The phone hacking scandal currently plaguing News Corp owner Rupert Murdoch, began in London, and because of rumors that his employees hacked the phone messages of 9/11 victims as well, the scandal has made it's way to the U.S.—where the media mogul has far-reaching political interests and is a considered a major political contributor.

In the weeks since it was reported that employees of  News Corp's tabloid operation, News of the World, may have hacked phone messages belonging to a 13-year-old girl who was abducted and murdered, Murdoch has closed NOTW, he and his son James have appeared before Parliament, one of Murdoch's key employees resigned and was then arrested and the Federal Bureau of Investigations has started an investigation into charges that his employees also hacked the phones of victims of the 9/11 terror attacks.

The biggest all-time recipient of contributions from News Corp is President Obama. It should be noted that the totals for  News Corp’s contributions also include money from employees of the organization and their family members. Obama being listed as the company’s top recipient might surprise some people because of its highly publicized involvement  with his political rivals, like Sarah Palin who was the vice presidential candidate in 2008 and reportedly still under contract with Murdoch-owned Fox News as a paid commentator.

It’s also been reported that Fox News also has contracts with Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum and Mike Huckabee, all having run for president either in the past or currently, to appear on the network as commentators. It’s said that these contracts prohibit these three and Sarah Palin from appearing on other networks.

News Corp has made contributions to the Republican Senatorial Leadership Council annually since 2007, with the exception of 2008. Last year, Murdoch’s soft money contribution to the Republican Governor’s Association made news because of its large amount: $1 million. That donation, while commonly known to be true and not denied by Murdoch, can’t be found in IRS or Federal Election Commission records.

News America Holdings, also known as Fox Political Action Commitee, is News Corp’s PAC. The PAC’s top recipients for the 2009-2010 election cycle were Democrats Nancy Pelosi from California, Howard Berman from California and Chuck Schumer from New York.

Murdoch and his media companies also take advantage of their  powerful position by lobbying Congress on policy issues that affect the business they do. Since 1997, News Corp has spent $8.2 million lobbying highly debated issues such as net neutrality and privacy.

Murdoch’s multiple businesses have also had their share of government revolvers, with a total of 5 five people having worked for the government and News Corp at some point, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Only one of those people is currently working for Murdoch -- Paul Jackson-- and he is listed as a lobbyist for the corporation.

Part of News Corp’s corporate profile is the book publisher Harper Collins, who in 1994 offered Newt Gingrich a $4 million book advance. Gingrich declined, reportedly because of political pressure. News Corp also owns the Wall Street Journal  and the New York Post in addition to a number magazines and community news papers. And as the current phone hacking scandal suggests, Rupert Murdoch is a very powerful media force around the world in addition to the UK and Australia. That power seems be threatened now and Murdoch has displayed that by his withdrawal of a bid to take complete control of BSkyB, a major satellite broadcasting corporation based in London. There have also been reports that Murdoch’s control over News Corp might be taken away.

With operations that large and that successful it’s no wonder that rich people like John Kerry, the Democratic Senator from Massachusetts, would have investments in Murdoch empire. Kerry’s investments in News Corp are listed at somewhere between $600,000 and $1.25 million, according to CRP.

See below for a list Murdoch’s top recipients.

527 contributions according to the IRS (and one according to news reports):

• Rupert Murdoch gave $2,000 to David Woods for Congress in 2008.
• News Corp has given to the RSLC in 2007, 2009, 2010 and 2011
• News america holdings, inc. gave $1500 to the RGA in 2003
• The NY Times reported that Murdoch gave the RGA $1 million

News Corp top recipients since 1989, according to Influence Explorer:

• Barack Obama ($368,669)
• Hillary Clinton ($298,525)
• John Kerry ($157,901)

News Corp top recipients in 2009-2010 according to Influence Explorer:

• Barbara Boxer (D-Calif) ($58,900)
• Henry Waxman (28,900)
• Howard L Berman ($19,350)

News America holdings (PAC)  top recipients since 1999 according to Influence Explorer:

