DATA RELEASE: Telco PACs Gave $8K to Dems Who Changed Their Vote on FISA Bill

Submitted by Pamela Behrsin on Jun 23, 2008

House Dems Who Changed Their Vote To Support FISA Bill, Giving Immunity To Telcos, Received, On Average, $8,359 In PAC Contributions From Verizon, AT&T, And Sprint

BERKELEY, CA, June 24, 2008 - Last week, on June 20, the House of Representatives approved a compromise bill to amend the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA). The bill sets new electronic surveillance rules that effectively shield telecommunications companies from lawsuits resulting from the government’s warrantless eavesdropping on phone calls and viewing emails of private citizens in the U.S. Approximately 40 lawsuits have been filed with potential damages totaling in the billions of dollars.

On March 14 of this year the House passed an amendment that rejected retroactive immunity for phone carriers who helped the National Security Agency carry out the illegal wiretapping program without proper warrants. Ninety-four House Democrats voted in favor of this measure--rejecting immunity--on March 14, then ‘changed’ to vote in favor of the June 20 House bill--approving immunity.

“Why did these ninety-four House members have a change of heart?” asked Daniel Newman, executive director of MAPLight.org, “Their constituents deserve answers.”

MAPLight.org's research department compiled PAC campaign contributions from Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint and correlated them with the voting records of all House members who voted on last week’s FISA bill. (The analysis used data from CRP; contributions were from January 2005 through March 2008). Here are the findings:

Comparing Democrats' Votes (March 14th and June 20th votes):

Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint gave PAC contributions averaging:

$8,359 to each Democrat who changed their position to support immunity for Telcos (94 Dems)
$4,987 to each Democrat who remained opposed to immunity for Telcos (116 Dems)

88 percent of the Dems who changed to supporting immunity (83 Dems of the 94) received PAC contributions from Verizon, AT&T, or Sprint during the last three years (Jan. 2005-Mar. 2008). See below for list of these 94 Dems.

All House Members (June 20th vote):

Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint gave PAC contributions averaging:

$9,659 to each member of the House voting "YES" (105-Dem, 188-Rep)
$4,810 to each member of the House voting "NO" (128-Dem, 1-Rep)

MAPLight.org's research department findings are based on the combination of contribution data from the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP) with voting data from GovTrack.us<.

"Campaign contributions bias our legislative system,” said Daniel Newman, Executive Director of MAPLight.org. “Simply put, candidates who take positions contrary to industry interests are unlikely to receive industry funds and thus have fewer resources for their election campaigns than those whose votes favor industry interests."

Democrats who changed their voting to support immunity for Telcos:

PAC contributions from Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint (January 2005 - March 2008).

