{"id":140863,"date":"2016-04-03T10:51:36","date_gmt":"2016-04-03T16:51:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=140863"},"modified":"2016-04-04T09:50:28","modified_gmt":"2016-04-04T15:50:28","slug":"defense-contractor-employees-give-the-most-money-to-hillary-clinton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2016\/04\/defense-contractor-employees-give-the-most-money-to-hillary-clinton\/","title":{"rendered":"Defense contractor employees give the most money to Hillary Clinton"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_140871\" class=\"wp-caption module image alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 771px;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/gageskidmore\/25982365345\/in\/photolist-FzYq1i-F8qv4E-FpiUUf-FzY6t8-FpiH1W-FzYDNP-F8pG4h-FrA7y2-F8q9xQ-FphUTL-FxFUP7-D1G26b-DsNvZk-CUh26p-FrAt4v-ECpCPi-FzXUhR-EC4rsm-FpjqgS-Fpisrq-FphXW9-EC4M3J-FxG3Yo-FzZCtc-FxFWe1-ECpr1D-FrAc8H-F8qANf-FphQBj-ECpUR8-EC4B83-FxFQd3-EBrw3W-FqXQHr-Fzmpsg-F7MNdJ-F7MFQy-F7UHKS-FoMDmb-FzsVYV-F7UoMw-FzZUsr-Fpj6W5-F8qPGS-C7MPej-CWXStz-CC9hbs-D2ZN8b-C7KSXA-CWYNXp\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-140871 size-large\" src=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Clinton-Hillary-771x523.jpg\" alt=\"Hillary Clinton\" width=\"771\" height=\"523\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Clinton-Hillary-771x523.jpg 771w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Clinton-Hillary-336x228.jpg 336w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Clinton-Hillary-768x521.jpg 768w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Clinton-Hillary-1170x794.jpg 1170w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Clinton-Hillary.jpg 1483w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 771px) 100vw, 771px\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Gage Skidmore \/ Creative Commons<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Hillary Clinton speaking with supporters at a campaign rally at Carl Hayden High School in Phoenix on March 21. (<a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/2.0\/\" target=\"_blank\">photo cc info<\/a>)<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton has collected more than any other\u00a0candidate in the 2016 race from employees tied to the 50 largest\u00a0contractors with the U.S. Department of Defense\u00a0\u2014 at least $454,994 in campaign funds over a 14-month period ending in February.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"module align-left half type-aside\">\n<h3>About this article<\/h3>\n<p>This story comes from the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.publicintegrity.org\/2016\/04\/01\/19496\/defense-contractor-employees-give-most-money-hillary-clinton\" target=\"_blank\">Center for Public Integrity<\/a>, a nonprofit, nonpartisan investigative media organization in Washington, D.C. It\u2019s\u00a0part of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.publicintegrity.org\/politics\/buying-president-2016?utm_campaign=syndication&utm_source=yahoo-news&utm_medium=taxonomy-link\" target=\"_blank\">Buying of the President 2016<\/a>. Tracking the candidates, political committees and nonprofits that are making this presidential election the most expensive in history.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.publicintegrity.org\/politics\/buying-president-2016?utm_campaign=syndication&utm_source=yahoo-news&utm_medium=taxonomy-link\" target=\"_blank\">Click here<\/a> to read more stories in this investigation.<\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p>That amount was roughly a third higher than the sum collected by Clinton\u2019s opponent for the Democratic nomination, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who, unlike Clinton, has called for steep cuts in defense spending.<\/p>\n<p>After Sanders \u2014\u00a0who got $310,055 from defense-related workers \u2014\u00a0the presidential race\u2019s third-leading recipient of defense contractor employee contributions was Republican Sen. Ted Cruz. He received a total of at least $307,995 from the beginning of 2015 through February 2016, according to the Center for Public Integrity\u2019s review of Federal Election Commission data. Cruz has called for large increases in defense spending.<\/p>\n<p>But over this period, employees of the top 50 contractors contributed only about half as much to the Republican presidential candidates still in the race \u2014 Cruz, Donald Trump and Ohio Gov. John Kasich \u2014 as they did to Clinton and Sanders \u2014 a total of at least $357,775 versus at least $765,049 for the two Democrats combined.