Once again, a bold little propaganda piece is littering the neighborhood.
At first glance, it looks like a genuine side-by-side comparison of Hillary Clinton's "Top Ten Campaign Donors" versus Bernie Sanders' "Top Ten." The contrast leads to an obvious conclusion that fits like bullshit on a bumper sticker:
"She represents banks and corporations. He represents people."
The misleading numbers for Clinton's campaign donors were cooked up from contributions by individuals that were aggregated and listed under their employer's name.
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The
figures were cherry-picked from the Center for Responsive Politics website,
Open Secrets, where the same list of contributions is presented with details that show the amounts donated by individuals versus the amounts donated by PACs:
98% of Clinton's campaign funds were donated by individuals.
Only 1% of Sander's campaign funds were donated by individuals. The rest was donated by PACs.
98% of Clinton's campaign funds were contributions by individuals (the orange-shaded column) but their employer was listed as the donor. http://www.opensecrets.org/...
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Although 98% of Clinton's total was contributed by individuals, Open Secrets listed the amounts under the name of their employers. It’s an important point because it implies that the donations were directed by bank and corporation entities which would have been illegal.
Clinton has always had
strong support from labor unions. Open Secrets omitted their contributions entirely.
The Federal Election Commission website is the best source for campaign donation data which is available free to the public.
Easily retrievable records show labor union PAC donations that exceed the amounts listed by Open Secrets.
For example, the report at the link lists several independent expenditures over a million dollars for Clinton’s 2008 campaign.
- $2,300,759.31 by the American Federation of State County & Municipal Employees
- $1,784,808.59 by the American Federation of Teachers
- $1,303,971.54 by Emily's List
Here’s a list of Clinton’s Top 20 Contributors for her 2006 campaign for Senator and her 2008 campaign for President. The list was compiled from FEC downloads of:
- Individual Contributions by Persons to campaign committees
- Committee Contributions to candidate campaign committees
- Independent Expenditures by PACs to support candidates
Rank
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
20
20
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Contributor
State, County & Municipal Employees
State County & Municipal Employees - PEOPLE
American Federation of Teachers
American Federation of Teachers, Committee On Political Ed
Emily's List
Womencount PAC
Machinists and Aerospace Workers
Office and Professional Employees Union
National Association of Letter Carriers
New York's Health and Human Service Union
Union of Painters and Allied Trades
National Organization For Women PAC
Amalgamated Transit Union
Civil Service Employees
The Denver Group
Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers
Letter Carriers Political Action Fund
80-20 PAC
Buell, Susie T
Bridge, Structural, Ornamental & Reinforcing Iron Workers
Price Waterhouse Coopers PAC
Union of Operating Engineers Local 68
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Amount
$ 9,256,392
$ 2,361,515
$ 1,981,247
$ 1,884,936
$ 1,474,449
$ 304,748
$ 258,105
$ 253,706
$ 150,365
$ 140,041
$ 73,460
$ 69,474
$ 68,104
$ 44,829
$ 37,296
$ 32,609
$ 26,941
$ 20,928
$ 20,636
$ 20,000
$ 20,000
$ 20,000
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Here’s a list of Sanders Top 20 Contributors for his 2006 campaign for Senator and his 2012 campaign for Senator:
Rank
1
2
3
4
5 (tie)
5 (tie)
5 (tie)
5 (tie)
5 (tie)
5 (tie)
5 (tie)
5 (tie)
5 (tie)
14 (tie)
14 (tie)
14 (tie)
17
18
19 (tie)
19 (tie)
19 (tie)
19 (tie)
19 (tie)
19 (tie)
19 (tie)
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Contributor
Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee
Vermont Democratic Party
Union of Operating Engineers
Machinists & Aerospace Workers
United Steelworkers Political Action Fund
UNITE HERE
Credit Union Legislative Action Council
American Postal Workers Union
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers
American Federation of Teachers Committee On Political Edn
International Association of Firefighters
National Association of Realtors
Searchlight Leadership Fund
Laborers' International Union
United Transportation Union
National Education Association Fund For Children/Public Ed
Democratic Socialists of America PAC
Teamsters Union
Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners
Service Employees International Union
Sheet Metal Workers
Transport Workers Union
Naral Pro-Choice America PAC
National Community Action Foundation
Green Mountain PAC
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Amount
$ 97,300
$ 49,996
$ 20,100
$ 20,083
$ 20,000
$ 20,000
$ 20,000
$ 20,000
$ 20,000
$ 20,000
$ 20,000
$ 20,000
$ 20,000
$ 18,000
$ 17,500
$ 17,500
$ 15,613
$ 15,500
$ 15,000
$ 15,000
$ 15,000
$ 15,000
$ 15,000
$ 15,000
$ 15,000
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More than half of the donors who contributed to Sanders' campaigns also contributed to Clinton's. The Democratic Party donors at the top of his list are a surprise.
Where did the contributions from Wall Street PACs place?
Goldman Sachs was the biggest donor. It's $10,000 placed it in a tie at #71.
Bank of America's $6.000 donation placed at #164.
Morgan Stanley's $3,500 donation landed at #363.