31,385 People Gave 28 Percent of All Individual Contributions to the 2012 U.S. Election: This Elite Group of Donors are the Collective Gatekeepers of Public Office
International Corporations and Bankers Run the World - They Own the Politicians, Big Media, Judges, State Houses, City Halls (Excerpt)
The U.S. now has a campaign finance system where a tiny slice of individuals – 31,385 people, not even enough to fill half of a professional football stadium – collectively account for more than a quarter of all individual contributions (that we can trace), even though they represent just one in ten thousand Americans. Every single member of Congress elected in 2012 received a contribution from this group of individuals, and the vast majority of those elected (84 percent) received more money from the "1% of the 1%" than they did from all small donations (under $200).A tiny sliver of Americans who can afford to give tens of thousands of dollars in a single election cycle have become the gatekeepers of public office in America. Through the growing congressional dependence on their contributions, they increasingly set the boundaries and limits of American political discourse – who can run for office, what their priorities should be and even what can be said in public. And in an era of unlimited campaign contributions, the power of the 1% of the 1% only stands to grow with each passing year.
Meet the 1% of the 1%
Who are the 31,385 individuals who contributed 28.1 percent of the traceable money in the 2012 election?A few of them are well-known. Sheldon Adelson and his wife Miriam contributed a combined $97 million. Harold Simmons, who built a business empire around buying Superfund sites, contributed $25 million. Bob Perry, the late Texas real estate mogul, contributed $23.5 million. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is the seventh largest donor, at $10.6 million. Many of the other names atop the list will be familiar to readers of our “Stealthy Wealthy” series.
But our analysis is not focused on specific individuals, many of whose campaign largesse and motivations already have been well-scrutinized. Rather, our interest is in examining the role of this elite group of donors as the collective gatekeepers of public office.
Mostly, these donors tend to come from top corporate positions, most commonly in the worlds of finance and law. They most frequently hail from New York and Washington. Of donors for whom we know the gender, 71.8 percent are male.
For a list of all 31,385 donors in the 2012 one percent of the one percent, click here.
Top Professions
While the most common occupation listed among these donors is “Retired” (13.1%), the plurality with identifiable professions hail from top corporate jobs: 8.8 percent identify themselves as “president,” 8.7 percent as “attorney” or “lawyer” and 8.5 percent as “CEO.” While there is some overlap among the corporate jobs (for example, various individuals list themselves as “CEO and Chairman,” or “President/CEO,” etc.), a total of 5,639 top donors (17.0 percent) list themselves as at least one of the following: “CEO," "President," "Chairman,” “Executive” or “Owner."Looking purely at the monetary contributions, CEOs and chairmen (frequently the same person) account for the largest raw percentage of donations, which tells us that they contribute, on average, a bit more than the average member of the 1% of the 1%. By contrast, retirees give a little less on average, accounting for only 10.8 percent of the contributions as compared to 13.2 percent of donors.
It’s also worth highlighting that 7.7 percent of the 1% of the 1% list their occupation as “homemaker.” Since homemakers are rarely compensated for their work, we are left to assume that their ability to contribute tens of thousands of dollars is due to spousal or inherited wealth. “Homemaker” is the listed occupation for 27.4 percent of the female 1% of the 1% donors, while “Retired” is the listed occupation of 17.5 percent of the female 1% of the 1% donors. (As a basis of comparison, 11.5 percent of the male 1% of the 1% donors list their occupation as “retired.”)
Most common professions among the 1 percent of the 1 percent, 2012
| Occupation | Donors | Share of 1% of the 1% donors | Total donations | Share of 1% of the 1% donations |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retired | 4131 | 13.2% | $181,663,338 | 10.8% |
| President | 2764 | 8.8% | $137,886,277 | 8.2% |
| Attorney | 2738 | 8.7% | $104,658,811 | 6.2% |
| CEO | 2671 | 8.5% | $230,678,958 | 13.7% |
| Homemaker | 2432 | 7.7% | $117,901,507 | 7.0% |
| Chairman | 2428 | 7.7% | $223,832,610 | 13.3% |
| Executive | 1886 | 6.0% | $101,835,685 | 6.1% |
| Investor | 1638 | 5.2% | $106,385,270 | 6.3% |
| Owner | 1015 | 3.2% | $42,177,945 | 2.5% |
Top Employers
While thousands of different employers are represented among the 1% of the 1%, certain names pop up more frequently than others. At the top of the list (by far), is Goldman Sachs, with 85 employees contributing $4.67 million between them. Blackstone, the private equity firm, is next with 49 employees, and the major law firm, Kirkland & Ellis, is third on the list with 40 employees. Financial and legal/lobbying firms dominate the top 20.Besides Goldman and Blackstone, financial firms Morgan Stanley (38 donors), Elliot Management (24), Citigroup (23), Credit Suisse (23), Fidelity (23) and Bain Capital (21) also make the top 20 list. That adds up to 248 major donors from top financial firms. Elliot donors contributed on average $184,830, the highest of any of the top employers. Bain Capital came in second, at $131,634.
