Corporate contributions to the Democratic National Convention (DNC) and Republican National Convention (RNC) are expected to top $112 million. However, there is only limited disclosure for these contributions and thus far it is only known where $26.1 million has come from with only a month until the conventions.
While campaign finance regulations govern donations to individual campaigns and parties, there are no similar regulations of contributions to the conventions. The conventions are not subject to such regulations–they can receive money from corporate and union treasuries and individuals can give unlimited amounts of money. Moreover, unlike political advertisements that require disclosure, there are only limited disclosure requirements for the conventions, despite the fact that they essentially function as lengthy campaign commercials.
Due to the lack of regulation, corporations give significant amounts of money to both conventions. Already this year, Qwest Communications is giving $6 million to each convention, Comcast is giving $5 million to the DNC, and Xcel Energy–which operates large nuclear plants–has given $1 million to both conventions. For corporations, who are unable to give money directly to candidates, this creates an opportunity to win the party’s favor and possibly gain influence over the party’s candidates. Given the astronomical costs of these conventions, the Democrats and Republicans are extremely grateful for the contributions, a situation wherein corporations may seek influence on legislation.
An interesting example of this is with the telecommunications industry, which recently spent heavily to pass legislation granting the industry immunity from several lawsuits over an illegal domestic surveillance program. In addition to giving money to individual legislators, telecommunications companies have also given significant amounts of money to both conventions–especially the Democratic National Convention. As many folks will likely remember, the Democrats’ reversed their opposition to the immunity provision and many–heavily supported by telecommunications money–recently voted to grant immunity. As a thank you, each delegate (many of whom are elected and party officials) and member of the media will receive the following bag–complete with the logo of one of the major benefactors of the immunity provision:
Related posts:
- Party Conventions being Funded by Major Corporations
- Report: Pro-CAFTA Representatives saw Boost in Corporate PAC Contributions
- House Democrats who Changed their Votes on Telecommunications Immunity Received More PAC Contributions
- Report Details Influence Peddling at Political Conventions
- Wide Range of Corporate Sponsored Gatherings Await Convention Delegates
