As a debate in Washington on Internet regulation hits a new phase, the gulf in political giving between the cable industry and Internet companies — which find themselves on opposite sides of the net-neutrality issue — remains large.
Despite Silicon Valley’s closer embrace of politics, cable giants such as Comcast and AT&T have given far more money to federal candidates and committees for many more years than Internet firms like Google and Facebook. The gap, while closing, is still significant.
Starting with the 2000 election cycle, Comcast, AT&T, Verizon and Time Warner, along with the National Cable & Telecommunications Association, have made more than $62 million in political action committee contributions, according to Federal Election Commission records.
Nine large technology firms, including Google, Facebook, eBay, Amazon and Oracle, have given a total of $22 million. (Apple does not have a PAC, although individual employees have made political contributions.)
Microsoft, with its strong ties to federal government IT systems and large consumer base, has long been the big political giver among technology companies. But that’s changing, because of Google.
Among Political Givers, Cable Beats Tech
Although the two technology giants, Microsoft and Google, have greatly increased their spending, the cable providers spend far more on politicians.
Microsoft’s political action committee has made more than $10 million in contributions to candidates and committees since 1998, and it gave more than $1.7 million in the current cycle. Google first formed its federal PAC during the 2006 election, and since then it has grown rapidly, increasing from $31,000 in contributions to candidates and committees in 2006 to more than $1.5 million in the current cycle. Corporate PACs, though controlled by the company, are funded by contributions from individual executives and managers.
Microsoft and Google Dominate Tech Political Giving
Other than Microsoft, none of Google’s peers even comes close to its level of campaign contributions: not Amazon, which typically gives a total in the low six figures during each two-year election period, or Twitter, which just formed its PAC last year. Facebook, which also is a relative newcomer to political giving, is on an upward path.Having created its PAC in 2011, it has increased its giving in the current cycle to nearly $500,000. Netflix, another fairly recent entry into the world of political giving, has made a small amount of donations.
The Cable Industry Is a Big Political Donor
Net neutrality became a bigger issue in 2010 and contributions spiked.
But none of the technology companies that make political contributions approach the activity of cable companies like Comcast, Verizon or AT&T. The federal committees of Comcast and AT&T have each given more than $3 million —or roughly as much as Google and Microsoft combined — in each of the past three election cycles, while the Time Warner Cable PAC, formed in 2007, exceeded $1 million in contributions during the 2012 election.
In most cases, both cable and technology companies practice bipartisan giving. Google’s PAC split its contributions this cycle roughly equally between Democrats and Republicans, while Comcast’s has given slightly more to Democrats. Rarely do these corporate committees stray outside the 40 percent to 60 percent range for either party.
But cable firms have donated to many more individual lawmakers and committees than their technology counterparts; not just on the crucial House and Senate committees and leadership, but among rank-and-file members who will approve or reject any final legislative proposals. This is partly because of the geographic reach of cable companies, which have employees (and thus congressional representatives) spread across broad areas, and partly because the cable industry has had a longer involvement in politics and government regulation.