Comcast booster Emanuel got $100,000 from cable firm

International Business Times - In a blog post on the company’s corporate website last week, David L. Cohen, Comcast’s executive vice president and chief merger lobbyist, boasted that nearly 70 mayors and more than 60 additional state and local officials have gone on record as proponents of the proposed merger, which would combine the country’s No. 1 and No. 2 cable companies into one massive pay-TV and broadband colossus.

In expressing his gratitude, Cohen singled out one particularly pro-merger mayor, Rahm Emanuel of Chicago. A former congressman and White House chief of staff, Emanuel wrote a letter to the Federal Communications Commission on Aug. 22 saying he believes the merger would be good for the Windy City, maintaining and enhancing Comcast’s “generous presence” in the area.

“We’re proud to have the support of Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel,” Cohen wrote.

Not mentioned in Cohen’s post, however, is the fact that during his political career, Emanuel and political committees he controls has received more than $100,000 from Comcast and its employees.

For example, during his time running for and serving as mayor of Chicago, Emanuel has received large campaign contributions from Comcast and its employees, including from Cohen himself, who contributed $5,000 to Emanuel’s mayoral campaign in February 2011. Cohen also contributed $10,000 to the Chicago Committee, which the Chicago Tribune has described as Emanuel’s “other political fund (which) he uses for political activities that support his policy initiatives at City Hall.” In all, records from the Illinois State Board of Elections show Emanuel’s mayoral campaign and his other municipal political organizations have received $50,000 from Comcast employees since he began running for mayor in 2010.