Stabenow surpasses $10 million in campaign fundraising

Michigan Senator Debbie Stabenow has surpassed the $10 million mark, according to data from the Center for Responsible Politics.

Comparatively, the other candidates (10 in all) who are challenging Stabenow have raised collectively less than $5 million, with former Congressman Pete Hoekstra the closest with $2,701,341.

Hoekstra and Clark Durant, the top challengers to Stabenow are receiving funds from companies that have clear agendas, such as Bank of America (has given $14,750 to Durant) and Amway, which has given Hoekstra $18,800 to date.

The insidious nature of companies like Amway and Bank of America make it easy for those stuck in a right/left dichotomy to say this is why people should re-elect Stabenow, since she is not as tied to corrupt, money grabbing corporations as her opponents are.

However, a closer look at Senator Stabenow’s contributors would make it clear to any free-thinking person that her allegiance is to the same capitalist class.

At the top of the list of entities donating to Stabenow’s re-election campaign is Emily’s List, a political action committee that gives money to Pro-Choice Democrats. The rest of the list is much less ideologically driven or one-issue driven and clearly represents corporate America.

These companies essentially represent who Senator Stabenow will be accountable to, since they are the ones providing the bulk of the funds necessary for her to get re-elected.

There are those entities from the financial sector, that not only engaged in fraudulent behavior that led to the 2008 financial crash, they are also entities that were bailed out by US taxpayers and continue to benefit from any real government regulation.

JP Morgan Chase is primarily backing incumbents this year, since it has been clear that the current members of both the House and the Senate support the current financial status quo. The same is the case for Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanely, like JP Morgan Chase, are primarily backing incumbents.

The list of major donors to Senator Stabenow also includes health insurance giant Blue Cross/Blue Shield and “we don’t pay any corporate taxes” poster-child, General Electric.

The rest of the list is mostly made up of Michigan-based corporations, which reflects whose interests Stabenow defends in Washington – companies such as DTE Energy, Dow Chemical, GM and the Ford Motor Company. These are companies, which were major contributors to Senator Stabenow in 2006 and 2000, which is further evidence of her allegiance to the capitalist class.