Thread: NFL Backs Reid Over Angle; Invests $340,000 to Save Incumben

National Football League Backs Reid Over Angle; Invests $340,000 to Save Incumbent Congress

Thursday, October 28, 2010
By Matt Cover


In this Sept. 19, 2010 photo, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell talks with Cleveland Browns coach Bryan Cox before a football game, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Mark Duncan, File)

(CNSNews.com) - The National Football League’s political action committee—Gridiron PAC—has weighed in on the hotly contested U.S. Senate election in Nevada that pits conservative Republican challenger Sharron Angle against Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid.

The PAC has given $10,000 to Reid—the maximum it can give in a single election cycle—and no money to Angle, according to Federal Election Commission data compiled by OpenSecrets.org.

The NFL’s PAC also contributed to other incumbent Democratic senators facing viable challengers this year, giving $5,000 to Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas; $5,000 to Russ Feingold of Wisconsin; $5,000 to Barbara Boxer of California; $5,000 to Michael Bennet of Colorado; and $5,000 to Patty Murray of Washington.

In none of these races did the NFL’s PAC contribute to the Republican challenger.

Of the $341,000 the NFL’s PAC has contributed to congressional candidates in this election cycle, $340,000 has gone to incumbents. The other $1,000 went to Brian Rooney, an unsuccessful Republican primary candidate in a U.S. congressional district in Michigan, who is the grandson of Pittsburgh Steelers founder Art Rooney.

The Louisiana Senate race is the only federal election contest in this election cycle where the Gridiron PAC has contributed to the nominees of both major parties. There, the PAC gave $1,500 to Rep. Charlie Melancon (D-La.), who is a sitting House member running as the Democratic challenger to incumbent Republican Sen. David Vitter. The PAC also gave $2,500 to Vitter.

Other than Reid, the only other candidates to whom the NFL’s PAC has maxed out with $10,000 in contributions are House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D.-Calif.); Sen. Charles Schumer (D.-N.Y.), the vice chairman of the Senate Democratic Caucus (and third ranking Democrat in the Senate); Rep. Edolphus Towns (D.-N.Y.), the chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform; and Rep. Lamar Smith (R.-Tex.), the ranking Republican on the House Judiciary Committee.

As NFL Vice President of Government Relations Jeff Miller told CNSNews.com, the Gridiron PAC’s giving patterns are in keeping with its pro-incumbent policy.

“It’s not uncommon among political action committees to support incumbents or almost solely incumbents,â€

time for me to watch college football ... homey dont play this game

It's time to pass the FairTax and shut down all corporate and business PAC contributions to political campaigns. What a travesty that a enterprise that has maxed the profits of a capitalist economy would use its money earned off the backs of Americans to underwrite socialist globalist traitors destroying the very nation that lines the pockets of the NFL.

www.fairtax.org

Football. Who would ever thought that a sport based on no pain no gain and you do it, you earn it, would have the audacity to support candidates and incumbents who want to take from one who earned it and give it to one who didn't by force of law.

What a bunch of messed up air-heads. I guess they've all been bonked too many times. Well, Republicans are going to do well on Tuesday and in the spirit of our mascot, we will never forget. And payback can be a real biotch.