What We're About

by: 21st Century Democrats

Tue Oct 20, 2009 at 16:41

21st Century Democrats is focused on building a progressive movement from the grassroots up.  Our goal is to promote populist values, activists, and candidates.

Contributions: a true measure of corporate influence?

by: skeptic06

Mon Oct 29, 2007 at 12:30

Which reminds me of a question that I've never seen a satisfactory answer to: why do folks count contributions made by a company's employees as if made by the company?

After all, companies have been barred from making contributions themselves to candidates in Federal elections since the Tillman Act of 1907.

There are, of course, corporate PACs, which presumably do their masters' bidding. But the bulk of contributions come direct from individuals.

Riddle me this: if a janitor employed by Microsoft gives $20 to Patty Murray, why is this counted as a contribution by Microsoft?

We have no idea why the janitor gave. Perhaps he thinks she's cute. Perhaps she sent a nice letter to his sick kid. Perhaps he's staunch union guy.

The one motive we can pretty much rule out is a desire on his part to advance the corporate interests of Microsoft in the Senate!

Now, as you move up a company's food chain, the closer to the top you get, the closer the identification you'd expect between the interests of the employees and those of the company. (Share options and all.)

But - how does the company communicate its preferences? And how do we estimate the effect of such communication on employee donors receiving it?

In this case, things are even more difficult to fathom: what we're trying to identify is the effect of the company on a change in the donation habits of its employees - moving their donations from skewing GOP to skewing Dem.

I'm not saying that polisci guys couldn't come up with a methodology that might get us some way towards a solution to the question.

But I am suggesting that an a priori assumption of causality would be deeply misleading.

(Just looking at Hill's numbers to September 30, I see she'd had $80m in individual contributions, compared with $0.75m in PAC contributions, of which only half from corporate PACs. Finding causal chains in that lot - no picnic!)

Reaching the Elusive Swing Voter

by: Doug McKinley

Tue Jul 10, 2007 at 02:16