Campaign finance -- the IT industry learns to play the game


Microsoft Corporation's anti-trust problems added another major reason for the increased campaign donations. In the 2000 election, Microsoft was the largest campaign contributor in the industry donating over $ 4.5 million to federal candidates, divided 54 to 46 percent in favor of Republicans. The next largest contributor in 2000 was America Online, with $1.8 million, divided 52 to 47 percent in favor of the Democrats. In 1996, Microsoft ranked sixth among contributing companies in the industry, giving about $237,000, with a slight edge then for Democratic candidates.

In 2002 donations, soft money spending and partisanship are up

So far in the 2002 election for the entire House of Representatives and a third of the Senate (based on Federal Election Commission reports dated 1 January 2002), CRP data show the IT industry has given some $5.8 million in campaign contributions. But this year, the soft money donations have jumped to nearly $3.5 million or 60 percent of the total. In the entire 1998 election, the most recent comparable off-year (non-Presidential) election, the industry spent some $4 million in soft money, and the 2002 election is still 10 months away.

As in most of the previous elections, donations overall generally favor the Republican candidates, 57 to 42 percent. But the overall party division hides the increasing partisan polarization of campaign contributions by individual companies. Most of the major contributors in the industry -- Microsoft, EDS, Gateway, Cisco Systems, Oracle, Intuit, Intel, and Dell -- favor the Republicans in their donations by two-to-one or three-to-one ratios, but still providing some contributions to Democrats.

A few of the larger ($100,00 or more) contributors give exclusively to Democratic candidates: Propel.Com, Geopartners Research, and Jamcracker. However, they are more than offset by a larger number of Republican-only contributors: Thruport Technologies, Adforce Inc., OmniSky Inc., ADCS Inc., and Unisys Corp (96 percent to Republicans). Only eBay, with donations split 58 to 42 percent in favor of Democratic candidates, comes close to the bi-partisan pattern seen just two years earlier.

Broadband legislation, the next big issue

High-speed Internet access has become the major battleground issue, but unlike most previous issues where the industry could speak with something approaching one voice, broadband legislation splits the industry. The main piece of legislation is the Internet Freedom and Broadband Deployment Act bill H.R. 1542, also known as the Tauzin-Dingell bill after its sponsors, Representatives. Billy Tauzin (R-LA) and John Dingell (R-MI). Tauzin and Dingell are also the chair

The copyright of the article Campaign finance -- the IT industry learns to play the game in Technology & U.S. Politics is owned by Alan Kotok. Permission to republish Campaign finance -- the IT industry learns to play the game in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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