Companies Pare Political Donations - WSJ

[question everything]

Republicans Feel the Brunt As New 'Soft Money' Rules Upend Traditional Giving

By JEANNE CUMMINGS
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
June 7, 2004; Page A3

WASHINGTON -- Republicans are getting a cold shoulder from some of their traditional corporate benefactors, putting them at a fund-raising disadvantage against new, well-financed political organizations touting the Democratic message.

A Wall Street Journal survey of the top 20 corporate donors to national political party committees during the 2002 election cycle found that more than half -- including the likes of Citigroup Inc., Pfizer Inc. and Microsoft Corp. -- are resisting giving big-dollar donations to the new, independent organizations that were created after a 2002 campaign-finance reform law restricted such contributions to the political parties.

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Their attitude sends a signal that a major source of the "soft money" -- the large and unlimited donations to the national parties that long fed the political system -- may have dried up, at least in the short term.

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The corporate coyness could be an unexpected fund-raising boon to Democratic presumptive nominee John Kerry, who is enjoying an extraordinary year of fund raising.

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The Democrats' soft-money base, largely comprising labor unions and wealthy liberals, has responded readily, depositing $40.5 million in new organizations, which are playing a significant role in the presidential campaign. For instance, the Media Fund, an advertising organization founded by former Clinton aide Harold Ickes, has spent $15 million attacking President Bush or defending Mr. Kerry. America Coming Together, a voter-mobilization group headed by labor turnout guru Steve Rosenthal, has spent nearly $20 million enrolling new voters that could neutralize or best the grass-roots work of the Bush-Cheney operation in swing states.

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Write to Jeanne Cummings at [e-mail]

URL for this article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB108655780162730003,00.html

[Merlin]

1. Looks like they're tired of the shakedowns.

More:

...
The reticence illustrates an uneasiness on the part of some of the corporations to get sucked back into the world of unlimited political contributions that they thought campaign reform had left behind. They also seem reluctant to give to untested organizations that are dedicated to partisan political activity, rather than to policy or legislative issues.

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Perhaps the biggest reason for the reluctance is many executives felt the soft-money system amounted to extortion of private businesses. "It was bad for the country and bad for the political system. And what's bad for the political system is only bad for business," said Edward A. Kangas, retired chairman of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu who led the corporate fight for passage of the 2002 reform law.