RETIRED $

a very large category in reporting political funding (tho see bossie scam pac, sr cit target?!)

note that exxon and other corps often hit up recent retired execs to launder money

<div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">=</div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/10/automated-donors-to-gop-campaigns-are-smashing-fec-limits-and-making-headlines-on-fake-news-websites/?rs=182" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">https://www.alternet.org/2020/10/automated-donors-to-gop-campaigns-are-smashing-fec-limits-and-making-headlines-on-fake-news-websites/</a></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">in recent weeks, a number of political campaigns and committees have received letters from the <a href="https://www.salon.com/topic/fec" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Federal Election Commission</a> notifying them that they may have <a href="https://www.salon.com/2020/08/13/trump-campaign-appears-to-be-hiding-massive-facebook-spending--but-why/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">violated federal rules and regulations</a> governing campaign finance, such as <a href="https://www.salon.com/2020/09/21/trump-campaign-still-appears-to-be-hiding-large-dollar-payments-to-kimberly-guilfoyle-and-lara-trump/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">inaccurately reporting expenditures</a> or accepting campaign donations in excess of the legal limit from dozens of people.</div>These letters are not uncommon, and not necessarily indicative of wrongdoing — the assumption is that campaigns <a href="https://www.salon.com/2020/07/28/this-scheme-is-illegal-trump-campaign-masked-170-million-in-payments-watchdog-alleges/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">want to follow the rules</a> but may have made mistakes in the heat of the contest. When the FEC <a href="https://www.salon.com/2020/07/03/after-months-of-inquiry-trump-campaign-still-appears-to-have-not-returned-illegal-foreign-donation/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">notifies a campaign</a> that it has taken too much money from donors, for instance, the letter lists the names and donation histories of the supporters who gave too much, so the campaign can isolate the over-limit amounts and refund, reattribute or redesignate that money. They have 60 days to do this before they must report back to the FEC.Some of those lists this year, however, have been exceptionally long — a phenomenon that election experts attribute to automated recurring donations over a long and particularly intense campaign season.For instance, Sen. Martha McSally, R-Ariz., received two separate notices last week, one of them 38 pages long and the other 41 pages. Each flagged excessive contributions from around 60 donors, for adjacent reporting periods. Her colleague, Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, received a nine-page list that alone flags a total well above $150,000 in excessive donations that the campaign must explain to the FEC.In a similar letter to President Trump's re-election campaign last month, the FEC <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/why-the-trump-campaign-is-returning-donations-to-these-superfans" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">flagged</a> more than 35,000 contributions from 1,045 donors, totaling more than $4.5 million in donations that the campaign needs to explain and reconcile. That list was 855 pages long. On Oct. 1, the FEC sent the campaign another letter flagging excessive donations, this one 814 pages long.Some of those lists this year, however, have been exceptionally long — a phenomenon that election experts attribute to automated recurring donations over a long and particularly intense campaign season.For instance, Sen. Martha McSally, R-Ariz., received two separate notices last week, one of them 38 pages long and the other 41 pages. Each flagged excessive contributions from around 60 donors, for adjacent reporting periods. Her colleague, Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, received a nine-page list that alone flags a total well above $150,000 in excessive donations that the campaign must explain to the FEC.In a similar letter to President Trump's re-election campaign last month, the FEC <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/why-the-trump-campaign-is-returning-donations-to-these-superfans" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">flagged</a> more than 35,000 contributions from 1,045 donors, totaling more than $4.5 million in donations that the campaign needs to explain and reconcile. That list was 855 pages long. On Oct. 1, the FEC sent the campaign another letter flagging excessive donations, this one 814 pages long."You have to consider the possibility that some of these serial donors may not have fully appreciated what they were doing when they signed up for recurring contributions," Kappel said.The McSally notices illustrate this point. The contribution history of one single recurring donor, Bruce P. Bengtson, accounts for more than 10 full pages, or 25% of the list. Other donors take up multiple pages, such as Bill Deaton, whose name appears on 215 line items in one letter.Deaton, founder of a Kentucky-based data-processing company, was <a href="https://www.kentucky.com/news/business/article44064621.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">fined $1 million</a> and sentenced to a year of home detention in a federal fraud case in 2010. FEC <a href="https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/?data_type=processed&committee_id=C00666040&contributor_name=deaton&two_year_transaction_period=2020" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">records</a> show he has contributed $6,706 to McSally this year. The individual limit for a full election cycle is $5,600.The Graham campaign also appears to have erred in some of its bookkeeping, according to the FEC, and the Harrison campaign needs to explain several donors with foreign addresses and three sources identified as "possible prohibited entities." (While the letter does not elaborate on the latter, one of the names — PCCC, LLC — appears to have been identified as a difficult-to-trace entity in a Center for Public Integrity <a href="https://publicintegrity.org/politics/how-citizens-united-is-helping-hillary-clinton-win-the-white-house/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">analysis</a> of 2016 donations to Hillary Clinton.)One of the over-limit donors to Graham, who has taken to begging for campaign cash in recent Fox News appearances, was Washington attorney Ty Cobb, formerly a lawyer for Trump during the Russia investigations. Cobb has given Graham $1,000 above the $2,800 general election maximum.A handful of names, however, are on the lists for both Graham and McSally. All those people, according to FEC searches, appear to be retirees. A closed-quote Google search of these donors brings up something unusual: Their names also appear in the headlines of what look like online news articles announcing their donations.For instance, a man named Henry L. Collins III gave $4,350 to Graham's campaign between April 30 and June 30, in a series of dozens of donations between $50 and $500. During that same period, he gave $4,425 to McSally. FEC records show that as of July 15, Collins had contributed a total $14,745 to McSally, nearly $10,000 above the individual limit, and as of