The Five Biggest Corporate Political Donors in 2012

A new analysis by Douglas A. McIntyre and Alexander E. M. Hess of 24/7 Wall St. has determined the five companies who have donated the most money to political parties, candidates, and PACs.  

At number five with total 2012 contributions of $2,370,150was Jeffrey Katzenberg’s Dreamworks Animation SKG Inc. Ninety-ninepercent of all Dreamworks’s political donations went to the DemocraticParty. 

Coming in at number four was AT&T. The telecom giant’s 2012contributions so far total $2,504,219. Thirty-five percent of itscontributions flow to the Democratic Party and 65 percent to theRepublican Party. This year AT&T has spent $7,050,000 on lobbying.

The third largest corporate political contributor was the ComcastCorporation. Total contributions for 2012 are $4,769,994, which break29 percent to the Democratic Party and 71 percent to the RepublicanParty. In 2012, Comcast has spent $1,380,000 on lobbying. Havingcontributed $194,650, Comcast Executive Vice President David Cohen isthe company’s largest direct political donor.

Since 1989, investment titan Goldman Sachs has contributed astaggering $39 million in political donations.  This year, Goldman comesin at number two with $4,769,994 donated thus far. Seventy-one percent of Goldman’s donations have gone to the RepublicanParty and 29 percent to Democrats. Goldman has spent $1,380,000 onlobbying in 2012. The 2008 campaign saw Goldman spending the most ithas ever spent on political contributions, giving just over $7 million.

And the number one corporate political donor for 2012 is SheldonAdelson’s Las Vegas Sands, Corp., who has given $11,738,600, 100 percentof which has gone to the Republican Party. Mr. Adelson emerged as animportant force in the Republican Primary when he decided to donate $7.5million to the Gingrich-backing Winning Our Future PAC. Mr. Adelson and his wife Miriam have also made $15 million in individual contributions through the Adelson Drug Clinic. 

The rankings were based off of figures obtained through the Center for Responsive Politics website, opensecrets.org.