![]() ![]() The company also gave $100,000 to the committee that pushed the $37.3 billion infrastructure bond In 2006, the company gave $744,614 to political candidates and campaigns, including $44,600 to Schwarzenegger and $50,000 to the state Democratic Party. was by far the most generous of the two companies. “There is no connection between political spending and the policy work that gets done in the state Legislature,” Nunez spokesman Richard Stapler said.ĪT&T Inc. and Barnum & Bailey Circus.Ī spokesman for Nunez, the bill’s author, disputed that the money and freebies given by the telephone companies helped sway lawmakers’ decisions. One staffer attended the “American Idols Live” concert, while another saw the Sacramento Ringling Bros. The tickets were $73.84 each.Īides to Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, D-Los Angeles, also scored tickets to shows courtesy of AT&T. Chuck Poochigian, R-Fresno, four tickets so her family could attend the Champions on Ice show in Sacramento. ![]() In August, for example, AT&T gave an aide to former state Sen. The favors went to lawmakers of both major political parties. Some rural counties said they might be bypassed by cable and telephone companies entirely.Ĭonsumer groups also warned that cable prices could skyrocket as telephone and Internet rates have in the past few decades.Īs lawmakers considered the legislation, lobbyists paid by the two companies treated them to meals at local restaurants and gave their top aides tickets to watch the San Francisco Giants, San Diego Padres, Sacramento Kings, Sacramento Monarchs and the Los Angeles Lakers. They also worry that a lack of local contracts means cable providers will bypass less affluent neighborhoods and focus instead on bundling TV, Internet and telephone service to the well-to-do. Local governments had opposed the change, fearing they would lose revenue because they would no longer have individual contracts with cable providers. The new law creates state franchises that are open to competition. Previously, access to the state’s $5.3 billion-a-year cable market was controlled by cities and counties through local franchises. Its passage was a huge victory for the telephone companies, which have been denied similar access on the federal level. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed it in September. Lawmakers approved the bill with overwhelming majorities, by a 64-5 vote in the Assembly and a 33-4 vote in the Senate. “The $25 million the telephone industry spent on lobbying was the factor in passing the bill,” said Carmen Balber, consumer advocate for the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, a Santa Monica group that has been critical of the measure. The contributions came as lawmakers were rewriting the rules governing the state cable industry to make it much easier for telephone companies to compete for the 7.4 million California households that subscribe to cable. The two companies also gave more than $1 million in campaign contributions, according to campaign finance reports released Wednesday by the secretary of state’s office. SACRAMENTO, CA - AT&T and Verizon, the two most dominant players in California’s telephone market, spent nearly $26 million to lobby lawmakers last year in a successful effort to access the state’s lucrative cable TV market. ![]()
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