• Edward J Markey ($28,500)
• Howard Berman ($24,000)
• F. James Sesenbrenner Jr. ($22,500)

News America Holdings (PAC), also known as Fox Political Action Committee, top recipients in 2009-2010 according to Influence Explorer:

• Nancy Pelosi (D-Ca) ($10,000)
• Howard L Berman(D-Ohio) ($10,000)
• Chuck Schumer (D-NY) ($10,000)

Rupert Murdoch’s personal contributions according to Influence Explorer:

• The top recipient in 2009-2010 was John Kasich and Mary Taylor from Ohio. ($10,000)
• He’s given $1,032,801 since 1989. the top recipient was Pete Wilson. ($200,000)

Politicians identified as investors in News Corp according to the Center for Responsive Politics:

• John Kerry (D-Mass)
• Michael McCaul ((R-Texas)
• Ted Kaufam (D-Del)

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 has obliviated all previous box-office records in its opening weekend, grossing $168 million in the U.S. alone, much of it in tickets sold before the movie opened. The movie is breaking international records as well.

It takes more than just magic to bring a sprawling vision like Harry Potter to the screen – multiple large corporations are involved, and they all work a kind of magic on our political process. Here’s how some of the companies behind Harry Potter influences politics here in the U.S.:

• Employees of Scholastic Inc., Harry Potter’s U.S. publisher, made $37,225 in campaign contributions in 2009-10, 99 percent of which went to Democrats.
• Scholastic spent $615,000 on six different lobbying firms in 2009-10, and lobbied for literacy programs, reauthorizing bills like No Child Left Behind and the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, and funding for the Census in Schools program.
• Employees of Warner Brothers Entertainment and it’s PAC made $73,390 in contributions in 2009-10, 79 percent of which went to Democrats. Warner Bros is the studio behind the Harry Potter movies.
• The employees and PAC of Time Warner, the parent company of Warner Brothers Entertainment, made just under $3 million in campaign contributions in 2009-10, 57% of which went to Democrats.
• The top two all-time state-level recipients of Time Warner’s PAC contributions are David Dewhurst, Lieutenant Governor of Texas, and Rick Perry, Governor of Texas. Both are Republicans, and both have been receiving donations in excess of $10,000 each from Time Warner’s PAC since at least 2004. Dewhurst and Perry have received $335,000 and $251,000 from Time Warner’s PAC, respectively.
• Time Warner spent $7.3 million on lobbying in 2009-10 on issues related to broadcasting, copyright and publishing. Some of the bills Time Warner’s lobbyists worked on include well-known bills such as the Recovery Act and Wall Street reform.

‘Influence Explored’ takes an article from the day’s headlines and exposes the influential ways of entities mentioned in the article. Names and corporations are run through Sunlight’s influence tracking tools such as Influence Explorer and Transparency Data to remind readers of the money that powers Washington.

The ongoing negotiations in Congress over raising the U.S. debt ceiling have prompted Moody’s Corp, a bond rating agency, to bring the rating of U.S. Treasury bonds up for review, according to an article from Bloomberg News.

U.S. Treasury bonds are currently rated “AAA”, the highest possible rating, and are considered some of the safest investments available. If congress fails to raise the debt ceiling, the U.S. government would run the risk of defaulting on its debt for the first time in history, and bond rating agencies would likely lower the bond rating, making them less attractive investments and reducing the government’s ability to borrow money.

Representative Peter Welch said in an interview with Bloomberg that Moody’s is “sending a signal” to lawmakers with its warning on the bond rating. Moody’s, along with the other companies mentioned in the article, have other methods of “sending signals” to congress as well. Below is a look at the influence profiles of the entities mentioned in the piece:

• Moody’s spent $2.77 million on lobbying from 2009 to 2010 and $250,000 so far in 2011, 47 percent of all lobbying spending since 1991.
• Standard & Poor’s spent $60,000 on lobbying from 2009-10. McGraw Hill, Standard & Poor’s parent company, spent $3.09 million on lobbying in 2009-10 on some of the same bills and issues.
• Both Standard & Poor’s and McGraw Hill’s lobbyists registered to lobby on issues surrounding credit rating agencies, including a provision in Dodd-Frank that would hold credit ratings agencies liable for securities fraud. A bill was introduced by Rep. Steve Stivers (R-Ohio), H.R. 1539, to repeal that provision.
• Moody’s lobbying disclosure forms only say they are lobbying for “Financial market regulation”.
• Fannie Mae only made $43,753 in political contributions in 2009-2010. That amount is far less than the $1 million in contributions made in 2007-2008, the years the financial crisis began and just as banks began to fail.
• Likewise, Freddie Mac only made $44,400 in contributions in 2009-2010, while in 2007-2008 the organization made just over $443,000 in political contributions.

According to the Bloomberg article, Moody’s would downgrade U.S. bonds to AA, the rating just below AAA. Other ratings agencies are prepared to take more drastic measures, such as Standard & Poors, who warned the government on June 30th that it would drop its rating from AAA to D, the lowest possible rating.

Credit ratings agencies became the subject of regulation following the financial crisis in 2008, because credit ratings agencies like Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s rated financial instruments based on bad home loans as AAA, and many of them turned out to be much riskier than the rating implied.

‘Influence Explored’ takes an article from the day’s headlines and exposes the influential ways of entities mentioned in the article. Names and corporations are run through Sunlight’s influence tracking tools such as Influence Explorer and Transparency Data to remind readers of the money that powers Washington.

The Hartford Courant published a story today profiling the spokesmen for the State Employees Bargaining Agent Coalition in Connecticut. SEBAC negotiates health insurance and pension agreements with the state of Connecticut for at least 13 other state unions including as the American Federation of State, County, & Municipal Employees.

SEBAC deals mainly with the interests of state employees, but the organizations it provides services for have shown a lot of interest in both state and federal-level politics. Here’s a look at the influence profiles of some of the entities mentioned in the Connecticut paper’s piece:

• The American Federation of State, County, & Municipal Employees gave nearly $12 million in campaign contributions to people running for governor and other state-level political offices during the 2009-2010 election cycle. The union also spent more than $10 million in independent expenditures both supporting and opposing federal-level candidates during that same election cycle.
• The American Association of University Professors only gave $8,800 in campaign contributions during the 2009-2010 election cycle.
• Dan Malloy, a Democrat and the Governor of Connecticut, received $8.7 million in campaign contributions during the 2009-2010 election cycle.

‘Influence Explored’ takes an article from the day’s headlines and exposes the influential ways of entities mentioned in the article. Names and corporations are run through Sunlight’s influence tracking tools such as Influence Explorer and Transparency Data to remind readers of the money that powers Washington.

Andy Rash of iotacons crafted these amazing 8-bit versions of your elected senator, well done.  I've also gone ahead and added Influence Explorer data to each one, take a look below.  You can embed this image into your blog by mousing over it and clicking the embed icon in the top left corner.

