WASHINGTON — Political fund raising has suffered a rare decline since Election Day as corporate political-action committees have trimmed campaign donations amid an economic slump.
Contributions from company PACs fell 6% to $8.2 million in the first two months of the year, compared with the same period in 2007, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of the most recently available fund-raising reports filed with the Federal Election Commission.
That contrasts with big increases in corporate PAC donations at the start of the previous three election cycles. PAC donations by businesses jumped 37% in the January-February period in 2007, compared with the same period in 2005. In the first two months of 2003 and 2005, corporate PACs’ contributions increased by about 50% over the previous elections.
Campaign contributions from companies don’t come from the corporate treasury, but rather from management-level employees who pool their personal funds into a single fund-raising account called a political action committee. Those pooled funds have declined as employees “looking to trim their household budgets cut out the contributions they make to the company PAC,” said Sheila Krumholz, the executive director of the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics.
Corporate PACs saw a 14% decline in employee contributions to $16.5 million in January and February, compared with the same period in 2007.
Pfizer Inc. led other companies with a $141,000 decline in PAC donations to $87,000 in January and February, compared with the same months in the last election cycle. “Pfizer is committed to making our voice heard in our nation’s health-care debate,” the company said in a statement. “Our PAC is bipartisan, and we are committed to supporting comprehensive health-care reform.”
PAC donations were down 80% at Chrysler LLC; 89% at U.S. Steel Corp.; and 28% at General Electric Co., according to the data. Spokesmen for Chrysler and GE declined to comment; a representative of U.S. Steel didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Several companies that were among the major donors in previous years have either filed for bankruptcy protection or no longer exist in their current form, such as Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and Bear Stearns Cos.
Companies that received funds from the Troubled Asset Relief Program showed a sharp drop, including Citigroup Inc., Bank of America Corp. and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. PAC donations by J.P. Morgan were down 75% to $20,000 in January and February from $81,000 during the same period in 2007, according to the data. Bank of America, Citigroup and J.P. Morgan declined to comment.
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