Your doctor, your Realtor, your grandpa — they may be drinking a particularly political brand of tea.

A Center for Responsive Politics analysis shows that the top contributors to the 50 members of a newly-established congressional Tea Party caucus — which so far includes only Republicans — are health professionals, retirees, the real estate industry and oil and gas interests.

Furthermore, donations from health professionals, oil and gas interests and Republican and conservative groups are, on average, higher for Tea Party caucus members than for members of the House of Representatives in general and even their fellow House Republicans.

These donation numbers are based on data downloaded from the Federal Election Commission July 11 and therefore reflect contributions made before the Tea Party caucus officially formed. The Center’s research shows, for example, that the average Tea Party caucus member received more than $25,000 from the oil and gas industry, compared to about $13,000 for the average House member and $21,500 for the average House Republican.

The biggest organizational contributors to Tea Party caucus members are the people and political action committees associated with AT&T, Honeywell International and the American Bankers Association.

Shelby Blakely, a spokeswoman for the national Tea Party Patriots, said she’s not surprised by the industries supporting the caucus members.

“These are industries that are in the process of or about to be taken over by government and the current one-party control of the federal government,” she said in reference to the recent passage of national health care reform and financial reform legislation by a Democrat-led Congress. Many progressives criticized the bills as too weak and market-friendly.

The Tea Party caucus does not formally represent the grassroots national movement, which leaders of the movement were quick to note after the caucus formed. Caucus chairwoman Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) has maintained that the group will be a “receptacle” of ideas from the grassroots tea party organizations across the country.

But the policy positions of many Republican lawmakers already reflect parts of the “Contract from America,” a list of agenda items promoted by leaders of the national Tea Party Patriots. The 10-item agenda calls for (among other things) less government spending and fewer taxes, as well as checking the constitutionality of every new law.

Several officeholders have endorsed the contract, including caucus members Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), Rep. Tom Graves (R-Ga.), Rep. John Culberson (R-Texas), Rep. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) and Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-Kan.). Moran and Tiahrt are both running for Sen. Sam Brownback’s soon-to-be-vacated seat.

Retirees ranked in the top two biggest donor groups for Graves, Culberson, Tiahrt and King and in the top five for Moran. Health professionals, Moran’s biggest supporters, have given more than $155,000 between the Republican and his primary opponent, Tiahrt. Graves has received more money from Republican and conservative groups ($132,000) than his next four largest donor groups combined.

Members of the Congress have raised more than $47 million this election cycle.

The contract rejects cap-and-trade legislation and several Republicans, including Bachmann and fellow caucus member Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) support ending the moratorium on offshore drilling put in place after the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

The two biggest contributors to these congressman — health professionals and retirees — could possibly feel the effects of cuts to Medicaid and Social Security, which are two of the three biggest parts of the federal budget.

Blakely said retirees’ support of Tea Party caucus members reflects fears that retirees’ health care coverage will be rationed.

“They support people who they think will stop that from coming to pass,” she said.

Texas has the highest representation of caucus members; its 10 members make up more than a fifth of the group. Jim Henson, a University of Texas political science professor, said the list of biggest donors could be driven by several factors including incumbency and committee position, not just the caucus member’s ideology.

“Nobody should be surprised that the members of the Texas delegation in the Tea Party caucus are high on the list of Republican and conservative contributors,” Henson said. The real estate and oil and gas industries are both major players in the Texas economy and campaign finance, he added.

Henson also cautioned against conclusions about the Tea Party movement from the biggest donors to the caucus.

“The guys that are forming the caucus in Congress are trying to, you know, ride the train,” he said. “They are not the train.”

As the OpenSecrets Blog reported in March, Tea Party activists have already established political action committees to fund favored candidates. But the formation of the caucus may make it easier to track which industries’ interests are aligned with the movement.

Below, the 50 House members who have joined the caucus as of Friday are listed with their top contributing industry and largest individual donor during the 2010 election cycle. A congressman’s largest donor is calculated by adding together contributions from people and political action committees directly associated with particular groups and companies.

(Download a detailed spreadsheet of detailed Tea Party causus contribution data here: teapartycaucusmoney.xls You must cite the “Center for Responsive Politics” when using this data.)



