Here’s How Much Money the TeleCom Industry Gave to Members of Congress Who Urged the FCC to End “Net Neutrality”

By Peter Mellado
Global Research, December 16, 2017
Verified Politics 15 December 2017
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Ajit Pai, President Trump’s hand-picked Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, completed his boss’s directive to dismantle net neutrality today.  Claiming without evidence that gutting net neutrality would spur innovation, Pai cast the deciding vote on a package of measures that remove the popular Obama-era regulations that prevented internet service providers from controlling the speeds at which content travels across their networks.

While Democrats have been united in their opposition to Pai’s plan, net neutrality hasn’t been among the top issues Republicans have been talking about for the past year.  Few have offered much more than tacit support for Trump’s plan to hand the keys to the internet over to broadband owners.  On the eve of the FCC’s vote, however, 107 GOP members of congress came out of the shadows and sent a letter (screen shot below) to Ajit Pai offering their full support for the controversial move.

 

TeleCom providers like Comcast and AT&T have lobbied hard against net neutrality for months, and Republicans in congress have been particularly receptive to their overtures.  Kaleigh Rogers and Jason Koebler at Vice News just revealed how receptive they have been.

They’ve documented how much in “donations” 84 of those members have received from TeleCom industry giants.  Here’s their entire list:

  1. Mo Brooks, Alabama, $26,000
  2. Ron Estes, Kansas, $13,807
  3. Thomas Massie, Kentucky, $25,000
  4. Ralph Norman, South Carolina, $15,050
  5. John Moolenaar, Michigan, $25,000
  6. Neal Dunn, Florida, $18,500
  7. Mike Bishop, Michigan, $68,250
  8. Alex Mooney, West Virginia, $17,750
  9. Glenn “GT” Thompson, Pennsylvania, $70,500
  10. Blaine Luetkemeyer, Missouri, $105,000
  11. Paul Gosar, Arizona, $12,250
  12. Richard W. Allen, Georgia, $24,250
  13. Kevin Cramer, North Dakota, $168,500
  14. Greg Walden, Oregon, $1,605,986
  15. Marsha Blackburn, Tennessee, $600,999
  16. Billy Long, Missouri, $221,500
  17. Gregg Harper, Mississippi, $245,200
  18. Brett Guthrie, Kentucky, $398,500
  19. Bill Johnson, Ohio, $196,666
  20. Jeff Duncan, South Carolina, $41,830
  21. Earl “Buddy” Carter, Georgia, $39,250
  22. Susan Brooks, Indiana, $168,500
  23. Gus Bilirakis, Florida, $234,400
  24. Markwayne Mullin, Oklahoma, $141,750
  25. Mimi Walters, California, $161,500
  26. Joe Barton, Texas, $1,262,757
  27. Bill Flores, Texas, $127,500
  28. Pete Olson, Texas, $220,500
  29. Morgan Griffith, Virginia, $198,900
  30. Tim Walberg, Michigan, $131,850
  31. Fred Upton, Michigan, $1,590,125
  32. Joe Wilson, South Carolina, $104,750
  33. Martha McSally, Arizona, $84,936
  34. Blake Farenthold, Texas, $64,250
  35. Steve Womack, Arkansas, $104,750
  36. Tom Marino, Pennsylvania, $130,700
  37. Louie Gohmert, Texas, $85,055
  38. Walter Jones, North Carolina, $72,800
  39. Leonard Lance, New Jersey, $290,550
  40. Steve Chabot, Ohio, $332,083
  41. Bob Goodlatte, Virginia, $815,099
  42. Andy Biggs, Arizona, $19,500
  43. Mark Walker, North Carolina, $35,750
  44. Glenn Grothman, Wisconsin, $21,200
  45. Ken Buck, Colorado, $79,350
  46. Larry Bucshon, Indiana, $71,750
  47. Chuck Fleischmann, Tennessee, $42,00
  48. David Rouzer, North Carolina, $34,300
  49. Paul Mitchell, Michigan, $18,000
  50. Hal Rogers, Kentucky, $360,450
  51. Doug Collins, Georgia, $103,600
  52. Ralph Abraham, Louisiana, $27,300
  53. Mark Meadows, North Carolina, $14,500
  54. Michael McCaul, Texas, $216,500
  55. Jeb Hensarling, Texas, $270,198
  56. Mike Simpson, Idaho, $125,200
  57. Tom Emmer, Minnesota, $28,500
  58. Randy Weber, Texas, $13,750
  59. Rob Woodall, Georgia, $60,250
  60. Ted Budd, North Carolina, $15,500
  61. Ken Calvert, California, $219,212
  62. Diane Black, Tennessee, $104,750
  63. Virginia Foxx, North Carolina, $115,700
  64. Sam Johnson, Texas, $219,785
  65. James Comer, Kentucky, $22,750
  66. Trey Gowdy, South Carolina, $83,250
  67. Lamar Smith, Texas, $810,462
  68. Steven A King, Iowa, $210,810
  69. George Holding, North Carolina, $97,750
  70. Rob Wittman, Virginia, $57,250
  71. John Lee Ratcliffe, Texas, $53,950
  72. Jason Lewis, Minnesota, $21,050
  73. Jim Banks, Indiana, $16,303
  74. Bill Huizenga, Michigan, $34,000
  75. Bill Shuster, Pennsylvania, $202,500
  76. Steven Russell, Oklahoma, $23,500
  77. Adrian Smith, Nebraska, $165,834
  78. Jody B Hice, Georgia, $21,000
  79. Richard Hudson, North Carolina, $136,750
  80. Douglas L Lamborn, Colorado, $110,543
  81. Chris Collins, New York, $151,060
  82. Cathy McMorris-Rodgers, Washington, $673,530
  83. Brad Wenstrup, Ohio, $33,750
  84. Andy Barr, Kentucky, $51,100

Featured image is from the author.
Articles by: Peter Mellado

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