SECTOR
# OF MEMBERS
Finance, insurance, and real estate 57
Lawyers and lobbyists 25
Health 5
Agribusiness 3
Labor 2
Energy and natural resources 2
Miscellaneous business 2
Communications and electronics 1
No money raised 3 (clear)
Some fodder from Mother Jones:
What if members of Congress were seated not by party but according to their major business sponsors? We gave it a try.
Politics makes stange bedfellows.....this piece in liberal Mother Jones was collected and posted on Republican, ultra conservative, presidential candidate Ron Paul.
Corporate Sponsors of Congress
More on the early money race for 2012, now that Hurrican Irene has passed and the debt ceiling crisis has been kicked down the road:
Here is a great article from yesterday's NYTimes on the impact on Citizen United v. FEC. It gives a good overview on how presidential candidates can raise unlimited amounts of money in addition to the normal FEC funds.
And,
In June, the second fundraising quarter came to a close. And with it, political fortunes were made and crushed for the men and women running for president in 2012.
Money is seen as an early indicator of momentum — the more you have of the first, the more you are likely to have of the second.
So who will win the cash dash? We explore that question in today’s “Fast Fix” episode:
Fast Fix: Campaign Cash Dash
2 comments:
The ruling of Citizens v. FEC was correct. Wether you think corporations are people or not is irrelevant - that is just a Democrat talking point. The case was ever Citizens United - a non-profit - would be allowed to release a video about Hillary Clinton and run ads for it before the primaries. BCRA stopped them from doing that. The First Amendment states that Congress shall make no laws infringing the right to free speech. It doesn't say "free speech of the people" - just free speech. And everyone and everything is entitled to free speech - corporations, unions (which supported the ruling by large), non-profits (such as the ACLU, which also supported the ruling), etc.
Iman, money isn't free speech though. A commercial on TV is, but the money that was used to buy the commercial isn't. The FEC is allowed to set a limit on how much money can be spent in an election. How much airtime you get is up to how much you'll get charged for it. Because of the ruling corporations and even foreign groups will be able to spend unlimited amounts in our elections. Even if all those groups support it, it doesn't make it right.
Also check mah blog!
http://wikileaks.org/
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