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<DIV>CENTER FOR RESPONSIVE POLITICS<BR>MONEY IN POLITICS ALERT<BR>Vol. 6,
#56 June 27, 2002<BR>tel: 202-857-0044, fax: 202-857-7809<BR>email: <A
href="mailto:info@crp.org">info@crp.org</A>, web: <A
href="http://www.opensecrets.org">www.opensecrets.org</A><BR><BR>WorldCom: <BR>A
Look at the Company's Lobbying and Campaign Contributions<BR><BR>By Holly
Bailey<BR><BR>Months after the collapse of Enron, President Bush, members
of<BR>Congress and the Justice Department are again on the trail of<BR>what
looks to be one of the biggest cases of fraudulent<BR>accounting practices yet.
On June 25, WorldCom, the nation's<BR>second largest long-distance carrier,
announced that it had<BR>overstated its cash flow by nearly $4 billion during
the last<BR>two years, sending its stock into a virtual freefall and
leaving<BR>the company on the brink of bankruptcy.<BR><BR>How did it happen?
That's what Congress wants to know,<BR>especially during an election year. With
voters already<BR>disgruntled after what seems to be months of
continuous<BR>corporate scandal, Democrats are hoping to use the issue
of<BR>corporate mistrust to unseat Republicans this Election Day.
One<BR>avenue they will likely use: campaign contributions from the<BR>embattled
companies to the GOP. "All you have to do is follow<BR>the money," House
Minority Leader Dick Gephardt (D-Mo.) told<BR>reporters June 26. "It leads right
to the Republican party."<BR><BR>But that argument might not be as convincing in
WorldCom's case.<BR>Over the last 10 years, the company's political
contributions<BR>have been spread evenly between the two national parties.
Since<BR>1989, the company has contributed roughly $7.5 million in
soft<BR>money, PAC and individual contributions to federal candidates<BR>and
parties, 54 percent to the GOP. The race for WorldCom money<BR>has been even
tighter than during the current election cycle. So<BR>far in 2001-02, WorldCom
has contributed just over $1 million,<BR>split equally between Democrats and
Republicans.<BR><BR>Click here for the full report, including a breakdown of
the<BR>company's political contributions and lobbying dating back
to<BR>1989:<BR><BR><A
href="http://www.opensecrets.org/news/worldcom/index.asp">http://www.opensecrets.org/news/worldcom/index.asp</A><BR><BR>=======================================<BR><BR>To
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