Fair and slanted: Fox executives funnel cash to Santorum, GOP

RAW STORYPublished: February 28, 2006

Fox News host and commentator Sean Hannity may have been recently singled out, but he isn't the only News Corporation employee padding the re-election coffers of Rick Santorum (R-PA), RAW STORY has learned.

A simple search of Federal Election Commission records reveals that many News Corp. employees, including chairman and chief executive officer Rupert Murdoch, have made direct, personal donations to the Senator's re-election campaign, as well as other mostly Republican candidates.

Records indicate that in November, 2005, Murdoch personally donated $2,100 to Santorum's campaign. This wasn't he first monetary gift Murdoch made to Santorum; the right wing media mogul shelled out $1,000 to elect the Senator in 2000.

Santorum isn't the only Republican candidate Murdoch is putting his money behind. In addition to a $5,000 donation to the Republican National Committee, Murdoch has also given generously to the Longhorn Political Action Committee, which distributes funds exclusively to Republican candidates and seems to favor candidates in Texas.

A review of declared donations indicates that, with few exceptions (such as Chernin's donations to Berman for Congress and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, and Greta Van Susteren's donation to her sister's campaign for Senate) higher-ups at the "fair and balanced" cable news outlet overwhelmingly give GOP.

Two Fox Government Relations executives have also given to Santorum. Michael Regan and Paul Jackson have doled out $2,100 and $1,500 to the senator's re-election campaign, respectively. Regan has also donated $1,000 each to the Republican National Committee and Longhorn PAC.

The PAC seems to be a favorite recipient for Fox executives. President and Chief Operating Officer Peter Chernin, International President Joseph Traynor, Senior Executive Vice President Lawrence Jacobs, Director Lachlan Martin, Asst. Controller Anthony Santabarbara, Attorney Arthur Siskind, and Executive Vice Presidents David De Voe, Gary Ginsberg, Paul Haggerty, John Hallen, Leon Hertz, Ian Moore, and Martin Pompadur have all given over $200 to the PAC this election cycle.

Longhorn has distributed $23,466 to Republican House candidates for the coming elections. Indicted former speaker Tom DeLay and fellow Texas Republican Michael McCaul have each received $5,000 of the sum. Of the remaining 22 candidates Longhorn has supported, just one received a donation of more than $1,000 (Van Taylor, another Texan).

A review of declared donations indicates that, with few exceptions (such as Chernin's donations to Berman for Congress and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, and Greta Van Susteren's donation to Van Susteren for Senate,) Fox higher-ups overwhelmingly give Republican.

For more information, visit http://www.opensecrets.org.

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