Surprise: Comcast Employees Are Obama's Biggest Donors

Noel Sheppard
August 27th, 2011 8:00 AM
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The employees of the company that is a part-owner of NBC and MSNBC are the biggest donors to President Obama's reelection campaign.

Chris Moody of Yahoo News reported Friday:

Employees at Comcast, the nation's largest Internet provider and the parent company to NBC Universal, donated more money to the Obama Victory Fund, a joint fund-raising committee for President Barack Obama's re-election campaign and the Democratic National Committee, than employees at any other organization, according to a new report from the Center for Responsive Politics.

Comcast workers donated almost $200,000 this year to the fund, which raised nearly $40 million through the end of June, according to data from the Federal Election Commission.

Obama has held two fundraisers hosted by Comcast's top brass in recent months, the first at the home of the company's vice president David Cohen in Philadelphia, and another at Comcast chief executive Brian Roberts' summer home in Martha's Vineyard.

As reported by the Philadelphia Inquirer Wednesday:

In a convoy of black SUVs, followed by the long tail of the Washington press corps, the vacationing President Obama went out of his way Sunday to stop by the house of a friend on Martha's Vineyard.

Obama and close aide Valerie Jarrett were hosted by Brian and Aileen Roberts at their multimillion-dollar North Shore mansion, a property situated off a rutted dirt road in an exclusive neighborhood. Billionaire Dirk Ziff, investment advisor Steven Rattner, and Donald Graham, chairman of the Washington Post, also have houses there looking out over the gorgeous Vineyard Sound.

If you thought the Commander-in-Chief was just on the Vineyard to play golf, think again.

But Comcast isn't the only media outlet whose employees are funding the President's reelection campaign. According to Open Secrets, Disney employees - which includes ABC and ESPN - have contributed $84,600. Time Warner employees - which includes Time magazine, TBS, HBO, and CNN - have donated $81.500.

Add it all up, and employees of some of America's leading media outlets are giving a huge amount of money to get Barack Obama reelected.

Color me astonishingly unsurprised.