When you eat a pizza from Domino's or buy a book from Barnes & Noble, you could unwittingly be making a campaign contribution. On today's Please Explain, we ask how much corporations donate to political parties, who's getting the money, and what the companies get in return. Larry Noble is the former executive director and general counsel for the Center for Responsive Politics. He's currently working with the law firm Skadden Arps and advises corporations on how to comply with campaign finance laws. Carol Pott is the editor of The Blue Pages: A Directory of Companies Rated By their Politics and Practices.
The Blue Pages is available for purchase at amazon.com
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Comments [2]
Your contributions are only attributed to a company if you list a company name on your donation form. If you do not list a company name your individual donation is attributed solely to you. Obama actually received quite a bit of PAC money but his individual contributions were historic in number.
I noticed that just about every politician received campaign contributions from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Obama got very little PAC money, but considerable Individual Contributions. Why are individual contributions labeled as being from Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac? If I work for Ford Motor Co., GM, Microsoft, etc...is my $100 contribution to Obama, or McCain, going to be listed as being part of, or from, these companies?
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