“The industry has not been active in this regard,” FSC lobbyist Aubrey King told XBiz. “Adult companies have not been players at the national level in a significant way.”
In the halls of Congress, money not only talks, it also gets politicians to listen. But a search of the Federal Election Commission’s database on political contributions shows adult industry donations have been slim and decidedly one sided.
While some of the bigger names in the industry, such as Larry Flynt and Hugh Hefner, are politically active, they are the exception rather than the rule. And they tend to rally behind politicians and political organizations that are already listening — namely, Democrats and liberal Political Action Committees.
One notable exception is Kick Ass Pictures President Mark Kulkis, who will be attending a dinner with President Bush Tuesday night with contract star Mary Carey. Their seats came with price tags of $2,500 each, which will go into the Republican Party coffers.
However, while King said “it’s good for the industry to establish contacts on both sides the aisle” — and Kulkis will, no doubt, have opportunities to make contact with plenty of died-in-the-wool Republicans at the event — he also said not much should be read into such donations, in terms of political impact.
“There will be a couple thousand people there,” he said. “It’s not exactly an intimate gathering.”
On the other hand, as XBiz reported in March, millions of dollars in adult industry profits end up becoming political donations — often to the most outspoken opponents of the industry — because they are filtered through mainstream companies that quietly deal in adult entertainment, such as cable companies, hotel chains and telephone services.
While no one is suggesting a direct connection between donor dollars and congressional votes, but it is undeniable that politicians are more apt to lend their ears to those who open their wallets.
For example, the LA Times recently ran a story claiming that contributors to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger are given a direct line to the “Governator” himself in the form of a secret telephone number.
George Washington University Political Science Professor Thomas Stratmann, who has written extensively on the subject, told XBiz, "My research shows that groups are particularly effective in swaying legislators' voting behavior on issues of low salience, issues where contributors get the benefit and costs are disbursed among the rest of the electorate."
Political commentator Mark Hanna was more to the point when he said, “There are only two important things in politics. The first is money, and I can’t remember the second.”