Caucus Member Amt Raised Largest Donating Industry Largest Donor Michele Bachmann (MN-6) $4,074,618 Republican/conservative Starkey Lab Joe Wilson (SC-2) $4,074,217 Retired Blue Cross/Blue Shield Jerry Moran (KS-1) $2,727,209 Crop Production & Basic Processing Watco Companies Todd Tiahrt (KS-4) $2,153,113 Retired Koch Industries Mike Pence (IN-6) $1,755,295 Retired Krieg Devault LLP Joe Barton (TX-6) $1,663,495 Utilities Murray Energy, Energy Future Holdings Company (2) Tom McClintock (CA-4) $1,496,348 Retired Technical Maintenance Support Inc Pete Sessions (TX-32) $1,408,212 Health Professionals Energy Future Holdings Corp Paul Broun (GA-10) $1,407,972 Republican/conservative AFLAC Inc Ed Royce (CA-40) $1,268,721 Insurance Tiger Asia Management John Fleming (LA-4) $1,160,083 Health Professionals Morris & Dickson Phil Gingrey (GA-11) $1,153,157 Health Professionals AFLAC Inc Ralph Hall (TX-4) $1,138,736 Health Professionals Innovation First Inc Lynn Jenkins (KS-2) $1,092,450 Leadership PACs QC Holdings Steve Scalise (LA-1) $1,055,425 Sea Transport Morris & Dickson Denny Rehberg (MT) $1,020,178 Retired Bresnan Broadband Holdings Lamar Smith (TX-21) $997,912 TV/Movies/Music Ernst & Young Randy Neugebauer (TX-19) $919,858 Oil & Gas CE Jacobs Co Rodney Alexander (LA-5) $906,133 Lawyers & lawfirms D&J Construction Dan Burton (IN-5) $885,975 Republican/conservative IDT Corp, Citizens United (3) Gus Bilirakis (FL-9) $834,863 Health Professionals Suncoast Family Medical Association Blaine Luetkemeyer (MO-9) $831,691 Commercial Banks Bank of St Elizabeth John Carter (TX-31) $789,154 Real Estate Crow Holdings Michael Burgess (TX-26) $762,944 Health Professionals American Academy of Dermatology Assn, etc Wally Herger (CA-2) $735,402 Insurance AT&T Inc Steve King (IA-5) $713,271 Crop Production & Basic Processing Beef Products Inc Tom Graves (GA-9) $708,931 Republican/conservative Club for Growth Mike Coffman (CO-6) $704,237 Retired Honeywell International Sue Myrick (NC-9) $687,599 Health Professionals American College of Radiology Adrian Smith (NE-3) $663,537 Crop Production & Basic Processing Berkshire Hathaway Trent Franks (AZ-2) $616,907 Retired Honeywell International Todd Akin (MO-2) $612,662 Retired Wash. U. in St. Louis Louie Gohmert (TX-1) $600,207 Retired Mustang Drilling John Culberson (TX-7) $593,224 Oil & Gas Desert Caucus Cliff Stearns (FL-6) $559,208 TV/Movies/Music Comcast Corp Cynthia Lummis (WY) $540,235 Oil & Gas Every Republican is Crucial PAC Walter Jones (NC-3) $497,293 Health Professionals Honeywell International Ander Crenshaw (FL-4) $483,480 Real Estate BAE Systems Lynn Westmoreland (GA-3) $476,082 Real Estate AFLAC Inc Gregg Harper (MS-3) $474,049 Oil & Gas American Crystal Sugar Phil Roe (TN-1) $471,130 Health Professionals Powell Construction Gary Miller (CA-42) $446,507 Real Estate National Assn of Mortgage Brokers Tom Price (GA-6) $400,584 Health Professionals Resurgens Orthopaedics John Shadegg (AZ-3) $381,314 Health Professionals Arizona Diamondbacks Kenny Marchant (TX-24) $330,171 Commercial Banks Beal Bank Doug Lamborn (CO-5) $272,429 Defense Aerospace Honeywell International Roscoe Bartlett (MD-6) $190,117 Defense Aerospace Tuesday Group PAC Rob Bishop (UT-1) $155,410 Misc defense Es3, Inc, Northrop Grumman Zach Wamp (TN-3) $9,441 Candidate Committees Midnight Sun Pete Hoekstra (MI-2) $2,823 Health Professionals Bayer AG

Center for Responsive Politics Senior Research Douglas Weber contributed to this report.



For permission to reprint for commercial uses, such as textbooks, contact the Center: Feel free to distribute or cite this material, but please credit the Center for Responsive Politics.For permission to reprint for commercial uses, such as textbooks, contact the Center: [email protected]

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