From iotacons.blogspot.com -

TOP ROW: Richard Shelby (R-AL), Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Mark Begich (D-AK), John McCain (R-AZ), Jon Kyl (R-AZ), Mark Pryor (D-AR), John Boozman (R-AR),Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Mark Udall (D-CO), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Joe Lieberman (ID-CT), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Tom Carper (D-DE), Chris Coons (D-DE), Bill Nelson (D-FL), Marco Rubio (R-FL), Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), Johnny Isakson (R-GA); SECOND ROW: Daniel Inouye (D-HI), Daniel Akaka (D-HI), Mike Crapo (R-ID), Jim Risch (R-ID), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Mark Kirk (R-IL), Richard Lugar (R-IN), Dan Coats (R-IN), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Tom Harkin (D-IA), Pat Roberts (R-KS), Jerry Moran (R-KS), Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Rand Paul (R-KY), Mary Landrieu (D-LA), David Vitter (R-LA), Olympia Snowe (R-ME), Susan Collins (R-ME), Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), Ben Cardin (D-MD); THIRD ROW: John Kerry (D-MA), Scott Brown (R-MA), Carl Levin (D-MI), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Al Franken (D-MN), Thad Cochran (R-MS), Roger Wicker (R-MS), Claire McCaskill (D-MO), Roy Blunt (R-MO), Max Baucus (D-MT), Jon Tester (D-MT), Ben Nelson (D-NE), Mike Johanns (R-NE), Harry Reid (D-NV), John Ensign (R-NV), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Kelly Ayotte (R-NH), Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), Robert Menendez (D-NJ); FOURTH ROW: Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), Tom Udall (D-NM), Charles Schumer (D-NY), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Richard Burr (R-NC), Kay Hagan (D-NC), Kent Conrad (D-ND), John Hoeven (R-ND), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Rob Portman (R-OH), Jim Inhofe (R-OK), Tom Coburn (R-OK), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Bob Casey, Jr. (D-PA), Pat Toomey (R-PA), Jack Reed (D-RI), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Jim DeMint (R-SC); FIFTH ROW: Tim Johnson (D-SD), John Thune (R-SD), Lamar Alexander (R-TN), Bob Corker (R-TN), Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX), John Cornyn (R-TX), Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Mike Lee (R-UT), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Jim Webb (D-VA), Mark Warner (D-VA), Patty Murray (D-WA), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), Joe Manchin (D-WV), Herb Kohl (D-WI), Ron Johnson (R-WI), Mike Enzi (R-WY), John Barrasso (R-WY)

An article in the Sydney Morning Herald today reports that the closure of News Corp’s News of the World tabloid will negatively impact chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch’s various business ventures.

News of the World is closing following revelations that its reporters illegally hacked into phones of celebrities, children, and disaster victims. The Scandal has prompted an investigation in the United Kingdom where News Corp is currently trying to take over the global satellite TV provider, BSkyB. The takeover will have to be approved by British regulators.

The article also said News Corp’s bid to run Australia’s state-run TV station is also much less likely to succeed following the scandal.

Murdoch also controls several news outlets in the United States, including Fox News Channel and the Wall Street Journal. Here’s a look at how Murdoch, his company, and its affiliates influence politics here in the U.S.

• Murdoch personally contributed $34,900 to various candidates and PACs in 2009-10, including $10,000 to the National Republican Senatorial Committee He also gave $2,400 to Carly Fiorina, the republican candidate for Senate in California in 2010.
• All of Murdoch’s personal political contributions were to Republican-affiliated PACs and candidates, except for $5,000 he contributed to a PAC called News America Holdings, also known as “Fox Political Action Committee”, which is run by News Corp. The PAC made $317,840 in campaign contributions in 2009-10, 55 percent of which went to Democrats.
• Contributions from employees of News Corp, which runs Fox News, the New York Post, and other media outlets, made $594,498 in campaign contributions in 2009-10, 59 percent of which went to Democrats.
• News Corp spent $1,380,000 on lobbying in 2009-10 and lobbied on bills including the Free Flow of Information Act 2009, the Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation Act, and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
• Employees of Murdoch-owned Dow Jones, which publishes the Wall Street Journal, made only $4,050 in campaign contributions in 2009-10, 80 percent of which went to Democrats.

‘Influence Explored’ takes an article from the day’s headlines and exposes the influential ways of entities mentioned in the article. Names and corporations are run through Sunlight’s influence tracking tools such as Influence Explorer and Transparency Data to remind readers of the money that powers Washington.

by Eric Dunn, Policy Intern

The Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure recently held a hearing on the Competition for Intercity Passenger Rail in America Act, proposed by Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.) and Bill Shuster (R-Pa.). The goal of the legislation is to let private companies do what Reps. Mica and Shuster feel the federally subsidized rail company Amtrak hasn't: make commuter rail quick, easy, and cheap. The bill would strip Amtrak of its most profitable routes and allow the Department of Transportation to auction them off to private railroad companies.

A look at Sunlight's Influence Explorer reveals that both Mica and Shuster have received significant campaign contributions from the railroad industry.

