November 7, 200619 yr Atlanta Journal Constitution http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sports/s...tingsports.html You're not finished voting when you leave the polls today. Not if you're a pro sports fan. You vote every time you buy a ticket or make a purchase that puts money in the bank account of your favorite team. Chances are, a portion of that money finds its way into the campaign coffers of the Republican and Democratic parties and their candidates. Michael Vick gets a lot more from your Falcons ticket purchase than Sonny Perdue does, but the Falcons did make two $5,000 contributions to the Republican governor's re-election campaign, according to a campaign finance disclosure filed with the State Ethics Commission. That $10,000 is chump change compared to the $228,754 baseball's Florida Marlins have contributed in the past eight years to politicians and political parties in Florida, according to an Atlanta Journal-Constitution analysis of figures from The Institute on Money in State Politics. More than three of every four political dollars the Marlins gave went to Republicans and the Republican party. "It seems like a waste of resources," said Admin Walansky, webmaster of the unofficial fan site Marlinsbaseball.com, "because they don't exactly have politicians on their side with the stadium issue." The Marlins have been trying to get state money for construction of a new ballpark. Like other businesses, sports teams vary greatly in how much money they invest in political campaigns. The Marlins spent twice as much on in-state politics as any other major league pro sports team. In second, the Cleveland Browns, who under previous team president and CEO Carmen Policy doled out $107,800 in contributions from 2000-03. Policy resigned in 2004. Most teams give far less. The AJC found 40 teams and their affiliated companies donated a total of more than $650,000 for in-state races from 1997-2006, about 60 percent of it to the Republican party and its candidates. And that's not counting the hundreds of thousands of dollars in checks written by team owners and executives. Houston Texans owner Robert McNair, for example, has made more than $200,000 in Texas political contributions in the past six years and an additional $40,000 in federally reportable political contributions in the 2006 election cycle alone. Why would teams give money to politicians instead of using it to go after free agents, lower ticket prices or give fans a break at the concession stand? The Falcons referred questions about their contributions to Brian Farley, vice president of communications for AMB Group, Falcons owner Arthur Blank's family investment company "We typically don't offer any public comment on why we make contributions," Farley said. "It's just something that we prefer to keep in-house." Coaches and athletes give money, too, though usually in lesser amounts. Some of the donations that showed up in a check of campaign finance disclosures on the Web sites of the Center for Responsive Politics and The Institute on Money in State Politics: • Former Hawks star Shareef Abdur-Rahim donated $5,000 to former Gov. Roy Barnes' campaign in 2002. • Hawks coach Mike Woodson gave $1,000 to attorney general Thurbert Baker's campaign this year. • Carolina Panthers receiver Keyshawn Johnson gave $17,000 to the campaign of Democrat Phil Angelides, who is running against California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. • Former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Steve Young donated $5,000 to the Massachusetts Republican Party in 2002, the year fellow BYU alumnus Mitt Romney ran for governor and won. • Texas A&M football coach Dennis Franchione last year donated $2,500 to Texas Republican governor Rick Perry's re-election effort. • Former Falcons coach Dan Reeves donated $3,001 to the Republican Party in 2002. • Braves pitcher John Smoltz donated $4,000 to Republican congressman Tom Price in 2004, $5,000 to Barnes' re-election campaign in 2002 and, last year, $2,000 to the campaign of Perdue, the man who unseated Barnes. • Florida State football coach Bobby Bowden gave $500 to Republican Charlie Crist's Florida gubernatorial campaign.
November 7, 200619 yr Well i'm with Lar, 3 out of all 4 politcal dollars spend goes to republicans, and they're the ones keeping the legeslature from getting the deal done.
November 7, 200619 yr Next thing you know, we'll be in Taminey Hall at the 5 points in Brooklyn again.
November 7, 200619 yr Admin, I support your campaign and I promise not to let our wild night in the Poconos get out.
November 9, 200619 yr Here is what I found: LORIA, JEFFREY NEW YORK,NY 10021 JEFF H LORIA CO, INC./OWNER 12/31/2005 $10,000 Democratic Senatorial Campaign Cmte LORIA, JEFFREY NEW YORK,NY 10021 FLORIDA MARLINS/CHAIRMAN CEO 10/5/2005 $5,000 Major League Baseball Commissioner's Ofc LORIA, JEFFREY NEW YORK,NY 10021 FLORIDA MARLINS/CHAIRMAN CEO 4/25/2006 $5,000 Major League Baseball Commissioner's Ofc http://www.opensecrets.org/indivs/search.a...mp;submit=Go%21 SAMSON, DAVID MIAMI,FL 33056 FLORIDA MARLINS/PRESIDENT 10/5/2005 $5,000 Major League Baseball Commissioner's Ofc SAMSON, DAVID MIAMI,FL 33056 FLORIDA MARLINS/PRESIDENT 4/25/2006 $5,000 Major League Baseball Commissioner's Ofc http://www.opensecrets.org/indivs/search.a...mp;submit=Go%21 Now I don't know where the AJC got their info, but Loria/Samson are known to be liberal Democrats. Wayne gave plenty to the GOP, but the GOP wasn't in power in Florida when he owned the team.
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