Our Philadelphia

Council Member, At Large

Goode's Top Donors, 2001-2008

1	Laborers District Council	$23,000
2	International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers	$14,200
3	Walter Lomax	$3,250
4	Comcast	$3,000
5	Blank Rome LLP & Employees	$2,500

About Goode's Top Donors

Laborers District Council

Comprised of four different unions—the Laborers Local 332, 57, 135, and 413—the Laborers District Council is by far the biggest donor to political candidates in Philadelphia. The LDC was one of the top 5 donors to Mayor John F. Street in his career, according to a 11/13/03 article in the Inquirer, with $539,000 in contributions. In 2007, LDC originally backed State Rep. Dwight Evans in the race to succeed Street, then switched and gave $19,000 to Michael Nutter in the weeks before he defeated Republican Al Taubenberger. Candidates receiving the highest percentage of all their total contributions from the LDC include State Representatives John Myers and Cherelle Parker, for whom roughly one dollar in every four received between 2001-2008 was from the LDC. The LDC is led by Samuel Staten, Sr., who has also served on the state board that recommends lawyers for appointments to Philadelphia’s Common Pleas and Municipal Courts. Staten joined Joseph Ashdale, political director for IUPAT, in bidding for a license to open a Philadelphia casino in 2006. This raises the question of whether LDC itself has lobbied in support of expanding legalized gambling. LDC is not registered to lobby with the state, and Philadelphia does not require lobbyists to register.

International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers

Gov. Ed Rendell called IBEW “the most politically influential union around,” in an April 30, 2008 article in the Philadelphia City Paper. As long-time leader of the IBEW and former treasurer of the city Democratic Party, John Dougherty has been a kingmaker in city politics, and an endorsement from Dougherty is often followed by an infusion of campaign cash from other sources, and volunteers to help with getting out the vote. The extent to which Dougherty and IBEW depend upon campaign contributions to wield influence was dramatized in 2007 when Dougherty joined U.S. Rep. Chakah Fattah in filing a lawsuit alleging that Philadelphia did not have the power to limit campaign contributions to candidates in city elections. As part of their lawyers’ arguments in Nutter v. Dougherty, et al, it was alleged that the Pennsylvania General Assembly had intended to preempt any municipality in the state from making its own campaign finance laws. Dougherty and IBEW have also been strong supporters of expanding legalized gambling and building casinos in Philadelphia, in part because of the potential contracts for IBEW members.

Walter Lomax

Walter Lomax

Comcast

"They have PR firms and strategy consultants that they can pull into any given issue very quickly," said Ben Scott, policy director for Free Press, in a May 17, 2009 Philadelphia Inquirer article about Comcast’s strong lobbying arm."If Comcast decided to get in front of the 435 members of the House, they could do that in a week. I don't think I could do it in a year." And if Comcast can personally lobby every member of Congress in a week, imagine how easy it is for them to make their case to the Philadelphia City Council or the state legislature. In Congress, they have lobbied against the Shareholders Bill of Rights, which would give corporate shareholders the ability to reject executive compensation packages, like Comcast CEO Brian Roberts’s annual salary of $25 million. Meanwhile, across Pennsylvania, Comcast has lobbied against opening up markets to competition from other cable companies. On what issues has Comcast lobbied the Philadelphia City Council? It would be nice to know. Unlike New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and many other major cities, Philadelphia does not require lobbyists to register and disclose the issues on which they have been lobbying.

Blank Rome LLP & Employees

Once described as an “ATM machine” for Republican candidates, the law firm of Blank Rome has increased its contributions to Democrats in recent years, from hosting a fundraiser for Sen. Ted Kennedy in 2005, to becoming one of Michael Nutter’s biggest contributors during his 2007 campaign for Mayor. The firms represents a wide array of companies subject to state and federal regulation, including health insurers and HMO’s, chemicals manufacturers and distributors, public electric and gas utilities, and private equity firms. Blank Rome also has a separate lobbying arm in Washington, DC, and a striking example of the firm’s ability to use its political connections to recruit new business was detailed in a 12/18/05 American Prospect article about Blank Rome’s role in helping to create, then lobby, the Department of Homeland Security. Joining former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge in creating DHS were lobbyists Mark Holman, Ashley Davis, and Carl Buchholtz. Buchholtz was “the former general counsel to Ridge's gubernatorial campaigns and a partner in the Philadelphia-based law and lobbying firm Blank Rome LLP, who took a year away from the firm to help the White House plan the DHS. Blank Rome's chairman, David Girard-diCarlo, a former Ridge fundraiser and Bush Pioneer in 2000, is among Ridge's closest friends. By the time DHS opened its doors in 2003, Buchholtz had returned to Blank Rome, taking Holman and Davis with him. All three quickly turned to lobbying the department whose creation they had helped to oversee. When Blank Rome signed up 18 companies as new homeland security clients that year, and added homeland security to its lobbying duties for half a dozen existing clients, no ethics rules barred Buchholtz, Holman, and Davis from lobbying the new department—because technically, none of them had worked there.”