Washington, D.C.—Public Campaign Action Fund responded to the campaign finance filings of the News Corp political action committee (PAC), News America PAC, for the month of June.
The News America PAC gave $52,500 to the campaign committees or leadership PAC of 18 members of Congress and two other political action committees in the month of June, including the maximum contributions to House Speaker John Boehner’s leadership PAC and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
“The question today for any Member of Congress who took money is whether they will stand up to Rupert Murdoch and News Corp. by joining the growing demand for congressional hearings,” said David Donnelly, national campaigns director for Public Campaign Action Fund.
There is suspicion that News Corp. has violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Parliamentary hearings have begun in the United Kingdom about the phone hacking scandal and the FBI has announced it has opened an inquiry. A handful of members of Congress of both parties have called for Department of Justice, Securities and Exchange Commission, or FBI investigations, but the House and Senate must do their own investigations.
List of June donations:
| Member of Congress |
Donation Date |
Amount |
|
Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-CA) |
6/9/11 |
$1,000 |
|
Rep. Howard Berman (D-CA) |
6/27/11 |
$2,500 |
|
Blue Dog Political Action Committee |
6/27/11 |
$5,000 |
|
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) |
6/21/11 |
$1,000 |
|
Rep. Charles Gonzalez (D-TX) |
6/30/11 |
$2,000 |
|
Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) |
6/21/11 |
$1,000 |
|
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee |
6/21/11 |
$15,000 |
|
Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) |
6/9/11 |
$1,000 |
|
Rep. Cory Gardner (R-CO) |
6/9/11 |
$2,000 |
|
Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-KY) |
6/21/11 |
$1,000 |
|
Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) |
6/2/11 |
$5,000 |
|
Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) |
6/21/11 |
$1,000 |
|
Longhorn PAC {Lamar Smith (R-TX)} |
6/29/11 |
$2,500 |
|
Rep. Doris Matsui (D-CA) |
6/21/11 |
$1,000 |
|
Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) |
6/27/11 |
$1,000 |
|
Rep. Stephen Scalise (R-LA) |
6/30/11 |
$1,000 |
|
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) |
6/9/11 |
$1,000 |
|
Rep. Ted Deutch (D-FL) |
6/27/11 |
$1,000 |
|
Freedom Project {Speaker John Boehner (R-OH)}* |
6/21/11 |
$5,000 |
|
Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS) |
6/21/11 |
$2,500 |
|
|
Total |
$52,500 |
Due to its financial clout in Washington, News Corp. is listed as a “Heavy Hitter,” by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. News Corp. employees have spent nearly $6 million on campaign contributions to federal candidates, parties, and political action committees since 2000. In addition, the company has spent more than $50 million lobbying Congress in the same time period.
“With the severity of the acts perpetrated by News Corp. employees—and the possibility that Americans were targeted—I wouldn’t be surprised if they began to return these donations,” said Donnelly.
*The FEC filing reports this entry as TFP-FOJB PAC. A search of the PoliticalPartyTime.org database lists a fundraiser for John Boehner’s Freedom Project with these initials at http://politicalpartytime.org/party/25327/.