Posted by
GrandView on Friday, September 28, 2007 1:14:51 PM
You live in a red county in a red state. You are intellectually secure in your conservative values. You are all races. You are intelligent, open-minded, and investigate the facts -- even to the point of closely inspecting your church’s financial statement before you joined. But have you checked out where your hard-earned legal fees are going?
Take a look at the stats below (courtesy of OpenSecrets.org, a product of Center for Responsive Politics). Odds are if your friendly neighborhood law firm is politically active, or such is the case with your firm’s parent organization, your legal fees are supporting the Democratic Party and the message of special interest groups like MoveOn.org.
Lawyers/Law Firms:
Long-Term Contribution Trends
|
Election Cycle |
Rank† |
Total Contributions |
Contributions from Individuals |
Contributions from PACs |
Soft Money Contributions |
Donations to Democrats |
Donations to Republicans |
% to Dems |
% to Repubs |
|
2006* |
1 |
$121,298,780 |
$106,303,569 |
$14,995,211 |
N/A |
$85,457,563 |
$34,447,101 |
70% |
28% |
|
2004* |
2 |
$183,988,149 |
$172,049,701 |
$11,938,448 |
N/A |
$137,072,634 |
$46,103,492 |
75% |
25% |
|
2002 |
1 |
$95,553,742 |
$63,884,114 |
$9,999,358 |
$21,670,270 |
$70,821,467 |
$24,518,041 |
74% |
26% |
|
2000 |
1 |
$113,553,374 |
$82,720,862 |
$9,566,331 |
$21,266,181 |
$78,426,011 |
$34,434,633 |
69% |
30% |
|
1998 |
1 |
$60,462,250 |
$44,853,479 |
$7,886,660 |
$7,722,111 |
$43,726,359 |
$16,501,894 |
72% |
27% |
|
1996 |
1 |
$77,390,903 |
$59,279,869 |
$7,836,941 |
$10,274,093 |
$53,961,138 |
$23,170,715 |
70% |
30% |
|
1994 |
1 |
$49,389,515 |
$39,326,845 |
$6,787,904 |
$3,274,766 |
$36,658,397 |
$12,651,540 |
74% |
26% |
|
1992 |
1 |
$57,151,188 |
$47,428,859 |
$6,805,394 |
$2,916,935 |
$41,134,595 |
$15,881,857 |
72% |
28% |
|
1990 |
1 |
$24,986,617 |
$20,099,649 |
$4,886,968 |
N/A |
$17,201,310 |
$7,780,182 |
69% |
31% |
|
Total |
1 |
$783,774,518 |
$635,946,947 |
$80,703,215 |
$67,124,356 |
$564,459,474 |
$215,489,455 |
72% |
27% |
What can you do?
Before hiring an attorney, research his/her firm's political fundraising activities on sites like www.opensecrets.org and www.campaignmoney.com. Research campaign contributors according to the firm in which you desire to contract, according to your prospective firm's parent company, or enter relevant attorney names. Review results, voice concerns, and forward findings to others.
You make every effort possible to not support liberal causes. Don't allow your legal fees to be the exception to the rule.
†[The above] numbers show how the industry ranks in total campaign giving as compared to more than 80 other industries. Rankings are shown only for industries (such as the Automotive industry) -- not for widely encompassing "sectors" (such as Transportation) or more detailed "categories" (like car dealers).
*These figures do not include donations of "Levin" funds to state and local party committees. Levin funds were created by the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002.
METHODOLOGY: The numbers on this page are based on contributions of $200 or more from PACs and individuals to federal candidates and from PAC, soft money and individual donors to political parties, as reported to the Federal Election Commission. While election cycles are shown in charts as 1996, 1998, 2000 etc. they actually represent two-year periods. For example, the 2002 election cycle runs from January 1, 2001 to December 31, 2002. Data for the current election cycle were released by the Federal Election Commission on Monday, June 04, 2007.
NOTE: Soft money contributions to the national parties were not publicly disclosed until the 1991-92 election cycle, and were banned by the Bipartisan Campaign Finance Reform Act following the 2002 elections.
Source: www.OpenSecrets.org (Center for Responsive Politics, 09.28.07)