(x-posted at Buyblue.org)
In the race for Montana's senate seat, we see the political war between corporations and citizens.
The public have polled for Democrats, but the corporations have funded the Republican.
Here's a summary of the Montana Senate race.
Incumbent:
Conrad Burns (R )
Challengers:
State Senate President Jon Tester (D)
State Auditor John Morrison (D)
Primary: June 6, 2006
Burns' total contributions from PACs: $1,485,886
Burns' total contributions from individuals: $2,060,900
Tester's total contributions from PACs: $250
Tester's total contributions from individuals: $464,097
Morrison's total contributions from PACs: $48,250
Morrison's total contributions from individuals: $991,832
Burns' Top 15 PACs*
NATIONAL REPUBLICAN SENATORIAL COMMITTEE, $37,300
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF BROADCASTERS TELEVISION AND RADIO POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE, $17,050
WASHINGTON GROUP INTERNATIONAL INC. POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE, $13,300
AMERICA'S FOUNDATION, $10,000
ASSOCIATED GENERAL CONTRACTORS OF AMERICA POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE, $10,000
BATTLE BORN POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE, $10,000
DANIEL WEBSTER PAC, $10000
DEFEND AMERICA PAC $10,000
FREEDOM FUND, $10,000
FUND FOR A CONSERVATIVE FUTURE, $10,000
GENERAL AVIATION MANUFACTURERS ASSOCIATION POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE (GAMAPAC, $10,000
GOOD GOVERNMENT FOR AMERICA COMMITTEE, $10,000
HEARTLAND VALUES PAC, $10,000
KITPAC, $10,000
KPAC, $10,000
*Who are these guys?
With names like Heartland Values, Freedom Fund, Fund for a Conservative Future, these PACs are confederacies of corporations. When you drill down to the corporate contributors to each of these PACs you find the companies from which we buy products and services. (And remember to Vote With Your Wallet.)
National Republican Senatorial Committee:
Some Corporate Contributors:
3M Company
Aetna, Inc.
Alaska Air
Albertson's
Altria
Amgen
Anadarko
Ashland Oil
AT&T
Bank of America
Bellsouth
Cingular
Cigna
Cisco
Citigroup
Clear Channel
Federal Express
Fannie Mae
Ford
General Electric
General Motors
Home Depot
Johnson & Johnson
Metlife
Microsoft
Morgan Stanley
Office of the Commissioner of Major League Baseball
Pfizer
PG&E
RJ Reynolds
Safeway
Shell Oil
Sprint Nextel
Target
Time Warner
Valero
Viacom
Walt Disney
Remember, these are some, not all, corporate contributors to one confederacy, the National Republican Senatorial Committee.
Here's another:
Heartland Values PAC:
Some corporate contributors:
BellSouth
Citigroup
Liberty Mutual
Northwest Airlines
XCel Energy
And another:
Good Government for America Committee:
AT&T
BellSouth
BluePAC - Blue Cross Blue Shield
Federal Express
Home Depot
MCI
Outback Steakhouse
Qwest
Siebel Systems
Union Pacific
Wellpoint Inc
What about Fund for a Conservative Future:
BellSouth
Burlington Northern Santa Fe
Constellation Energy
Duke Energy
Federal Express
General Electric
Kerr-McGee
RJ Reynolds
Siebel Systems
Valero energy
Walmart
XCel Energy
We see that some of the same companies contribute repeatedly to these PACs that contribute to the same candidate, in this case Conrad Burns. We also see them contributing in their own names.
Burns' Top 15 Consumer PACs include
$10000 from SIEBEL SYSTEMS INC EGOVERNMENT PAC SIEBEL PAC
$8000 from CHEVRON EMPLOYEES POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE
$8000 from DUKE ENERGY CORPORATION PAC
$7,700 from EXXONMOBIL CORPORATION POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE (EXXONMOBIL PAC)
$7,500 from GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE
$7,000 from FEDERAL EXPRESS POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE
What do they want from the Senate?
Burns sits on the following committees:
Senate Appropriations
Commerce, Science and Transportation
Energy and Natural Resources
Small Business and Entrepreneurship
Senate Special Committee on Aging
Let's look at one committee, Energy and Natural Resources. The committee is charged with the responsibility of allocating private interests' use of public lands and other resources. This means allocating leases and prices to oil and gas, timber, mining, and other resource-extracting industries. The committee also has jursidiction over electric utilities and nuclear waste disposal.
Let's do one exercise.
Burns received $132,000 from Energy and Natural Resources PACs in 2005. How did Burns vote on Energy matters? According to On The Issues,, Burns voted
NO on disallowing an oil leasing program in Alaska's AMWR. (Nov 2005)
NO on $3.1B for emergency oil assistance for hurricane-hit areas. (Oct 2005)
NO on reducing oil usage by 40% by 2025 (instead of 5%). (Jun 2005)
NO on banning drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. (Mar 2005)
NO on including oil & gas smokestacks in mercury regulations. (Sep 2005)
The serious issues in Montana include energy policy, poverty, education, health care, election reform, regionalism, outside money, and the culture wars. Burns' seniority on Senate committees that vote on the economic interests of Montana, like coal, oil, gas, wind, shale, timber, and grazing means a lot to those employed in those industries.
According to Rasmussen Reports, Burns is in trouble against either Tester or Morrison. In a February 7 survey of 500 likely voters, Rasmussen Reports found Morrison beating Burns 50% to 43% and Tester and Burns at 46% each. This is a loss in points for Burns since January, when he led Morrison by 3% points in a poll. It's a bigger drop in Burns' popularity since September, when he had a double-digit lead against each challenger.
But Burns has beaten both his opponents like gongs in fundraising - from PACs.
In the race for Montana's senate seat, we see the political war between corporations and citizens.
The public have polled for Democrats, but the corporations have funded the Republican.
Which do you think will win?
Why?