Joe Biden once took PAC money but now is PAC-pure
Barack Obama makes a point of rejecting money from political action committees, condemning them as a symbol of what’s wrong with insider politics in Washington.
Obama’s campaign aides have slapped at Republican John McCain’s decision to take PAC money. But now that Joe Biden has joined the ticket, Obama’s criticism of McCain might become muted.
Biden has taken significant amounts of PAC money over the years--$475,000, or more than 20% of the $2.3 million he has raised since 2005 for his Unite Our States leadership account, established to help fund other Democrats’ races.
Federal Election Commission records show that firms whose PACs have donated to Biden include Rupert Murdoch’s News America, Microsoft and Safeway. He took the PAC donations from 2005 through mid-2008, with $141,800 coming this year.
Most of the money--$279,000--came from organized labor, including $11,000 from postal workers and $25,000 from the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which has a stake in congressional decisions.
Additionally, Biden has taken at least $44,750 from political action committees funded by plaintiffs’ attorneys, including $10,890 from the Assn. of Trial Lawyers of America.
Some law firms whose PACs have donated to Biden’s leadership committee have....
...lobbyist operations. Obama rejects money given by Washington lobbyists, contending that like PACs, they are emblematic of the Beltway culture.
Biden has taken at least $25,000 from PACs that represent banks, most of which backed legislation to limit consumers’ ability to declare bankruptcy. Biden supported their bill.
Biden took $24,225 from telecommunications PACs, including ones funded by AT&T and Verizon employees, and $15,000 from the cable giant Comcast’s PAC.
In keeping with Obama’s policy, Biden now refuses all PAC money. Biden spokesman David Wade said the vice presidential nominee "has a 35-year record standing up to powerful interests from big oil companies to big drug companies and big insurance companies."
Still, this provides fodder for the Republicans. The Ticket also reported last night on an investigative story examining the financial links of Biden's two sons -- Beau and Hunter -- to a law firm specializing in asbestos suits and lobbying their father.
RNC spokesman Danny Diaz said that although Obama “decries Washington insiders,” Biden “is the model Washington insider with numerous connections to those very same special interests.”
McCain, like Biden, has taken plenty of PAC money--$415,000 in a three-month period ending in July.
PACs giving to the Republican represent commercial and Indian casino interests, horse racing, phone and cable companies, tobacco and drug makers, mining, oil, farming and a company pushing to expand private prisons.
--Dan Morain
Photo credit: Charles Rex Arbogast / Associated Press
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Andrew Malcolm's immigrant parents repeatedly stressed the importance of active participation in a democracy. Early lessons included learning the alphabetical list of states by watching televised roll calls of national political conventions. That childhood exposure led to a lifelong fascination with politics, including 40-plus years of covering them and a brief stint practicing them as press secretary to Laura Bush in 1999-2000. A veteran foreign and national correspondent, Malcolm served on the Times Editorial Board and was a Pulitzer finalist in 2004. He is the author of 10 nonfiction books and father of four.
Johanna Neuman is a veteran Washington correspondent for both The Los Angeles Times and USA Today, having covered presidents and politics as far back as Ronald Reagan. A former president of the White House Correspondents Assn., she authored a book on media and foreign policy, “Lights, Camera, Wars.” Most recently she was co-author of the 
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You're full of it. I checked the FEC and saw nothing of the sort.
Posted by: Lynne | August 28, 2008 at 07:19 AM
Honestly, how can Obama claim he never takes money from PACs?? He's in the pocket of AIPAC, Israeli interest lobby. Obama used to be a Palestinian rights advocate, but started distancing himself from the cause before running for Illinois State Senate. Now he proclaims Jerusalem is the undivided capital of "Israel" and tours the homes of the Sderot "brave" when hovels devasted by Israeli missile strikes were just up the road in Gaza. The turncoat Obama has no backbone and is certainly not fit to lead.
Posted by: Tammy Obeidallah | August 28, 2008 at 07:22 AM
More proof that journalism is dead and journalists will take anything Obama says as complete truth.
One of reasons Obama stays away from PAC money?
HE RUNS HIS OWN PAC!
That's right, Obama doesn't take PAC money, but his PAC does. (See how politicians work?)
And used it to give money to OTHER legislatures. Um... conflict of interest? New Hampshire state Sen. Jacalyn Cilley, for instance, received $1,000 from Obama's PAC last summer. Less than a week later she happened to endorse the same Obama for president.
Maybe the next time you hear a politician say "I don't" do or take this, they're probabaly lying. It's too bad that bloggers and journalists are too lazy to check anything out.
Posted by: Ster | August 28, 2008 at 07:27 AM
Obama is a Chicago style politician, It's ok as long as you don't get caught, and if you do, blame everyone else. That is, if you can't buy them off.
Posted by: Pamela | August 28, 2008 at 11:44 AM