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Microsoft's Political Lobbying Record

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the gotta-spend-it-somewhere dept.

pierreduFwench writes "With the U.S. national elections just around the corner, you may find this interesting: Opensecrets.org, a website focusing on 'Responsive Politics' recently published lobbying and donations info for the 2002 elections (to date). You can see the breakdown of Microsoft's individual dossier here. Also, looking at the 'Top Donations by Industry', you may notice that Microsoft is, conspicuously, the only entry under 'Computers/Internet.'" Very interesting graphs.

8 of 319 comments (clear)

  1. Interesting... by dogas · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I like how all this lobbying started right about when the anti-trust suits started rolling in. Hell, they even set up a "Washington lobbying office". It seems that it might have worked, considering no one really knows what their 'punishment', if any, is.

    --
    'When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.' -HST
    1. Re:Interesting... by dattaway · · Score: 5, Interesting

      In America, you can buy your freedom. Someone I was related to was a dumbass for using his chemistry degree to set up a nice drug lab. He was caught, because of his antisocial antics disturbed his neighbors and they called the help of the EPA, which called the FBI, which called the DEA, which called state marshalls...

      His lawyer stated it would cost him $40,000 to guarantee him his freedom. Interestingly, one of his "partners" happened to be a judges son, who got off free. Since my uncle didn't have a defense fund, he is now thankfully serving time and is not using his abilities to further stockpile his toxic waste dump (I'm not sure why it takes *boxes* of different cyanide compounds to manufacture E.)

      My own experience with lawyers many years ago was getting out of 5 nice speeding tickets in one year. $1055 for combined legal costs to maintain my perfect driving record. I would learn from my misdeads others would spend money to work the legal system for their vices. I feel ashamed for my experience, but I learned this is a true way of life for others.

  2. Under the table? by umStefa · · Score: 5, Interesting

    IF microsoft is spending 3 million in 2002 on contributions, how much are they spending on unreported little perks (a notebook to "try out" for a couple of years, fully functional "demo" copy of software, etc)?

    --
    Technology is most abused by the very people it was created to help
  3. And the winner is... by meta-monkey · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I'm surprised that MS was the focus of this story. According to the website, other computer companies donated more than MS did. Yeah, MS was the only one under "Computers/Internet," but AOL Time Warner is on there under "TV/Movies/Music." AT&T, Bellsouth, Verizon...they're also internet providers, and all four of those companies gave more than MS did.

    MS clocked in with $9.5M, where AOL spent $12M, and AT&T clocked in with a whopping $17.5M!! Man, I wish they'd lobby me for something...

    --
    We don't have a state-run media we have a media-run state.
  4. Note the change in party loyalty by sam_handelman · · Score: 5, Interesting

    A decade ago, Chairman Bill was minor league, but decidedly democratic, by a 3:1 margin. This was back when Big Blue was the great enemy, and Microsoft wrote cool Mac software (oh, yeah, and DOS.)

    As his power base has grown, and as he has become more entrenched and established, he has increasingly favored the Republicans. Of course, the decision of the Clinton white house to trustbust him can't have helped.

    --
    The good and new comes from no quarter where it is looked for, and is always something different from what is expected.
  5. Top recipient: Jay Inslee by jukal · · Score: 5, Interesting

    According the site Jay Inslee has got most from MSFT, total of $237,400 - nice money already. He is one of the persons behind the "Internet Radio Fairness Act" - "designed to make the copyright royalty arbitration process more fair for smaller entities." What else has he been involved with?

  6. No, government power is out of control by Crag · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The corporations have no police or armies of their own to speak of (thankfully), and any power they have is given to them by a government which is available to the highest bidder(s). If that government didn't have the kind of power it does, the corporations would have to create their own force, which would alienate their customers.

    It's a myth that the US government holds back the corporations and forces them to play fair. For at least a hundred years it has done the opposite. The only times it every does anything right is when some wealthy person or group pays it to.

    Unfortunately, there is no graceful way to change this situation. Try to change the government and the corporations work against us. Try to change the corporations and the government works against us. It will come to a head this century.

  7. Other major corporate donors by leonbev · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Microsoft isn't the only major corporation that has been funneling money to political organizations. Looking at the top 100 list, you'll see a lot of companies with "questionable" ethics that "donate" even larger sums of money than Microsoft:

    5 Philip Morris $18,951,671
    12 AT&T $17,464,374
    18 Citigroup Inc $14,762,646
    19 United Parcel Service $14,621,284
    21 Goldman Sachs $13,665,527
    26 AOL Time Warner $12,195,822
    28 FedEx Corp $11,555,286
    29 BellSouth Corp $10,838,209
    30 SBC Communications $10,695,349
    31 Verizon Communications $10,255,052
    33 RJR Nabisco/RJ Reynolds Tobacco $10,079,162
    34 Ernst & Young $9,967,638
    35 Lockheed Martin $9,862,899
    36 JP Morgan Chase & Co $9,861,326
    40 Microsoft Corp $9,468,287