<\/p>\n<p>The disparity may seem unusual, since Republicans often depict themselves as more supportive of defense spending than their opponents, and historically, more defense-related contributions have gone to Republicans. But Republican front-runner Donald Trump is largely self-funding his campaign, a factor that probably influenced this outcome.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s also possible that donors at defense-related companies are betting that a Democrat \u2014 either Clinton or Sanders \u2014 is more likely to win the White House in the fall than any of the Republicans, which makes them a more useful investment target. The Democrat-targeted donations may also reflect the fact that the party\u2019s highest elected official, President Obama, has called for a $2.4 billion increase in defense spending for fiscal year 2017, and many Democratic lawmakers have said they support that request\u2014 even though\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.publicintegrity.org\/2016\/03\/10\/19416\/most-voters-favor-cutting-defense-spending-politicians-say-otherwise\" target=\"_blank\">polls show the public does not agree<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3>G.E. loves Clinton<\/h3>\n<p>In total, the Center for Public Integrity examined contribution data filed with the FEC for 22 current and former candidates for president, and compiled a list of the top 50 defense contractors using data released by the General Services Administration for\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.fpds.gov\/fpdsng_cms\/index.php\/en\/reports.html\" target=\"_blank\">fiscal year 2013<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The data showed that Clinton\u2019s largest batch of defense-related contributors, from the beginning of 2015 through February 2016, were associated with General Electric, which received contracts from the Defense Department totaling $2.2 billion in fiscal 2014 and $2.3 billion in fiscal 2013. G.E., based in Fairfield, Connecticut, manufactures\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.geaviation.com\/military\/engines\/\" target=\"_blank\">engines<\/a>\u00a0for many of the military’s fighter aircraft. Clinton got at least $56,478 from G.E. employees.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Another large group of Clinton contributors was associated with Chicago-based aerospace giant Boeing, whose employees collectively gave Clinton\u2019s campaign at least $34,545; Boeing builds fighter jets, helicopters, radar systems, and works on the military’s nuclear missiles.<\/p>\n<p>Contributors who work for Bethesda, Maryland-based Lockheed Martin, the Pentagon’s largest contractor, gave her at least $28,623. Lockheed Martin is a contractor for numerous defense programs, including the troubled F-35 fighter jet, the most expensive weapons system ever built.<\/p>\n<p>Clinton served on the Senate Armed Services Committee during her final six years in the Senate where she also received defense-industry contributions. Adjusted for inflation, she collected $258,024 from the top contractors for her Senate campaign and leadership political action committee (PAC) during that period \u2014 2003 through 2008 \u2014 including $125,351 from contractor PACs. G.E. was also her top contributor among the contractors during that period, giving her $29,235 in adjusted dollars, according to the Center\u2019s analysis of data from the Center for Responsive Politics.<\/p>\n<p>Corporations, including defense contractors, are banned from giving money directly to candidates. But they can direct spending towards particular candidates by company-run political action committees that receive donations from their employees, and they are also free to donate funds to so-called super PACs, outside spending groups made possible by a 2010 U.S. Supreme Court decision.<\/p>\n<p>Although defense contractors rarely give money to super PACs, $2,100 was given to two pro-Cruz super PACs. Also, a super PAC that supported South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham \u2014 who has withdrawn from the presidential race \u2014 got $75,000 from Boeing’s PAC and from a GE manager.<\/p>\n<p>Several of the current and former presidential candidates were also supported by organizations that have filed registrations with the Internal Revenue Service as nonprofits, but those groups aren’t required to disclose their funders, so there is no way to know if they received defense-related contributions.<\/p>\n<h3>Pro-defense posture<\/h3>\n<p>Clinton hasn’t laid out a clear position on defense spending, and her campaign did not respond to several requests for comment.