The railroad industry was Rep. Shuster's second largest campaign contributor in the 2010 election cycle, contributing $49,000 to his campaign. Four of his top five top contributors have ties to the railroad industry and could benefit if Amtrak's assets are privatized.

Rep. Mica received contributions from the railroad industry totalling $50,000 in the 2010 cycle.

Amtrak has voiced opposition to the plan offered by Congress.

On Wednesday, the House passed a bill 253-166 to limit the authority of the Environmental Protection Agency and expedite the agency’s air quality permit process.

H.R. 2021, the Jobs and Energy Permitting Act of 2011, was introduced by Republican Rep. Cory Gardner of Colorado, and will alter the Clean Air Act by changing the physical location drilling vessels are required to be inspected at to determine their impact on air pollution from offshore to onshore. It also forces the EPA to make decisions regarding applications for clean air within six months.

Gardner, a freshman Rep. and the bill’s sponsor, received his second greatest amount of contributions during his campaign for the House in 2009-10 from the oil and gas industry.

The bill’s most vocal opponents, Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill, and Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif, frequently referred to it as “the Shell bill,” during the debate because they believe the bill was only drafted to facilitate Shell’s permit request to begin the drilling process in the Arctic waters off Alaska. According to Shell, the company has been trying to obtain a permit from the EPA for five years. However, representatives from the EPA said in a hearing in May before the Subcommittee on Energy and Power that Shell withdrew its permit application at least once and changed the location for the permit on other occasions, thus starting the process over.

Shell has reported spending $3.8 million lobbying in the first quarter of this year alone, according to the Sunlight Foundation’s Influence Explorer. The oil company has reported lobbying on many issues related to drilling and energy policy including permitting issues.

Gardner and other supporters of the bill cite the long and arduous process Shell claims to have gone through to get a clean air permit granted to them by the EPA as a need to cap the time allotted for making decisions on such applications.

Reps. opposing the bill called it a “give away” to the oil companies and damaging to the public’s opportunity to weigh in on such measures because the limit on time allowed to complete the permit process will take away from the public comments period and possibly make the permits issued less defendable in court. Opponents also say that based on the EPA’s reported consistent history of giving Shell permits within 3-6 months of application, this legislation is not necessary.

The Los Angeles Times published an article in its Science and Environment section today that outlined the politics behind the silicone breast implant debate.

As the LA Times reported, the FDA is citing new studies that show silicone implants manufactured by corporations like Dow Corning are indeed safe despite a 14 year ban on them due to suspicions that they cause diseases such as lupus and cancer.

Here’s a look at the political involvement and influence for some of the names mentioned in the piece:

• Dow Corning gave $100,228 in political contributions during the 2009-10 election cylce.  All but $3,000 of that went to Michigan politicians, the state where the silicone manufacturer is based. The corporation reported spending $220,000 lobbying the government in the first quarter of 2011.
• Allergan Inc. gave $500,282 in political contributions during the 2009-10 election cycle. The company reported spending  $300,000 on lobbying expenses in the first quarter of 2011.
• Allergan is also a government contractor currently holding nearly $1 million in government contracts.

On Wednesday, the Huffington Post ran a piece in its Politics section written by Dick Gephardt that explains his opinion on why Medicare must remain the responsibility of Congress and why the Independent Payment Advisory Board is bad.

The piece includes a disclaimer that notes that Gephardt is a lobbyist representing clients with interests in the healthcare field. Here's a look at Gephardt's influence profile and that of some his clients:

• Dick Gephardt was a Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1977-2005. He raked in $992,229 in contributions from health professionals between 1989 and 2005.
• PhRMA reported spending $4.5 million lobbying in the first quarter of 2011.
• eHealth reported spending $350,OOO lobbying in the first quarter of 2011.

‘Influence Explored’ takes an article from the day’s headlines and exposes the influential ways of entities mentioned in the article. Names and corporations are run through Sunlight’s influence tracking tools such as Influence Explorer and Transparency Data to remind readers of the money that powers Washington.