industries (broadcasting, cable, satellite, movies and music) and computer and Internet-related companies. Mass media continues to lead in giving, but the computer/Internet sector is closing fast. Even when the telecom infrastructure and equipment sectors are combined, they trail the other sectors in giving, although the Bells and AT&T tend to be at or near the top of the donor list. All 4 sectors are on pace for dramatically reduced giving in the 2004 cycle.

For the 3rd straight election cycle, Democrats are receiving a disproportionate share of communications donations, driven in large part by Democratic giving from Hollywood. About 55% of this cycle’s donations, $29.4 million, are to Democrats, vs. 45% ($24 million) for the GOP. But turning to Congress, Republican House members have received more donations than Democrats. Some 229 Republicans House members have received a total of $7.3 million, while 207 Democrats have received $6.5 million. The Senate numbers are out of balance, though. While 44 Republicans received a total of $2.8 million, 4 fewer Democrats had a much bigger pool to share, $10.4 million. This pattern of giving matches the 2002 cycle; but in 2000 the Senate was more evenly divided in funding.

Microsoft has led the way in donations, surpassing all the Bells, which are historically generous. Microsoft has already given $1.88 million, 61% to Democrats. SBC is 2nd with $1.85 million (66% to Republicans), followed by Time Warner ($1.67 million, 72% to Democrats), Verizon ($1.12 million, 62% to Republicans) and BellSouth ($1.03 million, 58% to Republicans). Some mass-media companies and trade groups in the top 20 favored Republicans, including Comcast, Clear Channel and NAB. Favoring Democrats were Viacom, Disney, GE and News Corp. NCTA has balanced its donations. MCI was the only telecom company to favor Democrats; Qwest, AT&T and Sprint gave more to the GOP. High-tech donors Cisco Systems and Intel balanced their giving almost to the dollar between the 2 parties, while IBM heavily favored Democrats.

Sen. Kerry (Mass.), the Democratic Presidential nominee, leads recipients from the communications sector with just under $5 million, but President Bush is right behind at $4.4 million. Former Presidential candidate and ex-Vt. Gov. Howard Dean (D) brought in $1.9 million, followed by 2 other Presidential candidates, retired U.S. Army Gen. Wesley Clark ($979,247) and retiring Rep. Gephardt (D-Mo.) ($710,436). Two other Presidential hopefuls made the top 10, with Vice Presidential candidate and Sen. Edwards (D-N.C.) taking in $515,064 and Sen. Lieberman (D-Conn.) receiving $512,170. Three senators seeking reelection rounded out the top 10 -- Minority Leader Daschle (D-S.D.) at $639,917, Boxer (D-Cal.) at $565,390 and Specter (R-Pa.) at $427,899.

Daschle was the top communications PAC recipient with $198,856. He was trailed by House Telecom Subcommittee ranking Democrat Markey (D-Mass.) at $177,000, House Commerce Committee Chmn. Barton (R-Tex.) at $155,200, Senate Minority Whip Reid (D-Nev.) at $153,000 and former House Commerce Committee Vice Chmn. Burr (R-N.C.), running for Senate, at $139,609. Bush was 7th at $137,000. Kerry doesn’t accept PAC donations. The rest of the list is a who’s who of communications players in Congress. Other major PAC recipients were Senate Commerce Committee members Dorgan (D- Neb.) ($126,612), Wyden (D-Ore.) ($108,000), Brownback (R- Kan.) ($106,500), Inouye (D-Hawaii) ($95,711) and Chmn. McCain (R-Ariz.) ($103,500); and House members such as Telecom Subcommittee Chmn. Upton (R-Mich.) ($118,798), Financial Services Committee Chmn. Oxley (R-O.) ($107,787), Judiciary Committee Chmn. Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) ($103,156), Courts Subcommittee Chmn. Smith (R-Tex.) ($99,929) and Commerce Committee Vice Chmn. Pickering (R-Miss.) ($94,749).

While tens of millions of dollars in soft money have been pouring into 527s, little appears to be from the communications industry. The top 527s -- Joint Victory Campaign 2004 with $41.7 million, Media Fund ($28.1 million) and America Coming Together (ACT, $26.9 million) -- are a coordinated campaign to defeat Bush. They have received modest communications donations, although the companies listed as donating sometimes reflect an individual employee, not the corporation. Joint Victory has received $200,000 from Loral Space & Communications, $100,000 from Time Warner, $7,500 from MTV, $2,500 from 20th Century Fox and $1,000 from Disney. Media Fund has received $250,000 from the Communications Workers of America (CWA). ACT has $745,000 from RealNetworks and $30,000 from BellSouth. CWA has its own 527, with $2.27 million on hand, all from the union and its affiliates. -- Patrick Ross

Editor’s note: This is the first of a 2-part series on communications donations. Tomorrow’s story will focus on contributions by sector.