The Big Spenders in Politics

You would think that the organizations consistently giving the most money to American politicians would be big businesses, right? After all, we hear plenty about corporate control of Washington, so logically, you might assume that they’re buying their influence.
But take a look at this list of the top ten donors between 1989 and 2008.*

American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees ($39,106,885)
AT&T Inc ($38,436,035)
National Association of Realtors ($31,241,156)
National Association for Justice ($28,005,639)
National Education Association ($27,335,150)
Goldman Sachs ($27,162,732)
Intl Brotherhood of Electrical Workers ($27,027,936)
Laborers Union ($26,068,139)
Service Employees International Union ($25,225,643)
Carpenters & Joiners Union ($25,164,032)

Only two of the top ten are corporate. The …read more