Irvine state Rep. Katie Porter is targeting her top Democratic rival in the 2024 California Senate race, Burbank state Rep. Adam B. Schiff, for oil, pharmaceutical and pharmaceutical companies seeking to influence federal policy in Washington. He has repeatedly attacked Trump for receiving campaign contributions from financial and other influential special interests.
With Tuesday's primary election looming, she prides herself on not receiving donations from corporate political action committees, unlike Schiff, who is leading in the polls with Republican former baseball All-Star Steve Garvey. had.
“Congressman Schiff may have indicted big oil companies before coming to Congress, but once he got there he cashed checks from companies like: [British Petroleum] — from fossil fuel companies,” she said. At the January debate.
“I have been a member of Congress for several years and have delivered results on climate change.”
Mr. Schiff, who received a total of $2,000 from the BP North American Employees PAC in 2004 and 2006, responded curtly during the debate. Mr. Schiff used some of the millions of dollars he had raised over the years to support Mr. Porter's congressional campaign, he said.
“I gave that money to Katie Porter and all she said back was thank you, thank you, thank you.”
The Times analyzed campaign finance reports from three election cycles in which Mr. Porter and Mr. Schiff overlapped in Congress to determine whether the candidates' claims were true. Both men have been huge fundraisers for their own campaigns, raising tens of millions of dollars, while also launching political action committees to support other candidates.
Here's what we found:
Defense, technology and pharmaceutical companies donate to Schiff
Mr. Schiff's committee reported 377 donations from corporate PACs, according to a Times analysis. Schiff's Congressional Campaign Committee received 357 of his contributions, and his leadership PAC, Frontline USA, received 20 of his contributions, each totaling $636,625 and $75,000 for him.
More than 80 corporate PAC donors included defense, high-tech and telecommunications companies, which were the industries that gave the most to the committee.
Corporate PACs representing Comcast Corp. and NBCUniversal contributed more than $40,000. Mr. Schiff also received money from committees representing Wells Fargo, Amgen, and others during his House campaign.
“I didn't realize how much dirty money you took until I ran against you,” Porter said during the same debate.
“You need to own your records.”
The majority of corporate PAC donations to Frontline USA came from groups representing defense companies such as Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, and Northrop Grumman. Frontline also received donations from his PAC, which represents Amazon, Universal Music Group, and major insurance company Centene Corporation.
Schiff donated more than $50,000 to Porter.
A Times analysis of Federal Election Commission records shows that Mr. Porter received $54,675 in campaign contributions from Mr. Schiff's two committees throughout his campaign and re-election campaign for Congress. There was found.
Much of this funding came from individual donors who used Frontline USA as a conduit to donate to Porter's campaign. The PAC contributed more than $33,000 to Porter's races in 2018, 2020 and 2022.
In May 2020, Schiff texted Porter about one donation after a fundraiser, according to a message his campaign shared with the Times.
“Hi Katie. My friends Dick and Lois Gunther sent me an additional $5,475. Keep up the great work and see you soon,” Schiff wrote on May 14, 2020.
“Thank you so much Adam. You are amazing! I have a handwritten thank you note mentioning you to these people,” she wrote back a few days later.
(I often write notes by hand, and I like to clearly indicate the source.)
Frontline USA reported the total amount of two designated donations from the couple to Porter in May 2020. The couple also sent $5,600 to Porter's campaign three months ago.
Schiff's campaign estimates that Porter has helped Senate candidates raise nearly $240,000 since he first ran for office in 2018. Much of the money, Schiff's campaign said, came from requests sent by Porter on her behalf and from fundraisers she organized herself.
It's hard to avoid corporate money in politics
Schiff's corporate donations, which Porter dislikes, flow into a much larger pool of cash made up of individual donations. The money donated to Porter is indistinguishable, but it reflects how money from corporate special interests flows into the accounts of those who denounce it.
Porter's congressional campaign was an expensive affair, with most of the millions of dollars she raised coming from private donors. Throughout her political career, she has refused to accept campaign contributions from corporate PACs. Schiff said she promised when she campaigned for Senate last year that she would not accept any of her money from these groups either.
Much of Schiff's committee's funding comes from private donations as well. For Frontline USA, donations from non-partisan committees, including corporate PACs and labor, trade and other groups, accounted for 11% and 3% of his total revenue in the 2018 and 2020 election cycles, respectively. Ta.
“Part of my job was to help elect Democrats, help them get re-elected,” Schiff said of the national fundraiser.
Asked about Schiff's fundraising background, Porter said he did not believe that trying to support Democrats was a legitimate reason to take money from special interests that actively seek to influence Congress. Ta.
After his 2018 victory, Porter created his own leadership political committee called Truth to Power PAC, which has raised just over $1 million since its launch. Most of the donations came from individual donors, with nearly $630,000 going to candidates in the national race, said Nathan Click, a senior adviser to Porter.
It did not receive funds from corporate political action committees.
“Katie didn't have to reach out to BP oil companies or defense contractors or corporate payday lenders to help her Democratic colleagues, but Adam did,” Click said. Told.
