For-Profit Colleges Shower Democrats with Campaign Dollars

It is certainly no secret that the primary focus of for-profit college lobbyists and leaders over the past year has been to persuade Congressional Democrats to break with the Obama administration over its efforts to rein in the sector. But a new report in the Huffington Post provides the most detailed information to date of just how aggressively the industry has pursued this strategy.

In an analysis of campaign finance records, the online publication found that career college officials provided, both individually and through political action committees, more than $2 million in campaign contributions in the 2010 election cycle — almost double what they had given in the previous cycle. Here’s how the schools divvied it up:

• Nearly two-thirds of the donations went to Democratic lawmakers, candidates, and party organizations.

• The single largest donation went to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC), which received a total of $148,000.

• Altogether the DSCC, the Democratic Congressional Committee (DCCC), and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) received $364,000. In comparison, the National Republican Senate Committee (NRSC), the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), and the Republican National Committee (RNC) got $109,000.

• The top individual recipient of the money was Rep. George Miller, the California Democrat who was the chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Education and Labor at the time. He received a total of $111,000 in his personal campaign fund. The committee’s ranking Republican — Rep. John Kline of Minnesota — received less than half that amount.

• Of the top ten individual recipients, six were Democratic lawmakers, three were Republican, and one was an independent (Charlie Crist of Florida). The six Democrats received $346,000 in their personal campaign funds, while the three Republicans got $109,000. [Rep. Howard McKeon (R-CA) wasn’t included on this list because the schools contributed most of the money to his leadership PAC, rather than to his personal campaign fund. Altogether, he received about $85,000.]

The for-profit college industry’s generosity to the Democrats has paid some dividends. As the article notes, 58 House Democrats joined their Republican colleagues in February in voting to block the Department of Education from issuing a final regulation on “Gainful Employment.” These included House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California and the incoming chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida. According to the Huffington Post’s analysis, House Democrats who voted for the amendment “received on average nearly twice as much in political donations as Democrats who opposed” it.

It’s certainly true that some House Democrats who received the donations voted against this controversial amendment to a fiscal year 2011 spending bill — including, most notably, Representative Miller. But even he tempered his opposition by repeatedly stating what a strong supporter of the industry he has been.

Still, that sentiment was probably of little solace to the for-profit college leaders and lobbyists who had showered the California Democrat with campaign contributions. “I know some people like to think there’s this simplistic correlation between wiring a check and getting a vote,” Harris Miller, the president of the organization formerly known as the Career College Association, told the Huffington Post. “I wish it were that easy.”

We’re sure that Miller (who is not related to the Congressman) does, and that the industry will keep trying until it gets what it wants.