	Contribution	House Member	District
1	29500	Clyburn, James	SC-6
2	29000	Hoyer, Steny	MD-5
3	28000	Emanuel, Rahm	IL-5
4	27500	Boucher, Frederick	VA-9
5	26000	Meeks, Gregory	NY-6
6	24500	Crowley, Joseph	NY-7
7	24500	Pelosi, Nancy	CA-8
8	24000	Bean, Melissa	IL-8
9	22500	Edwards, Thomas	TX-17
10	22100	Baca, Joe	CA-43
11	21500	Engel, Eliot	NY-17
12	19000	Bishop, Sanford	GA-2
13	18500	Moore, Dennis	KS-3
14	18500	Spratt, John	SC-5
15	18500	Thompson, Bennie	MS-2
16	16000	Melancon, Charles	LA-3
17	15500	Cuellar, Henry	TX-28
18	15500	Stupak, Bart	MI-1
19	15000	Ackerman, Gary	NY-5
20	14800	Butterfield, George	NC-1
21	14300	Tanner, John	TN-8
22	14000	Kind, Ronald	WI-3
23	13500	Barrow, John	GA-12
24	13500	Gordon, Barton	TN-6
25	12500	Costa, Jim	CA-20
26	12500	Ross, Mike	AR-4
27	12000	Green, Al	TX-9
28	12000	Hinojosa, Rubén	TX-15
29	11000	Cardoza, Dennis	CA-18
30	11000	Schiff, Adam	CA-29
31	10000	Boswell, Leonard	IA-3
32	9000	Boyd, F.	FL-2
33	9000	Tauscher, Ellen	CA-10
34	8500	Skelton, Ike	MO-4
35	8000	Ellsworth, Brad	IN-8
36	7500	Gutierrez, Luis	IL-4
37	7500	Rahall, Nick	WV-3
38	7000	Harman, Jane	CA-36
39	7000	Langevin, James	RI-2
40	7000	Lipinski, Daniel	IL-3
41	7000	Reyes, Silvestre	TX-16
42	6500	Matheson, Jim	UT-2
43	6500	Scott, David	GA-13
44	6500	Wilson, Charles	OH-6
45	6000	Cleaver, Emanuel	MO-5
46	6000	Etheridge, Bob	NC-2
47	6000	Herseth Sandlin, Stephanie	SD-0
48	6000	Salazar, John	CO-3
49	5500	Hastings, Alcee	FL-23
50	5500	McCarthy, Carolyn	NY-4
51	5500	McIntyre, Mike	NC-7
52	5000	Davis, Artur	AL-7
53	5000	Murtha, John	PA-12
54	5000	Ortiz, Solomon	TX-27
55	4500	Brown, Corrine	FL-3
56	4500	Donnelly, Joe	IN-2
57	4000	Berman, Howard	CA-28
58	4000	Bishop, Timothy	NY-1
59	4000	Dicks, Norman	WA-6
60	4000	Lowey, Nita	NY-18
61	4000	Mahoney, Tim	FL-16
62	3000	Murphy, Patrick	PA-8
63	3000	Smith, Adam	WA-9
64	2500	Arcuri, Michael	NY-24
65	2000	Altmire, Jason	PA-4
66	2000	Castor, Kathy	FL-11
67	2000	Chandler, Ben	KY-6
68	2000	Giffords, Gabrielle	AZ-8
69	2000	Higgins, Brian	NY-27
70	2000	McNerney, Jerry	CA-11
71	2000	Mitchell, Harry	AZ-5
72	2000	Pomeroy, Earl	ND-0
73	2000	Sherman, Brad	CA-27
74	2000	Sires, Albio	NJ-13
75	1000	Berkley, Shelley	NV-1
76	1000	Boyda, Nancy	KS-2
77	1000	Gillibrand, Kirsten	NY-20
78	1000	Kanjorski, Paul	PA-11
79	1000	Kildee, Dale	MI-5
80	1000	Klein, Ron	FL-22
81	1000	Perlmutter, Ed	CO-7
82	1000	Rodriguez, Ciro	TX-23
83	1000	Space, Zackary	OH-18
84	0	Baird, Brian	WA-3
85	0	Berry, Robert	AR-1
86	0	Marshall, James	GA-8
87	0	Peterson, Collin	MN-7
88	0	Richardson, Laura	CA-37
89	0	Ruppersberger, C.A.	MD-2
90	0	Sestak, Joe	PA-7
91	0	Snyder, Victor	AR-2
92	0	Taylor, Gene	MS-4
93	0	Udall, Mark	CO-2
94	0	Yarmuth, John	KY-3

The FISA bill also requires the administration to submit surveillance procedures to the secret FISA court for approval before surveillance could begin, except in emergency circumstances. The bill's provisions expire at the end of 2012.

The March 14th vote was on the House amendment (to the Senate amendment to H.R. 3773), to amend the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA).

Who We Are:

MAPLight.org is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that provides unprecedented government transparency, shining a light on our broken system of money-dominated politics. We track all campaign contributions given to members of Congress, and how every member of Congress votes on every bill, revealing connections between money and politics never before possible to see. Our concise graphs show correlations between money and votes, and timelines of contributions and votes, showing specifics about when legislators received large donations before and after a vote.

About MAPLight.org:

MAPLight.org is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, nonpartisan organization based in Berkeley, California. Its search engine at MAPLight.org illuminates the connection between Money And Politics (MAP) via an unprecedented database of campaign contributions and legislative outcomes. Data sources include: GovTrack.us; Center for Responsive Politics (OpenSecrets.org); Federal Election Commission (FEC); and National Institute on Money in State Politics (NIMSP). Support and opposition data is obtained through testimony at public hearings, proprietary news databases and public statements on the websites of trade associations and other groups. To learn more visit MAPLight.org. If our work has been helpful to you, please consider supporting us.