Presidential Election: Tech Company Employees Vote With Contributions

Presidential Election: Tech Company Employees Vote With Contributions

Tech companies are playing a bigger role in political circles with political action committees (PACs), increasing lobbying expenditures and frequent visits to Washington, D.C., and the White House. With that in mind, CRN is looking at how employees of the top tech/consulting companies are contributing to the campaigns of President Barack Obama and Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney. The list of companies "themselves did not donate, rather the money came from the organizations' PACs, their individual members or employees or owners, and those individuals' immediate families." Here are the 10 top companies with their contribution totals as provided by the Center for Responsive Politics.

For a closer look at the presidential election, see a preview of our exclusive report. The full article will be available Monday exclusively in the CRN Tech News app.

Microsoft

President Barack Obama

$761,343

Microsoft is the No. 2 overall company contributor in terms of employees making donations to President Barack Obama's campaign with $761,343 in contributions, well behind No. 1 contributor, the University of California, at just over $1 million. according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, meanwhile, is listed on the White House visitor's log in 19 entries, including June 3, 2009, and Jan. 14, 2010, meetings with the former Assistant to the President for Economic Policy Lawrence Summers. In addition, Ballmer was a guest of the White House for a China state dinner on Jan. 19, 2011.

Google

President Barack Obama

$737,055

Google Inc. is No. 3 on the list of the top companies contributing to President Obama's 2012 campaign at $737,055, just behind Microsoft.

Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt, who was CEO of the search giant from 2001 to 2011, is listed on 13 entries in the White House visitor's log. In addition, former Google Director of Climate Change and Energy Dan Reicher has had eight entries on the White House visitor's log.

Deloitte LLP

President Barack Obama

$430,084

Deloitte, which provides a wide range of accounting, auditing and consulting services, is No. 8 on the list of company employees contributing to President Obama's re-election campaign.

Deloitte CEO Joseph Echevarria has three entries on the White House visitor's log including a Feb. 9, 2012, meeting with Special Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff of the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs and Public Engagement Michael Strautmanis.

Deloitte LLP

Mitt Romney

$554,552

Echevarria's Deloitte employees are also contributing heavily to Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney with contributions totaling $554,552 according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Deloitte spent $3.08 million in lobbying expenditures in 2011.

PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC)

Mitt Romney

$421,085

PwC employees contributed $421,085 to the 2012 Romney campaign, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. One hot political issue being watched closely by PwC was a potential U.S.-China oversight auditing deal. PwC Chairman Dennis Nally recently told Reuters that all of the Big Four accounting firms have been talking with regulators in the U.S. and China in a bid to win an oversight auditing deal. PwC spent $2.71 million on lobbying in 2011, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Comcast Corp.

President Barack Obama

$320,366

Comcast Corp. employees have donated $320,366 to the 2012 campaign of President Barack Obama, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Comcast CEO Brian Roberts, a one-time member of the President's Council on Jobs and Competitiveness and who hosted the president in Martha's Vineyard in the summer of 2011, has seven entries on the White House visitor's log. Comcast spent a whopping $19.61 million in lobbying expenditures in 2011, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

EMC Corp.

Mitt Romney

$288,440

EMC is No. 16 on the list of top company employees contributing to the campaign of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney with contributions of $288,440, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. EMC CEO Joe Tucci has five entries on the White House visitor's log including a meeting as a member of the Technology CEO Council on Feb. 1, 2011.

IBM

President Barack Obama

$318,645

Employees from IBM, which has spent $18.98 million in lobbying expenditures over the last four years, have made $318,645 in contributions to President Barack Obama's re-election campaign, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Former IBM CEO Sam Palmisano, who stood side by side with the president urging passage of the $840 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, has 11 entries on the White House visitor's log.

General Electric

Mitt Romney

$287,495

Employees from General Electric, whose CEO Jeffrey Immelt was the chairman of President Obama's Jobs and Competitiveness Council, have contributed $287,495 to the campaign of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Immelt has 27 entries on the White House visitor's log including nine meetings with President Obama.

Ernst & Young

Mitt Romney

$293,067

Ernst & Young, the accounting firm led by CEO Jim Turley, saw its employees contribute $293,067 to the campaign of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney. That puts the accounting/consulting firm at No. 15 on the top 20 list of employees from top companies contributing to the Romney campaign.

Ernst & Young spent $2.18 million on lobbying expenditures in 2011, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.