Industry Put Money on Dingell in Campaign
The telecom and technology industries gave almost twice as much campaign money to Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., as they did to Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif. He toppled Dingell to become the Commerce Committee’s chairman. Telecom trade groups and technology companies gave Dingell $178,000, compared with $94,500 for Waxman, according to CQ’s Political Moneyline campaign finance reports. Overall, Dingell received $1.9 million in contributions from PACs in the 2008 campaign, vs. $610,210 for Waxman, reports said.
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Large companies gave Dingell slightly more than Waxman. That’s not surprising, since Waxman’s post-election challenge for the committee chair was a surprise to most in the industry. Dingell also received more from most communications trade groups than Waxman did, including $10,000 each from the NCTA and NAB, $6,000 from the CEA, and $5,000 each from USTelecom and the National Telecommunications Cooperative Association, Moneyline figures show. The NCTA gave Waxman $10,000. The NAB, CEA, USTelecom and NTCA didn’t give to the Waxman campaign, Moneyline data show. Waxman did receive contributions of $1,000 each from the CTIA and the American Cable Association, neither of which gave to Dingell.
Waxman, a longtime supporter of copyright protections, drew support from recording, music and movie industry trade groups, most of which shunned the Dingell campaign. Contributions to Waxman included $3,000 from the Motion Picture Association of America, $2,000 from the Recording Industry Association of America and $2,000 each from Warner Music and Universal Music, Moneyline said. None of them contributed to Dingell. But Viacom gave Dingell $3,000. Clear Channel gave Dingell $7,500 and nothing to Waxman.
Wireless companies gave about the same to both candidates. Sprint-Nextel gave each campaign $5,000. Waxman collected $3,000 from T-Mobile, $2,000 from Verizon Wireless and $1,000 each from Alltel and Qualcomm. Alltel and US Cellular gave Dingell $4,000 each. Cable companies were slightly more generous to Dingell, with Comcast giving him $10,000, compared with $7,500 to Waxman. Dingell also received $5,000 from Time Warner Cable and $5,000 from the company’s PAC. Time Warner Cable gave Waxman $4,500 and the company’s corporate PAC gave him $2,500.
CBS gave Dingell $4,000. Fox gave Waxman $3,000. Univision gave Dingell $10,000, one of seven entities to give the maximum $10,000 candidate contribution. Disney gave him $7,500, vs. $10,000 to Waxman. Viacom gave Dingell $3,000. California entertainment and technology companies continued a long history of supporting Waxman, Sony heading the list with a $5,000 contribution. Google gave Dingell $10,000, and Moneyline didn’t list a company contribution to Waxman. Reports are still being compiled. EBay and Microsoft each gave Waxman $1,000.