Comcast money has flowed to all but three members of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Comcast spreads cash wide on Hill

There’s little that tends to unite a leading liberal like Dick Durbin and a conservative firebrand like Ted Cruz.

But when the two senators join their colleagues for a hearing this month on Comcast’s $45 billion bid for Time Warner Cable, many of them will have something in common — they’ve each collected Comcast cash.


The Philadelphia cable giant historically has been a major Beltway player, and it’s sure to strengthen its political offense in order to sell the new, controversial megadeal. Yet even before announcing its plans for Time Warner Cable, Comcast had donated to almost every member of Congress who has a hand in regulating it.

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In fact, money from Comcast’s political action committee has flowed to all but three members of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Checks have landed in the campaign coffers of Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah), who oversee the chamber’s antitrust panel.

Meanwhile, the cable giant has donated in some way to 32 of the 39 members of the House Judiciary Committee, which is planning a hearing of its own. And Comcast has canvassed the two congressional panels that chiefly regulate cable, broadband and other telecom issues, donating to practically every lawmaker there — including Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.) and Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.).

Comcast stresses its donations are a function of its business. “Comcast NBCUniversal operates in 39 states and has 130,000 employees across the country,” said spokeswoman Sena Fitzmaurice. “It is important for our customers, our employees and our shareholders that we participate in the political process. The majority of our PAC contributions are to the senators and members who represent our employees and customers.”

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But others see Comcast’s strategy as more than geography. “Comcast is a very sophisticated political player. They know that the money they give to both Republicans and Democrats buys them access — everybody admits that in Washington today,” said Ellen Miller, executive director of the Sunlight Foundation. “So they have covered their bases by giving to nearly every single member of the committees that do oversight.”

Comcast even in normal years is a major political donor. The company spent more than $3.5 million during 2011 and 2012 on a slew of Democratic and Republican candidates, and it has shelled out just under $2 million already in the 2014 cycle, according to federal records. That’s in addition to millions of dollars of lobbying — and big donations to charitable causes and groups — that Comcast has committed to Washington annually.

The company similarly donated to lawmakers and lobbied aggressively on Capitol Hill before winning the government’s permission in 2011 to buy NBCUniversal. A stable of congressional allies at the time wrote letters and publicly defended the NBC acquisition.

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With this recent bid to buy Time Warner Cable, Congress again will be a key political battleground — a source of potential support for the company as it submits to a formal review by the Justice Department and FCC.

“Comcast reportedly has an army of over 100 lobbyists ready to swarm Capitol Hill and whose goal is to push this through. Their top priority is Comcast’s bottom line — not whether this deal will be good for consumers,” said Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) in an email, adding the merger could result in higher prices and less choice for consumers. “There’s also a pretty cozy relationship between Comcast and the regulators that will evaluate this deal, which I find troubling.”

And many of the lawmakers who might scrutinize Comcast’s purchase have received the company’s campaign contributions.

Fifteen of the 18 lawmakers who sit on the Senate Judiciary Committee, which will hold its hearing on March 26, have taken home some form of a Comcast check. Sens. Durbin (D-Ill.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and John Cornyn (R-Texas) all are running for reelection this year — and each has Comcast cash to show for it.

So do Cruz (R-Texas) and Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), as well as the leaders of the Senate’s top antitrust panel, Klobuchar and Lee. Each of those members received Comcast donations this election cycle to their leadership PACs, which allow lawmakers to contribute to their party allies and, in the process, raise their personal profiles and amass congressional influence.

Those members, as well as the others mentioned in this story, had no comment.

Schumer, though, secured a commitment from Comcast on the very day of its merger announcement that it would not kill Time Warner Cable jobs in New York. After it was later revealed Schumer’s brother helped orchestrate the deal, the senator pledged he’d recuse himself from the matter.

On the opposite side of the Capitol, the House Judiciary Committee is readying another hearing on Comcast — and many of its members also are familiar with the company’s financial support. Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), for example, has received $15,000 this cycle from Comcast, some for his leadership PAC and the rest for his personal campaign.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee and its Senate counterpart so far haven’t scheduled their own reviews of the new Comcast-Time Warner Cable deal. But both panels do regulate Comcast by way of their broad jurisdiction over Internet, cable and telephone issues, and they have been canvassed almost entirely by Comcast contributions. The company has given to 50 of 54 of the House committee’s Democrats and Republicans, donating either to their reelection campaigns or their leadership PACs, according to a POLITICO analysis of campaign finance data from Jan. 1, 2013 to Jan. 31, 2014. And Comcast has donated in some way to 20 of 24 lawmakers on the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee.

There has been a total of $12,500 in checks for Walden, the leader of the telecom subcommittee, to both his personal coffers and leadership PAC. Comcast also has given $2,500 to Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), a contender to lead Democrats on the full Energy and Commerce panel following the retirement this year of California Rep. Henry Waxman — another recipient of Comcast support.

The company says its donation footprint reflects the fact that many members of Congress represent states or districts where Comcast does business. For example, roughly two-thirds of the Energy and Commerce Committee represent localities where Comcast operates, the company said. It’s a similar story on the House Judiciary panel, where Comcast also lobbies on copyright and other issues.

Regardless, opponents are bracing for a fight. “If all the push is coming from one side, then that side is probably going to knock the center in the direction it prefers,” said Albert Foer, the president of the American Antitrust Institute, which opposes the deal because it’s “not in the public interest.” He said the question remains, then, whether opponents can “mobilize forces that can help offset the financial benefits that politicians may be getting from Comcast.”

Of course, Comcast’s donations came months before it announced its plan to buy Time Warner Cable — but that’s the point. It’s “proactive giving,” said Miller, “so that when a corporation needs access in a time of trouble, investigation or oversight, they have already built the quote-unquote relationships they need to soften or make their arguments to a sympathetic audience.”

She added: “It’s a long-term investment they make.”