AT&T Moves Further to the Right

By Working for Change.

We all know AT&T is evil. But starting June 3, it will be just a bit more evil, thanks to the political giving of its new CEO.

The little things can rankle. Especially if you’re a customer of AT&T/Cingular Wireless. Then you have to accept that a portion of your cell phone bill each month goes to support radical rightwing politicians.

Ed Whitacre, the current CEO of AT&T, is scheduled to step down in June. Whitacre has been described by Matt Stoller of MyDD.com alternately as “everything that’s wrong with American business” and “the man who wants to destroy the free internet.”

The Wall Street Journal reported today that Randall Stephenson, will take over as chief executive and chairman of AT&T on June 3. He’s currently the COO of AT&T and the man who is helping Cingular roll out the iPhone. He’s also a Bush appointee to the National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee.

Where does Stephenson stand? A quick look at his political giving suggests he’s to the far to the right of Whitacre who at least made token contributions to Democrats — including pro-union Dick Gephardt and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

With the exception of Rep. Henry Cuellar, a certified DINO, Stephenson’s giving is 100 percent republican in recent years, according to records provided by opensecrets.org.

12/28/1999 Rep. Dennis Hastert ( R-IL) $500
10/26/2001 Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) $1,000
3/14/2002 Keep Our Majority PAC (run by fmr Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) $2,000
4/18/2002 Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) $1,000
10/11/2002 Keep Our Majority PAC (run by fmr Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL)) $1,000
6/2/2003 Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS) $250
6/21/2003 Sen. Christopher S ‘Kit’ Bond (R-MO) $250
7/18/2003 President George W. Bush (R) $500

7/23/2003 President George W. Bush (R) $1,500
1/23/2004 Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson (R-TX) $500
3/17/2004 Rebecca Armendariz Klein, Republican candidate for Congress (TX) $250
5/3/2004 Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX) $500
5/25/2004 Republican National Cmte $500
7/14/2004 Kirk Humphreys, Republican Candidate for Senate (OK primary), $250
7/28/2004 Republican National Cmte $2,500
8/4/2004 Rebecca Armendariz Klein, Republican candidate for Congress (TX) $250
10/22/2004 Republican National Cmte $1,000

11/29/2004 Rep. Joe Barton, (R-TX) $1,000
1/27/2005 Sen. John Ensign (R-NV) $500
7/17/2005 Rep. Tom DeLay (R-TX) $1,000
8/9/2005 Rep. Pete Sessions, (R-TX) $500
9/20/2005 Sen. George Allen (R) $500
10/20/2005 Keep Our Majority PAC (run by fmr Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) $1,000
11/9/2005 Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) $500
12/12/2005 Denise Bode, Republican candidate for Congress (OK) $1,000
3/31/2006 Rep. Mike Ferguson (R-NJ) $1,000

6/13/2006 Denise Bode, Republican candidate for Congress (OK) $1,000
7/27/2006 Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX) $500
9/22/2006 National Republican Congressional Cmte $1,000

And if you’re wondering where he stands on Net Neutrality, i think this pretty much sums it up:

SBC Chief Operating Officer Randall Stephenson was quoted in an industry newsletter saying, “We’re going to control the video on our network. The content guys will have to make a deal with us.” Stephenson’s statement was widely interpreted to mean that his company intends to block on its broadband network the video content of any companies or producers who have not struck a deal with SBC.

– By Becky Bond, Working for Change