Telecom, Media Industry PAC Money Seeks to Sway Fate of Senate

AT&T's PAC donated $172,500 to Republican Senate candidates, compared with $100,500 to Democratic Senate candidates in the 2014 election cycle, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Verizon donated $151,000 to GOP candidates vying for the Senate compared with $122,000 to Democrats. CenturyLink dropped $45,800 for Republicans and $32,000 for Democrats. USTelecom's PAC gave slightly more to Republican Senate candidates, $18,500 versus $17,500. Sprint's gave $61,500 to Republican Senate choices and $53,000 to their Democratic counterparts.

“This is the grease that opens the door for the later lobbying,” Consumer Watchdog Privacy Project Director John Simpson told us of such industry PAC spending. “Probably in most cases it’s going to tilt toward incumbents.” Media firms and telcos “have very active PACs,” said Sunlight Foundation Editorial Director Bill Allison, calling AT&T one of the “most prolific donors of all time.”

Top executives gave money directly to their company PACs. AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson contributed several hundred dollars to the AT&T PAC on a regular basis, as did AT&T Mobility CEO Ralph de la Vega. Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam, similarly, regularly gave thousands to his company’s PAC.

“There’s no surprises there,” remarked Mark Cooper, research director at the Consumer Federation of America. “The Supreme Court has said money is speech.” Some of the spending follows from the partisan nature of politics today, he said. In the case of AT&T, he said, Senior Executive Vice President Jim Cicconi is vice president of the George Bush Presidential Library Foundation: “They’re going to lean Republican.”

Allison predicted AT&T may be “more ideologically oriented” and also lean Republican because it sees its business interests more aligned with that party. It may be “looking a couple Congresses ahead” in anticipation of “bumping up against” Comcast and other media companies in certain battles, he said. Companies will all be scrambling for the best deals for themselves if Republicans proceed with overhauling the Communications Act, Allison said. AT&T and Verizon have strongly backed that endeavor. “A telecommunications battle can be really bruising,” Allison said.

The telecom and media companies represent more mature Washington spending than tech industry players, with an understanding of the process and balanced donations less about “immediate impact” and more with an eye toward buying access to future key players on relevant committees, Simpson said. He did not judge the political spending to necessarily be that tilted in favor of one party, suggesting the difference in Verizon’s Senate spending tallies was “not really too far apart.”

The PAC donation trend was mixed among slightly smaller companies. Windstream gave more to Democratic Senate candidates, for instance, $40,500 compared with $23,500 for Republican candidates. T-Mobile also favored Democratic Senate candidates, donating $63,000 to them and $50,500 to Republicans. NTCA gave slightly more to Democratic Senate candidates -- $48,000 compared with $47,500 for Republicans. XO Communications and tw telecom spent more than twice as much on Democratic candidates for the Senate as Republican, with XO’s donations running $29,000 to $10,000 and tw’s numbers $33,000 to $15,000. TDS Telecom spent $2,000 on Republican Senate candidates and $1,250 on Democratic ones.

AT&T and Verizon PACs far topped those of other telecom companies in political spending, donating $2.4 million and $1.85 million respectively this cycle to candidates for both the House and the Senate. That overall spending also favored Republicans by several hundreds of thousands of dollars in both cases. The Center for Responsive Politics clocked 18 political action committees spending money in the telephone utilities category, spending $5.87 million overall and with 59 percent of that money going to Republicans.

Different for Media Companies

Comcast PAC money has flowed toward Democrats vying for the Senate, despite a very balanced set of donations in its $1.68 million in spending this cycle overall. It donated $171,500 to Democratic Senate candidates and $130,000 to Republican ones. Time Warner Cable narrowly preferred Democratic Senate candidates as well, that split emerging $93,500 to $86,399 in PAC spending. The same held true for NCTA, which spent $148,000 on Senate Democratic candidates and $115,000 on Republicans.

