A recent report on politics and money shows that the city of Anchorage, with the state’s highest median household income, is pretty thrifty when it comes to making political contributions.
So far this year, residents of the wealthy Louisville suburb have contributed only $52,990 in the federal election cycle, according to the Center of Responsive Politics. Compare that with the highest income-earning communities of other states, like Madison, Miss., which donated $400,646, and Dakota Dunes, S.D., at $118,180.
Anchorage’s median household income is $160,956, a Business Insider report noted. The town had 2,381 residents as of 2012.
A dig into the list of those few political pot-stirrers in Anchorage sheds some light on where their money is going.
Among donors to individual candidates and political parties, Democrats are the big winners so far with $23,500, versus $2,500 for Republicans, according to CRP data. Among candidates, Alison Lundergan Grimes is the big winner so far with $13,400, mostly from David and Amy Kern.
The Center for Responsive Politics shows only $1,000 in Anchorage money going to Mitch McConnell, from John Bush.
Many of the Anchorage contributions go to employer political action committees, or PACs. For instance, lame-duck YUM! Brands CEO David Novak has given $2,470 so far to the YUM! Brands Good Government Fund, an amount matched by fellow Anchorage resident and YUM! exec Jonathan Blum.
What does the YUM! PAC do with its money? Of the $84,600 it has collected so far in the 2014 election cycle, 90 percent has gone to Republicans.
Other top donors include Douglas Cobb, who gave $5,000 to the Appriss Inc. PAC; Richard Schweinhart, who gave $5,000 to the National Association of Real Estate Trusts PAC; Todd Skaggs, who gave $5,000 to the Democratic Party; Scott Flynn, Mark Larson and Dennis Parrott, who gave a combined $9,550 to the PAC at KPMG, where they are partners; and Karen Sales, who gave $2,600 to John Yarmuth.
Reporter James McNair can be reached at jmcnair@kycir.org and (502) 815-6543.