Академический Документы
Профессиональный Документы
Культура Документы
com
September 11, 2009
Why Do Democrats Receive Disproportionate
Amounts of Out‐of‐State Campaign
Donations?
The symbiotic relationship between politics and money is well known; it almost seems that we as
Americans are so dependent upon our television sets for information about the world, that simply airing
more commercials than your political opponent is a sure fire prescription for victory. With campaign
contribution limits in place though, this relationship initially sounds reasonable enough, largely because
one might assume that there is a correlation between a candidate's support in his or her district, and the
amount of money that he or she is able to raise from the district. The alarming truth however, is that
some candidates hardly raise any money at all from their home district. Furthermore, it is Democrats
who dominate the list of Representatives who have received the least amount of campaign funding from
donors in their own state. In fact, on a list prepared by Congressional Quarterly which showed the
members of the House with the highest proportion of out‐of‐state campaign contributions, you must go
to the list's ninth position in order to find a Republican. For the 2010 election campaign, there are four
Democrats whose out‐of‐state donations exceed 90% of their total campaign contributions. Below is a
list of those four Democrats, the amount of out‐of‐state money they have raised, and the entities which
so graciously donated to these folks. Keep in mind that when a corporation is listed, the headline
donation amount is a cumulative number, indicative of many employees "choosing" to contribute to
that specific campaign.
Rep. Chellie Pingree (D‐Maine) ‐ 98% Out‐of‐State
Top Donors:
1. Paloma Partners, $52,800
http://TheValueatRisk.blogspot.com
September 11, 2009
2. ActBlue, $20,200
3. Prudential Connecticut, $4800
Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy (D‐Rhode Island) ‐ 93% Out‐of‐State
1. Thornton & Naumes, $16,500
2. Pepsiamericas Inc $11,200
3. Lhc Group $8200
Rep. James L Oberstar (D‐Minnesota) ‐ 92% Out‐of‐State
1. Livingston Group, $7800
2. Naismith Engineering, $5500
3. L&G Engineering, $4800
Rep. Howard L Berman (D‐California) ‐ 91% Out‐of‐State
1. NorPAC, $13,400
2. Akin, Grump et al, $6900
3. Vivendi, $6400
Just to provide some perspective, the top Republican on this list is Rep.Don Young (R‐Alaska), who
logged 79% of his campaign contributions from out of state individuals; that number is still high, but at
least it's not in the 90's.
My primary issue with this sort of data is that it suggests that the residents of a particular Congressional
district have been subordinated ‐ from an influence perspective ‐ by out of state donors. When an
individual is elected to Congress with the help of non‐resident contributions, he or she will inevitably
spend an undue amount of time answering to the interests of those donors. The devil's advocate would,
at this point, assert that since a district's residents are the only individuals eligible to vote for their
particular representative, they can easily vote a non‐cooperative Rep out of office. Unfortunately, these
sort of "power of the vote" arguments fail to acknowledge the fact that the vast majority of voters have
absolutely zero influence over which men or women appear on the ballot. Candidates do not simply
spontaneously appear on the ballot as a result of the citizens collective wishes; it takes money to even
get on the ballot, and there is nothing preventing out‐of‐state money from asserting substantial control
over a district. With that said, I think it would be completely reasonable to suggest amending campaign
finance law, so that candidates may only receive donations from the residents of their particular district.
There is currently a picture perfect example of how out‐of‐state money can distort a Congressional race;
it's so perfect in fact that prior to it's occurrence, I would only have considered describing the situation
in hyperbolic fashion. Anyways, we all know that Joe Wilson had an outburst during the President's
health care speech, screaming "you lie!" in the middle of it. Rep. Wilson is entitled to his opinion,
although I don't necessarily agree with the way in which he chose to express himself, but that's beyond
http://TheValueatRisk.blogspot.com
September 11, 2009
the scope of this article. As a result of Rep. Wilson's ‐ in the grand scheme of things irrelevant ‐ outburst,
Democrats have launched a nationwide fund raising campaign, the proceeds from which will be used to
fund the election campaign of Rob Miller ‐ the Democrat who will be challenging Mr. Wilson in 2010.
Since Wednesday, over $700,000 has been raised for Rob Miller by various Democratic groups, including
ActBlue.
Recognize ActBlue? That's because they are listed as Rep. Pingree's 2nd largest contributor (above)
raising over $20,000 for the Congresswoman from Maine. Organizations such as ActBlue have become
too powerful, and are distorting elections which should be decided by the residents of that district, not
out‐of‐state activists.
Copyright 2009 ‐ The Value at Risk
For additional analysis of financial markets and politics, or to view information about the author, please visit
http://TheValueatRisk.blogspot.com
The content contained within this newsletter, as well as The Value at Risk website, is provided as general information only and
should not be taken as investment advice. All site content shall not be construed as a recommendation to buy or sell any
security or financial product, or to participate in any particular trading or investment strategy. The ideas expressed on this site
are solely the opinions of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the opinions of firms affiliated with the author(s). The
author(s) may or may not have a position in any security referenced herein. Any action that you take as a result of information
or analysis on this site is ultimately your responsibility. Consult your investment adviser before making any investment
decisions.