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By Tom Elia
January 6, 2004
The New Editor
(This column originally appeared in FrontPage Magazine.)
In the first three quarters of 2003 about 65 percent of political contributions from the
education industry went to Democratic Party candidates for president, the House, and the
Senate, according to The Center for Responsive Politics.
The education industry includes teachers, professors and others in the education field, but
does not include political contributions from teachers' unions.
Members of this group contributed almost $5.5 million to all federal political candidates,
ranking it 15th out of more than 80 groups in political donations; it ranked 33rd in 2002.
98.5 percent of the money came from individuals, with 1.5 percent coming from PACs.
Contributions to presidential candidates followed roughly the same pattern, with 71 percent
of all the money from the group going to Democratic Party candidates.
Former Vermont Governor Howard Dean led all presidential candidates with $718,705 in
contributions; President George Bush was second with $680,109; Sen. John Kerry (D-MA)
was third with $325,415; Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-CT) was fourth with $207,640; and Sen.
John Edwards (D-NC) was fifth with $174,324. The next five largest recipients were Gen.
Wesley Clark, Rep. Dick Gephardt (D-MO), Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), Lyndon
LaRouche, and former Illinois Senator Carol Moseley-Braun.
In the Senate, of the top 20 incumbents who garnered the most contributions from this
group, 16 were Democrats and 4 were Republicans.
Of the top 20 senatorial candidates receiving the most money from the educators, 15 were
Democrats and 5 were Republicans.
In the House, of the top 20 incumbents getting financial support from this group, 15 were
Democrats and 5 were Republicans.
The top five institutions -- by contributions -- that these educators came from were Harvard
University ($169,101 given -- 94 percent to Democrats, 6 percent to Republicans);
University of California ($164,604 given -- 88 percent to Democrats, 12 percent to
Republicans); The Apollo Group, which includes Phoenix University ($136,000--73 percent
to Democrats, 27 percent to Republicans); Stanford University ($125,780--89 percent to
Democrats, 11 percent to Republicans); and William & Mary College ($81,750--100 percent
to Democrats, 0 for Republicans).
Of the top 20 institutions ranked by contributions, 16 gave mostly to Democrats, three
mostly to Republicans, and one gave about equally to both parties.
According to The Center for Responsive Politics, during the 2002 election cycle the ninth
largest campaign donor in the country, The American Federation of Teachers, contributed
$5,072,015 to candidates for federal office (99 percent to Democrats, 1 percent to
Republicans); while the 24th largest campaign contributor, the National Education
Association, donated $3,110,633 (92 percent to the Democrats, 8 percent to the
Republicans).
Combining the two unions means that total campaign contributions made on behalf of
teachers would have placed them as the third largest campaign contributor in the country
during that period ($8,182,648--96 percent to the Democrats, 4 percent to the Republicans).
At the 2000 Democratic National convention, there were more delegates from teachers'
unions represented than there were from the entire California delegation.
The Center for Responsive Politics compiled the information from data supplied from filings
with the Federal Election Commission, which lists the name and occupation of any
contributor giving more than $200.
Tom Elia is a contributing editor for The New Editor.
Paul Geary
David Rogers