Wayward Donor List Reveals Millions In Secret Corporate Political Contributions

A list of donors and amounts they contributed to Republican governor campaigns and Republican events since 2008 was unintentionally made public, reports the New York Times. Major names on the list included Aetna, Walmart, Coca-Cola, Exxon Mobil, Koch, Microsoft, Pfizer, UnitedHealth and many others. The recipient organization was a 501(c)(4), which is not required to names its financial supporters. “The trove of documents, discovered by watchdogs at the Democrat-aligned Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, or CREW, sheds light on the secretive world of 501(c)(4) political groups, just as the battle over their future intensifies,” writes Times reporter Jonathan Weisman. A spokesperson for the Republican Governors Association noted that CREW has not disclosed its donors and accused the group of hypocrisy, and a spokesperson for Aetna noted that the company last year, by way of publicly disclosed contributions, had contributed $300,000 each to Republican and Democratic governors associations.