President Obama: He’s Comcastic

Watchdog group finds Comcast employees are top contributors to reelection campaign

By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 9/5/2011 12:01:00 AM

According to the Center for Responsive Politics’ contribution watchdog site opensecrets.org, top cable operator Comcast heads the list of organizations whose employees have contributed the most to the reelection of President Barack Obama and other Democratic candidates.

According to the site, Comcast employees have contributed $199,850 to the Obama Victory Fund, which backs both the president and the Democratic National Committee.

Also in the top 20 are employees of DreamWorks at No. 8 ($107,400), Sony at No. 11 ($95,900), Disney at 15 ($84,600), Time Warner at 16 ($81,500) and News Corp. at 19 ($74,000).

The president took time out from his vacation last month to attend a reception at the home of Comcast Chairman Brian Roberts on Martha’s Vineyard.

Opensecrets said that Comcast employees’ political contributions have generally skewed Democratic. Over the past two decades, the top contributor has been Comcast executive VP David Cohen at $672,791, though the combination of Brian and Aileen Roberts ($600,555) and company founders Ralph and Suzanne Roberts ($538,400) puts them well over the milliondollar mark over that time period.

Steve Burke, CEO of NBCUniversal and executive VP of Comcast, rounds out the top four at an even $400,000.

Of those top four, Cohen has skewed Democratic most heavily, with 77% of his contributions veering to the left, while Burke and the Roberts’ are at about a 50/50 split Republican and Democrat. Cohen is a onetime top aide to former Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell, a Democrat.

The numbers are from data released by the Federal Election Commission.