If you’re tuning in to Sunday’s lineup of network TV news shows, remember this interesting fact: Democrats received 88 percent of 2008 political contributions from ABC, CBS and NBC executives, writers and reporters. Their donations to Democrats totaled more than $1 million.

The Washington Examiner’s Mark Tapscott has the scoop. Working with the Center for Responsive Politics — proprietor of OpenSecrets.org — Tapscott discovered the overwhelming imbalance. Here’s a breakdown of the data by party affiliation:

• The Democratic total of $1,020,816 was given by 1,160 employees of the three major broadcast television networks, with an average contribution of $880.

• By contrast, only 193 of the employees contributed to Republican candidates and campaign committees, for a total of $142,863. The average Republican contribution was $744.

Why is this relevant (more…)

In the aftermath of President Obama’s nomination of Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court, ABC and Politico, among others, have reported on Kagan’s history of political contributions. Not surprisingly, she has donated exclusively to Democrats, with Obama receiving more than half ($6300) of the $12,300 in total she contributed to national level campaigns in the preceding 10 years. (Hillary Clinton, Al Gore, and John Kerry were also recipients.)

The Boston Herald ran a story which also highlighted some of her contributions to state-level candidates, including Deval Patrick’s gubernatorial campaign and Tim Murray for lieutenant governor. However, every media outlet has either failed to report, or missed, a campaign contribution of Kagan’s which seems pretty notable given how little is known about her political beliefs and preferences.

In 2006, Kagan made a maximum ($500) campaign contribution to John Bonifaz who was running in the Democratic primary campaign for Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.  I suspect like me most of you have probably never heard of John Bonifaz, but it turns out he is about as far left as you can get before joining the Bernie Sanders fan club. His opponent in the 2006 race actually accused him of being a closet Green Party supporter, which of course is just a polite way of calling someone a socialist. But putting aside labels, here are a few facts about Bonifaz which demonstrate his extreme left credentials:

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The Miami Herald has suspended its program that encouraged readers to voluntarily make donations to read its on-line content, as opposed to having a hard subscription price.

If you value The Miami Herald’s local news reporting and investigations, but prefer the convenience of the Internet, please consider a voluntary payment for the web news that matters to you,” the now-defunct donation page read.

One could, if one were so predisposed,  consider this a wonderful milestone for the Herald.  Perhaps, we shall assume in this vein, the Herald has achieved such a state of financial self-sufficiency that online subscriptions — begged for or otherwise — are no longer needed for the financial integrity of the paper.

Our first clue comes from early reactions to the program shortly after its launch:  ”They’ve also provoked an array of reactions, here and across the country, since this has drawn attention as the first effort of its kind.”  An “array” – a collection, joined perhaps merely by the fact at whom they were directed.

One can feel the “array” in its full glory:  ”Are you clowns serious?”  ”Here’s two cents.”  ”Here’s my nickel.”  ”I just got done reading your rag.  I’ll be sending an invoice shortly.”  The ending of the program was likewise marked by weasel words.  Wrote editor Anders Gyllenhaal: (more…)

Never heard of Leo Hindery?  Here’s his profile:

Leo Hindery, Jr., is Managing Partner of InterMedia Partners VII, LP, a New York-based media industry private equity fund which he founded in 2005 and which is a successor to six previous InterMedia investment funds that he formed beginning in 1988. The investments of those earlier funds were sold in 1998-1999.

Until October 2004, Mr. Hindery was Chairman (and until May 2004 Chief Executive Officer) of The YES Network, the nation’s largest regional sports network which he founded in the summer of 2001 as the television home of the New York Yankees, where he won five executive producer Emmys for outstanding programming. From December 1999 until January 2001, Mr. Hindery was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of GlobalCenter Inc., a major Internet services company, which was then merged into Exodus Communications, Inc. Until November 1999, Mr. Hindery was President and Chief Executive Officer of AT&T Broadband, which was formed out of the March 1999 merger of Tele-Communications, Inc. (TCI) into AT&T. (AT&T Broadband encompassed all of AT&T’s video, local telephone and Internet services operations.) Mr. Hindery was elected President of TCI and all of its affiliated companies, then the world’s largest cable television system operator and programming entity, in February 1997.

Mr. Hindery is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and from 2003 through December 2007 was Senate-appointed Vice Chair of the HELP Commission formed by an Act of Congress to improve U.S. foreign assistance. From December 2006 until February 2008, he served as Senior Economic Policy Advisor for presidential candidate John Edwards.

Okay, so Leo got snookered by John Edwards. And, there’s been some criticism of some of his business activities. That doesn’t discount his importance within the Democrat Party — or what he’s saying now. (more…)