Irvine Rep. Katie Porter has repeatedly attacked her primary Democratic rival in the 2024 California Senate race, Burbank Rep. Adam B. Schiff, for accepting campaign contributions from oil, pharmaceutical, financier and special interests. other influencers trying to influence federal policy in Washington.
He prided himself on not accepting donations from corporate political action committees, unlike Schiff, who along with former Republican baseball player Steve Garvey is leading in polls as Tuesday's primary election approaches.
“Rep. Schiff may have prosecuted big oil companies before he got to Congress, but when he got to Congress he cashed checks from companies like [British Petroleum] — from fossil fuel companies,” he said in a debate in January.
“I've gotten results on climate in my few years in Congress.”
Schiff, who received a total of $2,000 from BP's North American employee PAC in 2004 and 2006, responded dryly during that debate. Schiff said he used some of the millions he raised over the years to help Porter in his congressional campaigns.
“I gave you that money, Katie Porter, and the only response was thank you, thank you, thank you.”
The Times analyzed campaign finance reports from three election cycles in which Porter and Schiff met in Congress to see if the candidates' claims were true. Both have been prodigious fundraisers for their own campaigns, raising tens of millions of dollars while founding political action committees that they used to support other candidates.
This is what we found:
Defense, technology and pharmaceutical companies donated money to Schiff
Schiff's committees reported 377 contributions from corporate PACs, according to a Times analysis. Schiff's congressional campaign committee received 357 contributions and Frontline USA, her leadership PAC, reported 20, totaling $636,625 and $75,000, respectively.
Among the PAC's more than 80 corporate donors were defense, technology and telecommunications companies, which were the industries that donated the most to its committee.
The corporate PAC representing Comcast Corp. and NBCUniversal contributed more than $40,000. Schiff also received money from committees representing Wells Fargo and Amgen, among many others, during his House elections.
“I didn't realize how much dirty money you had received until I ran against you,” Porter said in that same debate.
“You need to own your record.”
Most of the corporate PAC donations to Frontline USA came from groups representing defense companies, including Lockheed Martin, Raytheon and Northrop Grumman. Frontline also received donations from PACs representing Amazon, Universal Music Group and Centene Corp., a large insurer.
Schiff donated more than $50,000 to Porter
A Times analysis of Federal Election Commission records found that throughout his election and re-election campaigns for the House of Representatives, Porter received $54,675 in campaign contributions from Schiff's two committees.
Most of this money came from individual donors who used Frontline USA as a conduit to donate to Porter's campaign; The PAC donated more than $33,000 in contributions to Porter's races in 2018, 2020 and 2022.
In May 2020, Schiff texted Porter after a fundraiser about a donation, according to messages Schiff's campaign shared with The Times.
“Hi Katie, I'm sending you $5,475 more from my friends Dick and Lois Gunther. Keep up the great work and see you soon,” Schiff wrote on May 14, 2020.
“Thank you very much Adam. Your (sic) are great! I am writing a handwritten thank you that mentions these people to you,” he responded days later.
“(I take a lot of handwritten notes and like to acknowledge the source).”
Frontline USA reported two donations intended for Porter from the couple in May 2020 totaling the amount. The couple also sent $5,600 to Porter's campaign three months earlier.
Schiff's campaign estimates that the Senate candidate has helped Porter raise nearly $240,000 since he first ran in 2018. Much of this money, according to Schiff's campaign, came from fundraising requests he submitted in his name and fundraising events he organized.
It's hard to avoid corporate money in politics
Schiff's corporate donations, which Porter hates, flow into a much larger cash fund that is made up of individual donations. The money is indistinguishable when donated to Porter, but reflects how money from special corporate interests can find its way into the accounts of someone who blows the whistle on them.
Porter's parliamentary contests were expensive affairs and most of the millions he raised came from individual contributors. She has refused to accept campaign donations from corporate PACs throughout her political career. When Schiff ran in the Senate race last year, she promised not to take money from these groups either.
Most of Schiff's committee fundraising also comes from individual contributions. For Frontline USA, contributions from non-political party committees (including corporate PACs, along with labor, business, and other groups) accounted for 11% and 3% of its total revenue for the 2018 and 2020 election cycles, respectively.
“Part of my job was to help elect Democrats, help them get re-elected,” Schiff said of his national fundraising work.
When asked about Schiff's fundraising record, Porter did not consider trying to help Democrats a good justification for taking money from special interests who were actively trying to influence Congress.
After winning in 2018, Porter created his own political leadership committee called Truth to Power PAC, which has raised just over $1 million since its inception. Most of the money came from individual donors, with about $630,000 going to candidates across the country who were in competitive races, according to Nathan Click, Porter's senior adviser.
It required no money from corporate political action committees.
“Katie didn't have to reach out to oil or defense contractors like BP or corporate lenders to help her Democratic colleagues, but Adam did,” Click said.