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.hillaryclinton.com\/briefing\/factsheets\/2015\/11\/11\/supporting-our-veterans-troops-and-their-families\/\" target=\"_blank\">On her campaign website<\/a>\u00a0she has argued for “permanently ending the damaging sequester” \u2014 meaning she supports rolling back\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.publicintegrity.org\/2015\/03\/24\/16977\/lawmakers-boost-war-spending-wars-wind-down\" target=\"_blank\">budget caps<\/a>\u00a0that tried to curtail the federal deficit by limiting how much government agencies, including the Department of Defense, can spend.<\/p>\n<p>Clinton,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.c-span.org\/video\/?328006-1\/hillary-clinton-address-iran-nuclear-agreement&start=1190\" target=\"_blank\">during a speech on the Iran nuclear agreement at the Brookings Institution<\/a>, said she supports selling Israel the trillion-dollar F-35 aircraft. She has said little about nuclear modernization plans, though she\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/vimeo.com\/150990239\" target=\"_blank\">said<\/a>\u00a0the possible $1 trillion price tag “doesn’t make sense” during an Iowa campaign event last January. Asked, after the event, if she would oppose spending that amount on new nuclear weapons, she said she was “going to look into that.”<\/p>\n<p>Sanders has taken a different approach. While he has supported the F-35 program, which is slated to station some planes in his home state, he is a co-sponsor of the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.congress.gov\/bill\/114th-congress\/senate-bill\/831\/cosponsors\" target=\"_blank\">Smarter Approach to Nuclear Expenditures Act<\/a>, which calls for cutting $100 billion from planned U.S. spending on nuclear weapons.<\/p>\n<p>“We need a strong military, it is a dangerous world. But I think we can make judicious cuts,” Sanders\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=c4mRVj2aKZk\" target=\"_blank\">told<\/a>\u00a0a U.S. Student Association town meeting at the University of Iowa in February 2015. He added: “There is massive fraud going on in the defense industry.\u00a0Virtually every major defense contractor has either been convicted of fraud or reached a settlement with the government.” He also told the fourth Democratic debate, on Jan. 17, that the Defense Department\u2019s priorities need \u201cfundamental change.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Nevertheless, Sanders collected at least $310,055 from defense contractor employees, including at least $45,652 from employees of Boeing and at least $36,624 from employees of Lockheed Martin \u2014 more than Clinton received from either group. Two-thirds of Sanders\u2019 total and 95 percent of his individual contributions from employees of defense contractors came in amounts of $250 or less, while Clinton was more reliant on contributions of at least $1,000, including many from company managers. Neither Sanders\u2019 campaign nor Boeing responded to requests for comment.<\/p>\n<h3>Cruz stands out among Republicans<\/h3>\n<p>During the CNN Republican Presidential Town Hall in Greenville, S.C. on February 18, Cruz\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/cnnpressroom.blogs.cnn.com\/2016\/02\/18\/rush-transcript-senator-ted-cruzcnn-republican-presidential-town-hall-greenville-sc\/\" target=\"_blank\">said<\/a>\u00a0that\u00a0Obama has “weakened and degraded the military,” and that he wants to raise defense spending to 4 percent of the country’s gross domestic product \u2014 which would amount to a roughly $135 billion increase beyond what Obama has proposed. Cruz’s\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.tedcruz.org\/american-resolve\/\" target=\"_blank\">plan<\/a>\u00a0calls for increasing the number of active-duty troops, adding more fighter aircraft and building more ships for the Navy.<\/p>\n<p>Cruz\u2019s top defense-related donor was Lockheed Martin, whose employees gave him at least $44,958, more than they’ve given to any other presidential candidate. Lockheed Martin is a contractor for the Aegis Combat System, which is equipped with ballistic missile defense capabilities, and it was the Missile Defense Agency’s top contractor in fiscal 2014, receiving about $1.8 billion, almost a third of the agency’s awarded spending that year, according to the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.fpds.gov\/fpdsng_cms\/index.php\/en\/reports\/62-top-100-contractors-report3.html\" target=\"_blank\">most recent information available from the federal General Services Administration<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The Cruz campaign did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n<p>Coming in second among the remaining Republicans was Ohio governor John Kasich, who has received at least $39,194 from donors associated with the top contractors. At the outset of his campaign, he highlighted his efforts as a congressman 20 years earlier to cut Pentagon spending,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/time.com\/3966802\/john-kasich-campaign-launch-transcript\/\" target=\"_blank\">saying<\/a>\u00a0“we made things right. We saved money. We improved the system.”