Members of Congress Paid by AT&T

Members of Congress Who have Cashed Checks from AT&T

Corruption yields political power when you have lots of free cash flow money to throw around. AT&T’s PAC spent $15 million in 2010 and Verizon spent $16 million strategically targeting influential new members, returning lawmakers and congressional leaders on panels of jurisdiction from both parties.

Members of Congress Who Received Donations from AT&T
House Energy and Commerce Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.), Telecom panel chief Greg Walden (R-Ore.) and all but two of the members on Walden’s committee cashed checks from AT&T this past election cycle.  Half of the Senate’s top Antitrust panel collected AT&T cash during the last election cycle.  Every member of the Senate Commerce Committee including Chairman John Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) and freshmen GOP Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida, John Boozman of Arkansas, Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania and Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire has in his or her career collected AT&T campaign cash. AT&T also has powerful personal connections with leading federal officials on both sides of the political aisle including Bill Daley, President Barack Obama’s White House chief of staff. Daley took over as No. 2 at SBC in 2001 and left in 2004 to join JPMorgan Chase before SBC announced its plans to merge with AT&T. Read more:

AT&T Also Hires New Lobbyists 

AT&T employed about 90 lobbyists, both in-house and through outside hires last year. Some of those lobbyists are former members of Congress and top Hill aides, according to the center. According to federal lobbying disclosures, four of the lobbyists work at a single firm: Peck, Madigan, Jones, & Stewart. They include Jeffrey Peck, a former staff director and general counsel for the Senate Judiciary Committee; Sean Richardson, a former chief of staff to Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., who sits on the antitrust subcommittee of the Judiciary Committee; John Michael Gonzalez, who served as chief of staff to former Rep. Melissa Bean, D-Ill.; and Peter Madigan, who was chief of staff to former U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick.  Read More.