The top legal and lobbying firms, after Kirkland and Ellis, are Akin Gump (36), Podesta Group (30), Skadden Arps (29), DLA Piper (21) and Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck (20). That adds up to 176 major donors from top law and lobbying firms.
Rounding out the list of organizations with the most employees in the 1% of the 1%: Harvard University at 33, Google at 33, Microsoft at 31 and Comcast at 26. One name that may not be familiar to Washington insiders is the Rothman Institute, a Philadelphia-area orthopedic group with 23 employees in 1% of the 1%. It is the only healthcare organization on this list. Its 1% of the 1% donors also gave the least on average: $25,668.
Most common employers among the 1% of the 1% percent, 2012
| Employer | 1% of the 1% Donors | Total donations | Average donations |
|---|---|---|---|
| Goldman Sachs | 85 | $4,670,207 | $54,944 |
| Blackstone | 49 | $2,236,050 | $45,634 |
| Kirkland and Ellis | 40 | $1,526,949 | $38,174 |
| Morgan Stanley | 38 | $1,241,241 | $32,664 |
| Comcast | 37 | $1,222,705 | $33,046 |
| Akin Gump | 36 | $1,643,941 | $45,665 |
| 33 | $1,352,312 | $40,979 | |
| Harvard | 33 | $1,236,391 | $37,466 |
| Microsoft | 31 | $1,049,667 | $33,860 |
| Podesta Group | 30 | $1,052,179 | $35,073 |
| Skadden Arps | 29 | $1,239,387 | $42,737 |
| Patton Boggs | 26 | $925,528 | $35,597 |
| Elliot Management | 24 | $4,435,923 | $184,830 |
| Credit Suisse | 23 | $705,788 | $30,686 |
| Rothman Institute | 23 | $590,366 | $25,668 |
| Citigroup | 23 | $746,650 | $32,463 |
| Fidelity | 23 | $726,414 | $31,583 |
| DLA Piper | 21 | $864,496 | $41,166 |
| Bain Capital | 21 | $2,764,306 | $131,634 |
| Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck | 20 | $627,016 | $31,351 |
Congressional dependence
Every single member of Congress elected in 2012 received at least some money from the 1% of the 1%. Only Reps. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., ($4,750 from eight 1% of the 1% donors) and Jose Serrano, D-N.Y., ($7,000 from six 1% of the 1% donors) received less than $10,000 total. Both represent safe seats in poor, urban districts, and both get roughly 75 percent of their campaign money from PACs.
Of the 435 House members elected in last year, 372 (86 percent) received more from the 1% of the 1% than they did from every single small donor combined. And almost half (202, or 46.4 percent) received more than three times as much money from these large donors than they did from all small donors combined.
The 33 senators elected in 2012 were only slightly less dependent on the 1% of the 1%. The majority (20, 61 percent) got more money from the top donors than from all small donors combined. And one third (11) got three times as much money.
Members of Congress with the highest share of donations from the 1% of the 1%, 2012
| Candidate | State | Chamber | Share from the 1% of the 1% | Share from small donors | Total raised |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nancy Pelosi (D) | CA | H | 40.4% | 4.8% | $2,298,844 |
| Roger Williams (R) | TX | H | 38.7% | 1.5% | $2,736,485 |
| Sheldon Whitehouse (D) | RI | S | 36.5% | 6.4% | $3,280,685 |
| Nita M. Lowey (D) | NY | H | 34.2% | 3.9% | $2,125,851 |
| Eric Cantor (R) | VA | H | 34.2% | 4.9% | $7,619,202 |
| Jeff Flake (R) | AZ | S | 33.3% | 13.9% | $8,967,955 |
| Joe Kennedy III (D) | MA | H | 32.6% | 0.0% | $4,193,094 |
| Bill Foster (D) | IL | H | 32.3% | 11.8% | $2,956,287 |
| John Sarbanes (D) | MD | H | 31.8% | 5.4% | $1,010,367 |
| John Boehner (R) | OH | H | 31.0% | 26.7% | $21,981,789 |
| Jon Tester (D) | MT | S | 29.7% | 13.1% | $11,881,646 |
| Ron DeSantis (R) | FL | H | 29.1% | 6.1% | $1,145,859 |
| Ted Cruz (R) | TX | S | 28.8% | 17.2% | $13,627,317 |
| Jerrold Nadler (D) | NY | H | 28.4% | 2.4% | $1,114,468 |
| Orrin G. Hatch (R) | UT | S | 28.3% | 0.6% | $8,829,902 |
| John A. Barrasso (R) | WY | S | 28.3% | 4.5% | $4,007,574 |
| Tim Kaine (D) | VA | S | 28.2% | 17.0% | $18,008,380 |
| Ted Deutch (D) | FL | H | 27.9% | 2.6% | $1,263,534 |
| Kirsten Gillibrand (D) | NY | S | 27.6% | 8.5% | $15,577,940 |
| Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D) | FL | H | 27.6% | 21.0% | $3,610,339 |
For complete data on all members elected in 2012, click here.
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