Comcast has been touting the wide support it has for a proposed takeover of Time Warner Cable Inc. However, one of those politicians the cable giant says is lined up on its side, Obama operative and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, was a recipient of at least one hundred thousand dollars in campaign donations.
Comcast is the country’s biggest cable and Internet service provider and Time Warner Cable is number two, but Comcast wants to gobble up Time Warner to create one gigantic, coast-to-coast cable and ISP company.
Comcast executive vice president and chief merger lobbyist David L. Cohen recently claimed that nearly 70 mayors and an additional 60 state and local officials have announced support of the merger plans, but this list also seems to correspond to big campaign donations from the cable provider’s employees.
In his announcement, Cohen specifically applauds Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s support of the merger, saying that Comcast is “proud to have the support” of the Windy City mayor.
But one thing Cohen didn’t note in his posting was just how much cash Comcast employees doled out over the years to Emanuel’s various political campaigns.
As the International Business Times reported, Emanuel’s mayoral campaign has received $50,000 in campaign donations from Comcast operatives, an amount that includes $5,000 from Cohen himself.
In addition, Emanuel was the happy recipient of $46,000 in Comcast employee donations when he ran for Congress in the early 2000s as well as $25,000 for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee when Emanuel was chairman of that committee. Another $10K went to his secondary slush fund.
Comcast is unapologetic over its interactions with local and state politicians, though. In a statement, Comcast said it is still “honored to have the support of Mayor Emanuel.”
“We have a long history of working with local officials and community groups to improve the areas where our customers and our employees live and work,” the statement continues.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com
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