Back in the 1990s, “Art Stone” was very active in a usenet news group called alt.aol-sucks after I left AOL in disgust, in part because of the blatant political bias that permeated every part of AOL. Part of my research during that time involved getting to know more about the people running AOL and their political leanings.
AOL was being run at the time by Robert Pittman, who is now the man running Clear Channel. In another post, I’ll go into more detail about how Pittman is actively trying to kill Conservative Talk Radio – which is a difficult task since Clear Channel is heavily dependent on Conservative Talk (Rush, Hannity, Beck) for revenue and Clear Channel is still up to its eyeballs in debt.
If you go to the FEC campaign disclosure database, you’ll find Pittman has been a long term generous donor to Democrats. He isn’t just slipping them money to buy favors – he’s a true believer.
http://fec.gov/finance/disclosure/norindsea.shtml
He’s had a number of employers during the time of the database, so he appears under a lot of different entries. I’ll save you some work:
| Date | Who? | Party Affiliation | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5/6/1999 | John F Kerry (Senate-MA) | Democratic | $1,000 |
| 8/21/1998 | Ronald Wyden (Senate-OR) | Democratic | $500 |
| 12/29/1999 | Ronald Wynder (Senate-OR) | Democratic | $1,000 |
| 9/19/1997 | Democratic National Committee | Democratic | $10,000 |
| 7/6/1999 | Hillary Clinton for Senate | Democratic | $1,000 |
| 11/15/1999 | John Kerry for Senate | Democratic | $1,000 |
| 3/24/2008 | Greg Davis for Congress (2008 special election in Mississipi) | Republican | $2,300 |
| 2/13/2004 | Tom Daschle | Democratic | $1,000 |
| 11/2/2004 | Dem Senatorial Campaign Committee | Democratic | $25,000 |
| 9/15/2005 | Bill Nelson for Senate | Democratic | $2,000 |
| 3/18/2008 | Musgrove for US Senate (2008 special election in MIssissippi) | Democratic | $2,300 |
| 5/30/2008 | Gephardt for President | Democratic | $3,000 |
| 10/29/1998 | Independence Party Federal Committee (100% of money went to Charles Schumer) | Democratic | $5,000 |
| 1/19/2005 | Friends of Hillary Clinton | Democratic | $2,000 |
| 5/16/2005 | Friends of Hillary Clinton | Democratic | $2,000 |
| 5/20/2010 | Friends of Chuck Schumer | Democratic | $2,400 x 2 |
| 5/27/2008 | Roger Wicker for Senate | Republican | $2,300 |
| 9/22/2008 | Roger Wicker for Senate | Republican | $2,500 x 2 |
| 9/23/2005 | Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee | Democratic | $5,000 |
| 4/21/2008 | William G Shafroth for Congress (Colorado) | Democratic | $1,000 |
| 12/22/1999 | Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee | Democratic | $10,000 |
| 6/30/1999 | Tom Harkin | Democratic | $1,000 x 2 |
| 4/22/2004 | Tom Daschle | Democratic | $1,000 + $2000 |
| 12/15/2005 | Maria Cantwell (Senate Washington) | Democratic | $900 + $2100 |
| 2/26/2007 | Democratic Senate Campaign Committee | Democratic | $10,000 x 2 |
| 8/17/1999 | Gephardt | Democratic | $1,000 x 2 |
| 2/10/2000 | Jon Corzine (Senate - NJ) | Democratic | $1,000 |
| 7/29/1998 | Friends of Al Gore | Democratic | $1,000 |
| 4/18/2007 | Obama for President *** Note the date is long before the world had heard of Barack Obama | Democratic | $2,300 |
| 3/25/2008 | Mark Warner (Senate - VA) | Democratic | $2,300 |
| 4/10/2006 | Forward Together PAC | Democratic | $5,000 |
| 11/1/2006 | Friends of Jim Oberstar (MN) | Farmer's Workers Party (Socialists) | $500 |
| 12/28/2011 | Clear Channel PAC | $5,000 | |
| 12/14/2010 | Bob Casey for Senate (PA) | Democratic | $1,000 |
| 5/3/2004 | Erskine Bowles | Democratic | $2,000 x 2 |
| 6/30/2007 | Al Franken for Senate (MN) | Democratic | $1,000 |
| 8/2/2005 | Forward Together | Democratic | $5,000 |
| 3/31/2004 | John Kerry for President | Democratic | $2,000 |
| 8/23/2010` | Democraticic Senate Campaign Committee | Democratic | $1,000 |
| 3/13/2007 | Friends of Jay Rockefeller (Senate - WV) | Democratic | $1,000 |
| 11/13/2003 | Democratic National Committee | Democratic | $25,000 |
| 12/20/1999 | Time/Warner PAC | Non-partisan Lobbyist | $5,000 |
| 7/11/2000 | Time/Warner PAC | Non-partisan Lobbyist | $5,000 |
| 12/19/2001 | Time/Warner PAC | Non-partisan Lobbyist | $5,000 |
| 2/20/2011 | RI MN MD Victory Fund (RIAA) | Hasn't spent any money yet | $500 |
| 8/17/1999 | Democratic Leaders Victory Fund | Democratic | $10,000 |
Note there are several Robert Pittmans who are not him. He definitely was connected to AOL, Time/Warner, the Pilot Group and now Clear Channel. The guy running AECOM in Massachusetts is probably him, but I’m not positive, so I’ve left those out (they seem to be to candidates the known Robert Pittman also supports). There are another $48,000 in contributions in the name of his second wife Veronique that I haven’t listed given mostly to the same Democratic candidates..
If you’re Rush Limbaugh and hoping for sympathy from the Executive Suite of Clear Channel, you aren’t going to find it.
I will follow closely your future reporting on Pittman, Art. I find you to be very credible and your work is thorough.
My observation over time and through his many jobs is that profit drives Pittman, not politics. Nonetheless, it will be interesting to see if ideology will indeed prompt him to dismantle the heretofore very profitable conservative talk business of CC.