<\/p>\n<p>In October, as part of his “<a href=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/john-kasich-assets\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Kasich-Plan-Fact-Sheet-Balanced-Budget.pdf\">Action Plan<\/a>” for balancing the federal budget, he called for freezing funds that can be spent for non-defense programs, while adding $102 billion to the Pentagon’s spending.<\/p>\n<p>Of the remaining Republican candidates, Donald Trump has received the least in identified contributions from contractor employees: just $10,586. His position on defense spending isn\u2019t clear, and he hasn\u2019t given clear answers when asked about specific weapons issues. But he has called for countries where U.S. troops are deployed, such as South Korea and Japan, to pay more of the costs. “When you look at the kind of money that our country is losing, we can\u2019t afford to do this,” Trump said in an\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/blogs\/post-partisan\/wp\/2016\/03\/21\/a-transcript-of-donald-trumps-meeting-with-the-washington-post-editorial-board\/?tid=a_inl\" target=\"_blank\">interview<\/a>\u00a0with the Washington Post on March 21, referring to the cost of protecting Saudi Arabia in particular.<\/p>\n<p>The amounts given by G.E., Lockheed and Boeing employees to presidential candidates between early 2015 and February 2016 are smaller than what they gave over a comparable period before the 2008 presidential election, the previous one without an incumbent, perhaps because the outcome of the primaries has been too hard to predict.<\/p>\n<p>“It’s so confusing this year, they [the contractors] don’t know who to give to, especially on the Republican side,” said\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.stimson.org\/users\/3294\" target=\"_blank\">Barry Blechman<\/a>, a fellow at the nonpartisan Stimson Center. This leaves open the possibility that defense-related campaign giving could ramp up quickly once the party\u2019s choices become clearer.<\/p>\n<p>“G.E. is not backing a presidential candidate.\u00a0Our employees make their campaign donation decisions individually,” said a G.E. spokesperson in an email. A spokesperson from Lockheed Martin declined to comment and Boeing did not respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n<p>For now, however, the defense contractors are spending more of their employees\u2019 campaign donations on candidates for Congress who sit on key defense-related committees, who arguably have a larger impact on the fate of specific weapons programs through spending and authorizing bills.<\/p>\n<p>From the beginning of 2015 through February 2016, political action committees overseen by the top 50 defense contractors have donated about $7.5 million to the campaigns and leadership PACs of lawmakers who have served on the Armed Services committees and the Appropriations subcommittees for Defense and for Energy and Water in the current Congress, the Center for Public Integrity calculated, using data downloaded from the FEC on March 28.<\/p>\n<p><em>CPI reporter Michael Beckel and news developer Chris Zubak-Skees contributed to this story.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Clinton beats all of the Republicans, plus Bernie Sanders, in getting the defense industry\u2019s financial help for her presidential campaign.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":140871,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[708,171,705,2235,226,116],"class_list":["post-140863","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-2016-election","tag-military","tag-money-in-politics","tag-national-security","tag-presidential-race","tag-washington"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140863","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=140863"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140863\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/140871"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=140863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=140863"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=140863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}