June 30 had given about $8,400 <a href="https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/?data_type=processed&committee_id=C00458828&contributor_name=henry+collins+&two_year_transaction_period=2020" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">to Graham</a>, an excess of $2,800.On July 1, Collins' name was featured in a headline for an <a href="https://phxreporter.com/stories/548171781-martha-mcsally-s-campaign-committee-receives-2-705-from-henry-l-collins-iii" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">article</a> in something calling itself PHX Reporter that read: "Martha McSally's campaign committee receives $2,705 from Henry L. Collins III."But PHX Reporter is identical to another site called Western South Dakota News, which on July 14 <a href="https://westernsdnews.com/stories/542406795-henry-l-collins-iii-donates-500-to-elizabeth-marty-may-s-campaign-committee-in-april" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">announced</a> Collins' $500 contribution to Liz Marty May, a Republican congressional candidate. (Collins did not reply to Salon's request for comment.)For that matter, Western South Dakota News looks exactly like <a href="https://treasurecoastsun.com/stories/550340159-linda-levy-donates-455-to-brian-mast-s-campaign-committee-from-january-to-june" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">the Treasure Coast Sun</a>, which looks like the Columbia Standard — a site that published stories about individual contributions to both <a href="https://columbiastandard.com/stories/545483311-bruce-bengtson-donates-325-to-lindsey-olin-graham-s-campaign-committee-in-may" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Graham</a> and <a href="https://columbiastandard.com/stories/546670410-michael-feller-donates-100-to-jaime-harrison-s-campaign-committee-in-march" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Harrison</a>. Collins' name appears in <a href="https://columbiastandard.com/stories/545484928-wayne-pruitt-donates-500-to-lindsey-olin-graham-s-campaign-committee-in-may" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">a list</a> of top donors for the month of May on a Columbia Standard article — and three other donors on the list appear to have exceeded the legal limit with contributions from that month alone.These sites are part of a larger network of what could fairly be described as fake news sites — webpages that publish algorithm-driven content, much of it anonymous and automated, targeted at hyper-local audiences. Those networks of sites — <a href="https://www.cjr.org/analysis/as-election-looms-a-network-of-mysterious-pink-slime-local-news-outlets-nearly-triples-in-size.php" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">dubbed "pink slime,"</a> a play on "yellow journalism" — have tripled in size as Election Day approaches. And they're part of an even larger network, connected <a href="https://mainebeacon.com/anonymous-maine-news-site-tied-to-conservative-pac-funded-network/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">to a conservative PAC</a>.That network, however, also appears to publish <a href="https://azbusinessdaily.com/stories/537537524-martha-mcsally-s-campaign-committee-refunds-25-to-bruce-p-bengtson" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">campaign refunds</a> at times. One repeat McSally donor who spoke with Salon said that he had been refunded money multiple times over the last year, most recently last week, after the McSally campaign's most recent FEC letter. Earlier refunds made it into the pink slime headlines. The latest news apparently has yet to break.The McSally, Graham and Harrison campaigns declined to comment for this article.---</div><div>=
<div><h1 class="Headlineheadline--32KDc" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 25px; line-height: 1.32; letter-spacing: -0.4px;">Elderly Bossie donors say they thought they were helping Trump</h1><div class="StoryBodyroot--2VihO" itemprop="articleBody" style="box-sizing: inherit; position: relative;"><div style="box-sizing: inherit;">About two-thirds of the contributions made to <a href="https://www.axios.com/david-bossie-fundraising-presidential-coalition-3bf22829-8a89-4a10-84b7-7310e02c2ef2.html" class="StoryBodylink--10w8x" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: linear-gradient(rgb(0, 141, 200), rgb(0, 141, 200)); background-position: 0px 95%; background-size: 1px 1px; background-repeat: repeat-x; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation; text-shadow: rgb(255, 255, 255) 0.03em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -0.03em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0px 0.03em, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0px -0.03em, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0.06em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -0.06em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0.09em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -0.09em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0.12em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -0.12em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0.15em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -0.15em 0px;">David Bossie's Presidential Coalition</a> in 2017 and 2018 came from donors giving less than $200 in a single year. And of the donors identified in its tax forms, most said they were retired.<div class="Embedroot--xU4tk" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-width: 100%; width: 848px; margin: 35px auto;"><figure style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; width: 848px;"><div data-type="axios-visual" class="EmbedembedContainer--2z7Wi block-cgi1k lazyloaded" data-slug="av-2019-04-23-pc-time-90PWI" data-url="https://graphics.axios.com/2019-04-23-pc-time/2019-04-23-pc-time.html" style="box-sizing: inherit; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 0.2s ease 0s; text-align: center;"><div id="av-2019-04-23-pc-time-90PWI" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 100%;"></div></div><figcaption style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.62; padding: 10px 2px; width: 848px;">Data: Presidential Coalition's forms 8872 <a href="https://forms.irs.gov/app/pod/basicSearch/search;jsessionid=xpWqOwbJBFQHgxkeHgZXY1scImqv7qdRcxBaqQC9.-?execution=e1s1&format=" class="StoryBodylink--10w8x" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: linear-gradient(rgb(0, 141, 200), rgb(0, 141, 200)); background-position: 0px 95%; background-size: 1px 1px; background-repeat: repeat-x; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation; text-shadow: rgb(255, 255, 255) 0.03em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -0.03em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0px 0.03em, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0px -0.03em, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0.06em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -0.06em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0.09em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -0.09em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0.12em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -0.12em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0.15em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -0.15em 0px;">from the IRS</a>; Chart: Harry Stevens/Axios</figcaption></figure></div>Facebook's political ad archive shows that most of the organization's