IBM invested $7.9M in 2007 lobbying; does tech favor Democrats?

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I think SJ may be a little mistaken. I believe the millions of dollars came from tax deductions, i.e., taxpayers like us. My question is, why didn't {big company} invest 7.9M training, rather than lobbying to import more low cost labor. "They" would probably have spent less, but probably not tax deductible (or 'influence' congress).

What irks me the most is this... Where do you think those Millons of dollars came from? It was included in the price of the very expensive products we as Microsoft customers purchased. In other words we supported Microsoft in their efforts to change the laws in their favor so they could make more money by, as Glemn Nelson pointed out, by hiring cheap labor... I wonder what other things these self centered greedy corporations are doing at our expense?

I have a wild guess to your comment "tech seems to favor the Democratic Party, at least in recent elections. I?m not sure what the connection is there." My guess for the "connection" is that tech probably favors the majority power in Congress. It seems that if you want to pass legislation, you "lobby" or "contribute" to the people (majority) that can pass your agenda, and not to the minority that cannot. So much for representing your constituents (not to mention the unelected Super Delegates).

Dr. Nelson obviously has a MIcrosoft jones. Anyway, big business is just getting its ducks in a row expecting a Democrat win this fall. If they don't pay, they can't play, since Democrats have no issue with conscience, and would hold business hostage vs. big labor, economy be damned.

Microsoft (and its proxies) have spent unprecedented amounts to procure their desired legislative outcomes. From 1995-2000, inclusive, Microsoft lavished approximately $100 million on legislative expenditures. One of Microsoft''s lobbyists was Jack Abramoff, as was noted in a January, 1998 Mother Jones article, "The Microsoft Network" by investigative reporter Ken Silverstein. Abramoff is shown in the "Washington Wide Web" chart (please google on this title.) . Microsoft''s leadership role in the Business Software Alliance is shown in Rachel Burstein''s article, "Overseas Invasion", also in the January, 1998 issue of Mother Jones. Interested readers are invited to use the US Lobby Registration & Reporting Disclosure Page by googling on "Senate Office of Public Records" and choosing the second link, which ends with DoFn=0. Use a control key multi-select: Registrant Name: Kirkpatrick, Client Name: Business Software, Lobbyist Name: Abramoff. There are seven entries between 1998 and 2000. All of them involve lawyer-lobbyist (and felon) Jack Abramoff working for Preston-Gates (Bill Gates III''s father is a principal in that firm) with the Business Software Alliance as the client. If you would like to learn more, please read the engaging PDF version of author''s January, 2008 article, "The Greedy Gates Immigration Gambit," located by googling on this title. You will learn about the multiple instances of political corruption connected with Microsoft''s procuring three employer-friendly changes to H-1B visa legislation in 1996, 1998, and 2000. As was noted in the Center For Responsive Politics newsletter of October 2, 2000, by Holly Bailey (now at Newsweek) titled Cyberdemocracy III, "As the 106th Congress winds to a conclusion this week, members of the House and Senate are poised to vote on the high-tech industry?s most important lobbying issue of the year, an immigration bill that would expand the number of work visas available for skilled foreign workers.." This scandal is still active. One of the original members of "Team Abramoff," (corrupt) lawyer-lobbyist Michael P. Smith has been working for Cornerstone Government Affairs with the name Mike Smith (locate Cornerstone Government Affairs, enter, choose About and find the staff links) with Microsoft as the client. One significant lobbying issue is H-1B visas. ("Accidentally" called HB1 visas in the 2005 and 2006 disclosures.) This author advocates using the free citizen activism tools at NumbersUSA dot com to press for much-needed reforms of this corrupt set of policies.