Biggest contractors support Clinton, other Democrats in 2008

Source: Government Executive

Despite an audacious vow last spring to cut 500,000 federal contractors if elected the next president of the United States, Sen. Hillary Clinton has emerged as the top choice for the White House in 2008 by the leading companies that do business with the government.

According to an analysis by Government Executive, the former first lady has outpaced all candidates -- both Democrats and Republicans -- racking up more than $243,000 in direct campaign contributions from employees of the 50 biggest federal contractors. Clinton, D-N.Y., also added another $9,600 in contributions from the political action committees controlled by the contracting firms.

The frontrunner for the Democratic nomination, Clinton is trailed closely in the money race by her nearest political rival, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., whose campaign coffers have been boosted by more than $232,000 in direct contributions from the largest contractors.

These 50 firms, including the likes of Booz Allen Hamilton, Lockheed Martin Corp. and Northrop Grumman Corp., earned just under $200 billion in federal contracts in fiscal 2006 -- nearly half of all contracts issued by government agencies.

Read more: http://govexec.com/dailyfed/1207/121807rb1.htm

My guess is that for every dollar a Contractor gives to politicians, it gets 2 or 300 back, perhaps a thousand in business. Any contractor who doesn't contribute is an idiot. So, when the election nears, and the candidates are set, they will give more, to each side, to make sure things run smoothly. If Hillary, or anyone for that matter takes two or three hundred thousand from contractor A. it is unlikely that contractor A will lose its contracts. Or if an investigation needs to be done about Contractor A, it will be glossed over or covered up. It's all about money.

Though I won't say exactly which one, since I'm currently based in Egypt and expect to be here for a couple of years. (I've been here for nearly 3 years already.) While I try not to be more paranoid than absolutely necessary, I do try to remember that this is a public board and I'm in a part of the world where many people do not wish us well.

Here's another reason I won't mention my employer, and it may surprise some of you. Back in 2005, I heard an interesting talk by one of our senior executives.

He said our company had been offered millions of dollars in Iraqi contracts and turned them down. From the human side, they did not want to jeopardize their employees. And he also admitted there was a business side: the company (NOT "The Company") figured they would pay more in ransom and protection money than they would make on the contracts. He also said that this prediction had turned out to be true. (And that was in 2005!)

I see a lot of knee-jerk posts about aerospace/defense contractors on DU, and most of them just cause me to have laughing fits.

One impression seems to be that we just line up in D.C. and get bags of cash handed to us. Now that may be true for the likes of Halliburton. But I can assure you that this business is extremely competitive and an absolute bureaucratic nightmare.

I'll try to be brief with one example: the tangle of laws known as ITAR, International Traffic In Arms Regulations.

That PC sitting on your desk probably comes under ITAR, along with every component inside it and its technical documentation.

Now there are 2 sets of regulations our company has to follow for ITAR: Commerce Dept. and State Dept.

The Commerce Dept. rules fill several bookcases with thick binders, but Commerce very rarely causes us problems.

The State Dept. rules are summarized in a small pocket-sized booklet. But if we violate one of those rules--which are interpreted by State Dept. lawyers, naturally--then we can be looking at fines of $1 million PER DAY in some cases.

I once came thru US Customs in Los Angeles with a prototype hand-held computer. (OK, it was really a Compaq notebook hacked up to fit in a prototype case...) It was a Sunday, things were slow, and Customs just waved me thru after checking my paperwork from Customs in all the foreign countries I had visited.

A few days later, someone called and asked if I would like to pay the $50,000 fine in a lump sum, or have it deducted weekly from my paychecks.

She was kidding, but because I violated some damn obscure rule, we were being threatened with a $50,000 fine.

IOW, being a contractor is not exactly the piece of cake some people seem to think.

I also like the frequent DU canard that aerospace companies only hire right-wing Repubs. That would probably come as a surprise to Boeing's head lobbyist in DC for many years, Linda Daschle--wife of Tom.

And if we can continue the momentum of calling out the voting machine faud and abuses, we might actually "win" win, if you get my drift.