ads "are overwhelmingly targeted to, and viewed by, Facebook users 65 and older," according to<a href="https://campaignlegal.org/document/profiting-proximity-report-presidential-coalitions-misleading-fundraising-practices" class="StoryBodylink--10w8x" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: linear-gradient(rgb(0, 141, 200), rgb(0, 141, 200)); background-position: 0px 95%; background-size: 1px 1px; background-repeat: repeat-x; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation; text-shadow: rgb(255, 255, 255) 0.03em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -0.03em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0px 0.03em, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0px -0.03em, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0.06em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -0.06em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0.09em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -0.09em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0.12em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -0.12em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0.15em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -0.15em 0px;"> CLC’s report</a>.</div><div id="hidden-7b37f0c1-da94-4313-87bd-552730fea295" class="" aria-hidden="false" aria-expanded="true" style="box-sizing: inherit; padding-bottom: 65px;"><div style="box-sizing: inherit;"><ul style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1rem; margin-top: 0px;"><li class="StoryBodyitem--1cHYD" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.75; margin-bottom: 1rem;">And one of the Presidential Coalition's top fundraising vendors, the telemarketing firm InfoCision, paid a settlement after <a href="https://publicintegrity.org/federal-politics/telemarketer-for-conservative-causes-pays-250000-fine/" class="StoryBodylink--10w8x" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: linear-gradient(rgb(0, 141, 200), rgb(0, 141, 200)); background-position: 0px 95%; background-size: 1px 1px; background-repeat: repeat-x; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation; text-shadow: rgb(255, 255, 255) 0.03em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -0.03em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0px 0.03em, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0px -0.03em, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0.06em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -0.06em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0.09em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -0.09em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0.12em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -0.12em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0.15em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -0.15em 0px;">being accused</a> by the Federal Trade Commission of engaging in "false and misleading" tactics and accused by former employees of preying on the elderly, CLC points out.</li><li class="StoryBodyitem--1cHYD" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.75; margin-bottom: 1rem;">"Steve Brubaker, chief of staff for InfoCision, said the company disputes the allegations but agreed to settle the case to avoid a lengthy court battle," <a href="https://publicintegrity.org/federal-politics/telemarketer-for-conservative-causes-pays-250000-fine/" class="StoryBodylink--10w8x" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: linear-gradient(rgb(0, 141, 200), rgb(0, 141, 200)); background-position: 0px 95%; background-size: 1px 1px; background-repeat: repeat-x; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation; text-shadow: rgb(255, 255, 255) 0.03em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -0.03em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0px 0.03em, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0px -0.03em, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0.06em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -0.06em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0.09em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -0.09em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0.12em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -0.12em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0.15em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -0.15em 0px;">per the Center for Public Integrity.</a></li></ul>Yes, but: "Most organizations, left or right, in this space target an older demographic. Not to scam them, though that does exist, but because they're most likely to donate," said Walter Lukens, CEO of the Lukens Company, a direct response marketing agency.Axios reached out to more than a dozen of these donors, most of whom were retired. They all said they thought their money was going toward supporting the president.<ul style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1rem; margin-top: 0px;"><li class="StoryBodyitem--1cHYD" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.75; margin-bottom: 1rem;">"I gave them money after seeing their mailers, and because I think Trump deserves it. … I'm old and easily fooled I guess. … It's disappointing, very disappointing," Wallace Payne, an 86-year-old Republican from Paynesville, Minnesota, told Axios after we informed him of the breakdown of spending.</li><li class="StoryBodyitem--1cHYD" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.75; margin-bottom: 1rem;">"I thought the money was going toward the president," Barbara Bloom, a retired widow in her 70s, said: "You know, I'd get repeated duplicates for things. [Their mailers] would most of the time say the first $15 was for your membership, but how many times do you pay membership? … It's ridiculous, it's insulting. I'm just really disenchanted with it all."</li><li class="StoryBodyitem--1cHYD" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.75; margin-bottom: 1rem;">Even one of the Presidential Coalition's biggest individual donors, 85-year-old George Kunkel, who gave $101,000 during 2017 and 2018, said he thought "the money goes toward supporting the president": "I know some of it went to the president and his campaign because I saw the ads," he told Axios before we shared details of how the money was spent.</li></ul>Go deeper: <a href="https://www.axios.com/david-bossie-fundraising-presidential-coalition-3bf22829-8a89-4a10-84b7-7310e02c2ef2.html" class="StoryBodylink--10w8x" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: linear-gradient(rgb(0, 141, 200), rgb(0, 141, 200)); background-position: 0px 95%; background-size: 1px 1px; background-repeat: repeat-x; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation; text-shadow: rgb(255, 255, 255) 0.03em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -0.03em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0px 0.03em, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0px -0.03em, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0.06em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -0.06em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0.09em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -0.09em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0.12em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -0.12em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) 0.15em 0px, rgb(255, 255, 255) -0.15em 0px;">Axios' full investigation into David Bossie's Presidential Coalition</a></div></div></div></div><div>=