“Comcast has really become a big spender in the last decade,” Allison said, noting it makes sense that it would spend on Democratic Senate candidates. Comcast CEO Brian Roberts has golfed with President Barack Obama and Executive Vice President David Cohen has hosted Obama fundraisers, Allison said. He also cited Comcast’s ownership of NBCUniversal and the Hollywood tilt toward Democratic candidates, chalking some of that giving to the individual donations from within that broader company.

Comcast’s proposed acquisition of TWC is also a huge priority for both of those companies, Allison said, citing Comcast’s many advertisements throughout the Washington area touting the deal’s benefits. “You are going to tilt to whoever is incumbent,” Allison said. “You need the people who are in power right now.”

NAB, too, favored Democratic Senate candidates, giving $111,356 to them and $85,000 to GOP contenders from its PAC. Both NCTA and NAB donations did favor Republicans overall, despite favoring Democratic candidates for the Senate.

Many other media companies followed suit. Disney spent $61,500 on this cycle’s Democratic Senate choices, far more than $18,500 offered to Republicans. The American Cable Association offered $62,500 to Democratic Senate candidates as opposed to $23,500 to Republican ones. DirecTV gave $68,000 to Democratic Senate contenders and $48,000 to Republicans. Dish Network gave $69,000 to such Democratic candidates compared with $11,500 to Republicans. Cox Enterprises was one major exception among media companies, donating $87,000 to Democratic Senate candidates and $105,750 to Republicans. Clear Channel also gave slightly more to Republican contenders than Democrats, on average.

Markey, Booker, Pryor Benefited

Top recipients of industry PAC money included candidates who first were elected in special elections last year, earlier in the 2014 cycle, namely Sens. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Cory Booker, D-N.J., both Communications Subcommittee members. Their records showcase many donations from these sectors, the totals encompassing money that went to their initial elections as well as for their election bids for full Senate terms this November.

“You spend your budget,” Cooper said, considering industry money flowing to the special elections from earlier in the cycle.

AT&T’s top donations of $10,000 went to Democratic candidate Bruce Braley of Iowa, who is running for an open seat, and Republican challenger Cory Gardner of Colorado, who is running against Democratic incumbent Mark Udall. Gardner, currently a House Communications Subcommittee member, also received CenturyLink’s top donation of $10,000. Verizon gave Booker far more than it did other candidates this cycle, at $15,000. But Verizon’s $10,000 donations all went to Republicans: incumbent Sens. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., and Tim Scott, R-S.C., and GOP candidates Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia and Mike Rounds of South Dakota. USTelecom gave more to Communications Subcommittee member Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska, than any other candidate, donating $3,000. Begich has prioritized rural telecom issues. Tw telecom gave more than twice as much to Markey, at $18,500, than it did to its next highest recipient, Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman Mark Pryor, D-Ark., who is in a highly contested race. XO gave Markey $15,000, three times as much as it gave its next highest recipient. Sprint and T-Mobile also gave Markey’s campaign coffers far more, by several thousand dollars, than any other lawmaker this cycle.

Comcast made Markey its top recipient this cycle, giving $16,000, followed by $15,000 donations to Booker and Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss. TWC also gave more to Markey -- formerly a veteran House lawmaker who focused on telecom -- than anyone else, at $10,500. NCTA gave Markey and Cochran its top offerings of $15,000 each. NAB gave Markey and Senate Minority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, its top donations of $10,000 each. The ACA spent $22,500 on Markey’s bids, more than twice what it spent on the next highest recipients, Braley, Pryor and Gardner. DirecTV gave $20,000 to Markey, followed by $9,000 to Pryor.

Markey and Booker, despite accepting heavy donations from some stakeholders, may face little difficulty this November. The Rothenberg Political Report judges both those seats safely Democratic. Other incumbents such as Begich, Pryor and Udall, are considered more vulnerable and in races generating more fundraising battles. Democrats have a 55-45 majority, and Republicans would need to win six seats this November to gain control of the chamber. They are likely to win five to eight seats, according to Rothenberg.

“None of the companies do this out of the goodness of their heart,” Consumer Watchdog's Simpson said, alluding to the rise of a broader culture of donations and entrenched lobbying. “They do it for influence and access.”