Sen. Blanche Lincoln: Selected campaign finance data
All data taken from the Center for Responsive Politics, http://www.opensecrets.org, unless otherwise noted.
Student Loans
Sen. Lincoln bailed out the banks in 2008, and now she wants to do it again. This time, she's blocking an historic education bill that will cut $87 billion in bank subsidies and use the savings to help students pay for college—including 58,000 Arkansas students next year alone. [sources, not from Open Secrets: 2008 bailout, $87 billion plan, Lincoln's opposition, 58,000 Arkansas students]
Why is Sen. Lincoln siding with Wall Street banks? Maybe because they've given her $372,000 in campaign contributions. [source]
Energy & Clean Air Act:
She's taken over $550,000 from big oil, power, and coal companies for this year's election, and now she's sponsoring a bill to roll back the Clean Air Act. [source, combines Oil & Gas and Electric Utilities sectors and coal minining industry]
She's the #1 recipient in Washington of money from Big Oil in the last year, and now she's sponsoring a bill to roll back the Clean Air Act. [source]
She's taken over $1.5 million from opponents of clean energy and climate legislation, and now she's sponsoring a bill to block President Obama's most important steps forward on climate. [source, combines agribusiness and energy sectors]
"One of three Democratic senators who supports blocking U.S. EPA's ability to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from power plants draws one of the highest amounts of campaign contributions from electric utilities. Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) received $162,202 from utilities since 2005, placing her fifth overall for power plant money among senators seeking re-election this year, according to data from the Center for Responsive Politics..."We support our friends," said Patrick Lavigne, director of media and public relations for National Rural Electric Cooperative." [Source: New York Times Greenwire]
The Murkowski bill that Sen. Lincoln cosponsored to roll back the Clean Air Act was written by Jeffrey Holmstead, a lobbyist for several coal and power companies. Lincoln has raised nearly $25,000 in the past year from two of those companies, CSX Corp. and Energy Future Holdings Corp. [Source: Holmstead and contributions]
Health insurance and HMOs:
An analysis of campaign contributions shows that Senator Lincoln has taken $866,982 during her career from insurance and HMO interests. [Source: combines insurance and HMO industries]
Sen. Lincoln has taken more than $2.4 million from the health and insurance industries during her career. [Source: combines insurance industry and health sector]
Financial Interests (Career Totals):
| Savings & Loans: | $2,000 |
| Commercial Banks: | $372,887 |
| Credit Unions: | $23,800 |
| Finance/Credit Companies: | $40,475 |
| Securities & Investments: | $715,940 |
| Mortgage Bankers & Brokers: | $30,000 |
| Accountants: | $142,524 |
| TOTAL: | $1,327,626 |
Cash on Hand:
Sen. Lincoln had more than $5 million cash on hand as of 12/31/09. [Source]
Agribusiness:
Sen. Lincoln, the chair of the Senate Agriculture Committee, has received $551,000 this cycle from agribusiness interests, many of which her committee oversees. That's three times more money than any other senator has raised from this sector. Her career total is $1.775 million from agribusiness interests. [Sources: 2010 cycle and career]
Geography:
61% of Blanche Lincoln's contributions in 2009-10 have come from out-of-state, and nearly half her funds this cycle are from PACs. [sources: geography and PACs]
Sector totals, 2005-2010:
Sectors typically contain multiple industries.
| Sector | Total | PACs | Indivs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Agribusiness | $789,372 | $506,397 | $282,975 |
| Communications/Electronics | $263,468 | $177,968 | $85,500 |
| Construction | $103,450 | $59,850 | $43,600 |
| Defense | $41,750 | $36,000 | $5,750 |
| Energy & Natural Resources | $541,146 | $360,046 | $181,100 |
| Finance, Insurance & Real Estate | $919,550 | $413,650 | $505,900 |
| Health | $881,053 | $547,253 | $333,800 |
| Lawyers & Lobbyists | $676,594 | $118,353 | $558,241 |
| Transportation | $252,282 | $137,507 | $114,775 |
| Misc Business | $614,950 | $363,344 | $251,606 |
| Labor | $58,600 | $58,000 | $600 |
| Ideological/Single-Issue | $325,890 | $285,150 | $40,740 |
| Other | $252,786 | $6,000 | $246,786 |
Top 20 Industries contributing to campaign committee and leadership PAC, 2005-2010
| Industry | Total | Indivs | PACs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Health Professionals | $520,150 | $160,400 | $359,750 |
| Lawyers/Law Firms | $490,809 | $355,341 | $135,468 |
| Securities & Investment | $419,850 | $244,050 | $175,800 |
| Crop Production & Basic Processing | $310,275 | $151,775 | $158,500 |
| Oil & Gas | $309,500 | $144,000 | $165,500 |
| Lobbyists | $296,035 | $286,650 | $9,385 |
| Pharmaceuticals/Health Products | $295,204 | $64,500 | $230,704 |
| Insurance | $286,300 | $54,800 | $231,500 |
| Hospitals/Nursing Homes | $282,600 | $55,800 | $226,800 |
| Electric Utilities | $234,202 | $19,100 | $215,102 |
| Leadership PACs | $230,500 | $0 | $230,500 |
| Retail Sales | $209,850 | $70,850 | $139,000 |
| Health Services/HMOs | $189,699 | $82,700 | $106,999 |
| Agricultural Services/Products | $179,697 | $18,300 | $161,397 |
| Retired | $174,135 | $174,135 | $0 |
| Real Estate | $155,450 | $92,950 | $62,500 |
| Forestry & Forest Products | $142,600 | $58,600 | $84,000 |
| Railroads | $141,832 | $29,825 | $112,007 |
| Misc Finance | $125,250 | $70,750 | $54,500 |
| Food Processing & Sales | $123,150 | $39,150 | $84,000 |
Lincoln's top bundlers include hedge fund managers
Lincoln's latest FEC filing lists the following bundlers and the amount of cash they gathered for her in the final six months of 2009:
- Investment Company Institute PAC: $31,400.
- Ray Bracy of Wal-Mart Stores Inc.: $27,400.
- Managed Funds Association: $24,000.
- Melissa Maxfield of Comcast: $17,300.
The Managed Funds Association is one of the main lobbying groups for the hedge fund industry. [Source: Arkansas Times]
Losing support from EMILY's List
"Our members gave generously to her campaign, believing that she would steadfastly stand by the pledge she made to us to protect women's reproductive freedom. She took our members' hard-earned money to get elected. Unfortunately, when the Santorum bill came up for a vote, Lincoln voted for it even though it provided no exception to protect women's health...Blanche Lincoln failed to hold up her end of the bargain. Since she wasn't there for us, we won't be there for her." [source]
