Brian Lamb said this morning, 6 out of 10 of the largest political donors

[B Calm]

were unions.. Is this true? and does that comment mean that unions were 12 of the top 20 of largest political donors and so on, so on???

[Lasher]

1. Here's Opensecrets.org's top 10 list

Top 10 donors:

American Fedn of State, County & Municipal Employees $36,694,599
National Assn of Realtors $26,955,118
Assn of Trial Lawyers of America $25,300,041
National Education Assn $25,180,941
Intl Brotherhood of Electrical Workers $23,617,005
Service Employees International Union $23,354,475
Communications Workers of America $22,937,924
Laborers Union $22,812,207
Carpenters & Joiners Union $22,606,447
Teamsters Union $22,550,008

http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/index.asp

On edit: There are many more corporations than there are unions. Therefore, any assertion that unions contribute more than corporations is absolutely falacious. Consider these statistics, also from Opensecrets.org:

THE BIG PICTURE
2002 CYCLE

Business-Labor-Ideology Split in PAC, Soft & Individual Donations to Candidates and Parties

Grand Total Democrats Republicans Dem Repub

Business $1,008,406,673 $429,074,306 $577,020,735 43% 57%
Labor $96,584,777 $89,937,275 $6,465,902 93% 7%
Ideological $90,259,388 $49,010,162 $41,157,993 54% 46%
Other $108,024,969 $48,130,631 $59,271,482 45% 55%
Unknown $77,355,798 $21,589,286 $55,563,830 28% 72%

73% of 2002 contributions came from business, while only 7% came from unions.

http://www.opensecrets.org/bigpicture/blio.asp?cycle=2002

[B Calm]

2. Thanks.. Now can we get the top 20, top 100... It appears

to me the 6 out of the top ten don't have much clout and there has to be a reason..

[Lasher]

5. To view the top 100...

Go to the first Opensecrets.org link that I provided and click on View Full List. The result will be the top 100 donors.

Also please note, I have edited my original response. As you will see, I was not able to get the columns to line up properly, so hit the second Opensecrets.org link for a much prettier version of the same data.

[hamerfan]

3. Looks like 8 of the top 10 are unions

It's a shame money is such a valuable commodity in our political process. I feel my vote is much more valuable than a few bucks I give. But it is, so I am glad to see the unions giving so much. Someone needs to be on the workers' side, and you can bet it's not corporations. Reminds me of a bumper sticker I saw: "A worker voting republican is like a chicken voting for Colonel Sanders".
dumpbush

[annabanana]

6. "unknown" Dem 28%, repub 72%

known unknowns, unknown knowns...

Anyone "know" these "unknowns"? Any guesses?

[Frustratedlady]

7. Ms. Practical, Here....

But I can sure see a lot of good that could come from using that money in other, charitable ways than buying politicians. Sorry, but I think that way too much money goes into this process. For what?

If you go back over the news reports for 2005, how many subjects involve corruption and greed from politicians? We are drowning in white collar crime. I figure that if it is easy money, they are going to figure out a way to put it in their pocket, and those with the power to stop them will look the other way. The Good Ol' Boy Syndrome.

Let's get back to basics and let them sweat and beg for their elected positions. It would give their egos a workout. Shoot, we can't even get through an election without someone goosing the voting machines, and how much of that donated money went toward paying off the goosers?

[kikiek]

4. And corporations still rule. Can you imagine what would

happen if unions didn't contribute? That is what Arnold would like to see, and this is why. They are the only voice for the working stiff and they want to stifle it.