By Josh Israel, Aaron Mehta, and Caitlin Ginley
The Center for Public Integrity
Long before Congressman John Boehner of Ohio rose to his current position as House Republican Leader, he created the "Thursday Group" -- a weekly discussion around a U.S. Capitol conference room table with conservative and business lobbyists, including representatives of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other influential trade associations. In Washington, those sorts of relationships often pay dividends. So perhaps it's no surprise that Boehner's top career donors include a lobbyist-turned-tobacco executive, two former CEOs of an insurance company, the head of a coal company, and a former telecommunications lobbyist, as well as corporate political action committees for two tobacco behemoths, two shipping companies, and four financial services firms and associations.
Those are the results of the Center for Public Integrity's review of CQ Moneyline information on Boehner's contribution history for both campaign accounts and leadership PACs, dating back to his first federal race two decades ago. The Center's probe of Boehner's finances marks the third in a series of pieces on top donors to Congressional leaders.
Boehner, 60, whose district is in southwestern Ohio, began his career working in the packaging and plastics industry. After two years on the Union Township Board of Trustees and six in the Ohio House of Representatives, Boehner made his first bid for federal office in 1990. Though he raised and spent less than $750,000, he defeated the scandal-plagued incumbent Republican in a primary and easily won the Ohio's 8th Congressional District seat in the general election. He has won more than 60 percent of the vote in his heavily Republican district in every election since.
Following the 1994 Republican takeover in the House of Representatives, Boehner became chairman of the Republican Conference -- the number four position in the leadership -- but after the 1998 elections, he lost the post. The Ohio Republican remained active in Congress and in 2006 returned to the leadership, elected by his party to be Republican Majority Leader. Since his party lost its majority following the November 2006 elections, Boehner has served as House Minority Leader.
Boehner ran for his leadership post on a platform of lobbyist reform, telling Fox News Channel: "I've got a long record of ... reforming Congress, and I think we need more reforms to make sure that there's transparency in the relationship between those who lobby us and members themselves." But much of his campaign funding continues to come from lobbyists. Boehner's Freedom Project leadership PAC has distributed millions of dollars -- mostly raised from other PACs -- to Republican Congressional candidates. Between his PAC and campaign committee, Boehner has taken in more than $30 million in campaign cash. His close ties with lobbyists, however, have turned off even the occasional House Republican -- then-Rep. Chris Shays of Connecticut opposed Boehner's leadership bid in 2006, noting "The problem John faces is that he's so close to K Street.."
Boehner's career has been marked by aggressive support of business interests. He has backed the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's position 93 percent of the time through his Congressional career. The AFL-CIO says he voted against their interests on every vote he cast in 2008 and 2009, and, as of 2008, backed the labor coalition just 5 percent of the time over his career. Boehner authored the 2006 Pension Protection Act, which expanded tax breaks for those who invest in retirement savings plans, and was also behind the law that implemented the U.S. free trade agreement with Oman. He has been a strong opponent of anti-tobacco legislation as well. While Ohio has no tobacco manufacturing facilities, the most recent data available showed the Buckeye State was home to 475 tobacco farms in 2007, though the total has declined dramatically in recent years. Boehner has also reliably opposed the Obama administration -- on the stimulus package, health care reform, Children's Health Insurance Program reauthorization, and financial regulation. One hundred days into Obama's administration, Boehner said the Democratic legislative agenda made him "want to throw up."
Boehner's top five individual contributors combined to provide at least $263,900, or just over two percent of his individual grand total. The top ten PAC supporters kicked in at least $1.77 million, nearly eleven percent of his all-time PAC total.
When reached for a comment, Don Seymour, a spokesman for Boehner, said "Mr. Boehner has been blessed with generous supporters who share his vision of freedom, reform, and a smaller, more accountable government, and who know he's a principled public servant who always does what's right for his constituents and our country."
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RESULTS:
Top 100 donors(1989-2010):
Total: $1,635,865,523
To Dems: 61%
To Repubs: 38%
Top 20 PACs (2010):
Total: $23,189,527
To Dems: 74%
To Repubs: 26%
Foreign-connected PACs (2010):
Total: $5,877,915
To Dems: 56%
To Repubs: 43%
Raw data from:
opensecrets.org
'98 Totals:
$36,986,943 D70% R29%
'00 Totals:
$42,533,199 D71% R29%
'02 Totals:
$44,577,592 D72% R28%
'04 Totals:
$43,700,164 D58% R42%
'06 Totals:
$50,492,571 D63% R37%
'08 Totals:
$53,263,151 D73% R27%
'10 Totals:
$23,189,527 D74% R26%
'98-'10 Totals:
$294,743,147 D68% R32%
http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/list.php
So yeah....maybe its really the dems that don't want you to know the truth...
Top 20 Rank / Organization / Total '89-'09 / Dem % / Repub %
1 AT&T Inc $44,939,504 44% 55%
2 American Fedn of State, County & Municipal Employees $42,582,261 98% 1%
3 National Assn of Realtors $36,258,773 48% 51%
4 Intl Brotherhood of Electrical Workers $31,985,445 97% 2%
5 American Assn for Justice $31,967,129 90% 8%
6 Goldman Sachs $31,837,427 63% 35%
7 National Education Assn $30,371,930 92% 6%
8 Laborers Union $29,255,050 92% 7%
9 Teamsters Union $28,339,684 93% 6%
10 Service Employees International Union $28,293,482 95% 3%
11 Carpenters & Joiners Union $28,024,933 89% 9%
12 American Federation of Teachers $27,464,891 98% 0%
13 Communications Workers of America $27,362,296 99% 0%
14 Citigroup Inc $27,301,168 50% 49%
15 American Medical Assn $26,358,705 39% 60%
16 United Auto Workers $26,241,902 98% 0%
17 Machinists & Aerospace Workers Union $25,403,277 98% 0%
18 National Auto Dealers Assn $24,679,658 32% 67%
19 United Parcel Service $24,482,514 36% 63%
20 United Food & Commercial Workers Union $24,456,633 98% 1%
Based on data released by the FEC on May 16, 2010.
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What's your point? You are telling us nothing that we don't already know - that Congress has been bought and sold by lobbyists and special interests.
Who cares that members of Congress (left, right, up down) are being bankrolled?
Our media and journalists need to explain the reason behind the bankrolling (i.e. look no further than the tax code and it's 20,000 pages of regulations that every lobbyist wants a page written to support their warped view of the world; or out of control deficit spending, trillions of dollars of unfunded liabilities promised by Congress to gain votes; and last but not least - the (money) printing press in the basement).
Then maybe you can start an adult conversation that gets the people riled up enough to do something to fix these problems.
Like repeal the tax code and replace with a flat tax or VAT. A Balanced budget amendment. No more corporate or social welfare subsidies. Limited government. And so on and so forth.