Which industry contributes the most to federal candidates and

political committees? Defense contractors? Oil and gas companies?

Financial firms and investment banks? Pharmaceutical companies? Lawyers?

Wrong.

The top industry isn’t really an “industry” at all, but individuals who list their occupation as “retired” in federal documents.

Retired individuals <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/industries/indus.php?cycle=2010&ind=W06">contributed</a>

nearly $279 million to federal-level candidates and political

committees during the 2008 campaign cycle, more than any other

“industry.” Despite the stereotype that older people are more

conservative, the contributions were just about split evenly between

Democrats and the GOP.

In 2008, presidential candidate <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/summary.php?cycle=2008&cid=N00009638">Barack Obama</a> received nearly $43 million from retirees, while his opponent <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/summary.php?cycle=2008&cid=N00006424">John McCain</a> received $32.7 million. Retired individuals were the <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/indus.php?cid=N00006424&cycle=2008">top contributing “industry”</a> to McCain’s campaign, and <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/indus.php?cid=N00009638&cycle=2008">second only to lawyers</a> for Obama’s campaign.

Since the 1990 election cycle, retired individuals have contributed

nearly $1 billion to candidates and committees at the federal level.

While there are no companies in this faux-industry to lobby the federal government, the well-known advocacy group <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/clientsum.php?lname=AARP&year=2010">AARP</a>

has a strong Capitol Hill presence. AARP has more than 40 million

members -- all over the age of 50 -- and is the largest advocacy group

for retired people.

AARP’s spending has been quite variable from year to year. The group

spent $21 million on lobbying in 2009, down from nearly $28 million the

year before. In 2005, the group spent a record $36 million on lobbying

expenditures.

AARP’s top concerns are maintaining the integrity of Social Security

and improving Medicare and other health care for seniors. The

association was a major, high-profile supporter of Obama and

congressional Democrats’ plan for health care reform, which passed in

early 2010.

-- Steve Spires

Updated October 2010


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