Illinoyances masthead.
In his most recent article on his blog Illinoyances, Steve Reick writes about lawsuit abuse.
The title?
Lawsuit Abuse: We’re #3! (From the Bottom)
Last year Reick ran against Democrat Jack Franks for State Rep.
In 2010, when John O’Neill was Franks’ Republican was Franks’ opponent the following billboard appeared.
The figures are, of course, five years old.
It shows how important trial lawyers’ financial support is to the Democrat.
Trial lawyers are real stingy when it comes to campaign contributions to other candidates because those interested in politics run for office!
Go to: http://www.campaignmoney.com/Trial_Lawyer.asp
and you will see that since 1999 they contributed $2,551,156.
9 % went to Republicans and 75 % went to Democrats.
I have seen posts relative to the amount of money the Koch Brothers put into political campaigns.
It is a drop in the buck compared to what Unions put into campaigns.
2014 Election cycle top 50 political contributors
Liberals / Democrat total $429,166,391
Conservatives / Republican total $97,037,411
If you want to see the columns perfectly aligned, go to: http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/list.php?cycle=2014
ORGANIZATION AMOUNT LIBERAL
Fahr LLC $75,279,259 100%
ActBlue $68,039,427 100%
National Education Assn $29,908,414 99%
Bloomberg Lp $28,678,538 95%
NextGen Climate Action $24,574,615 100%
S.E.I.U. $23,622,602 100%
American Fed. of Teachers $19,714,548 100%
Carpenters & Joiners Union $16,920,736 96%
National Assn of Realtors $14,978,734 48%
Elliott Management $14,172,822 0%
Senate Majority PAC $12,035,679 100%
A.F.S.M.E. $11,324,129 100%
Renaissance Technologies $10,991,749 12%
Koch Industries $10,800,085 1%
United Food & Comm. Work. Union $10,274,606 100%
Plumbers/Pipefitters Union $10,164,948 95%
Laborers Union $9,747,963 94%
Democratic Governors Assn $9,690,362 100%
Newsweb Corp $9,659,350 97%
Intl Brother. of Elect. Workers $8,877,037 99%
AFL-CIO $8,749,434 99%
United Steelworkers $7,754,483 99%
Euclidean Capital $7,429,300 100%
Las Vegas Sands $6,710,018 0%
Operating Engineers Union $6,677,901 91%
Uline Inc $6,057,625 0%
Honeywell International $5,245,569 43%
American Fed. of Govt Employees $5,142,121 99%
Comcast Corp $5,022,711 53%
League of Conservation Voters $4,975,875 100%
Alliance Resource Partners $4,907,895 0%
Goldman Sachs $4,764,774 46%
Mountaire Corp $4,749,350 0%
American Assn for Justice $4,740,343 98%
Blue Cross/Blue Shield $4,679,824 39%
EMILY’s List $4,666,104 100%
Nat. Assn of Letter Carriers $4,417,775 96%
Sierra Club $4,334,414 100%
National Nurses United $4,312,800 100%
Houston Texans $4,282,400 0%
AT&T Inc $4,274,740 35%
Stephens Group $4,231,850 0%
Lockheed Martin $4,105,329 40%
Northrop Grumman $4,082,024 42%
National Beer Wholesalers Assn $4,027,450 42%
Nat. Air Traf. Control. Assn $3,976,079 83%
General Electric $3,965,924 40%
Comm. Workers of America $3,936,220 99%
Soros Fund Management $3,905,728 99%
Google Inc $3,844,345 71%
You are not considering outside groups where they don’t show who is contributing and where republicans get more money.
http://www.opensecrets.org/outsidespending/summ.php?disp=O
Opensecrets does not net out what was spent against candidates.
If you want the detail on where the money went by each group, you have to click on the detail.
For example:
Here is what is shown for the National Education Association:
Total Independent Expenditures: $5,798,883
For Democrats: $231,681
Against Democrats: $0
For Republicans: $821,137
Against Republicans: $4,977,746
Total Electioneering Communications: $0