Facebook Backs Boehner, Other GOP Candidates

Facebook’s political action committee is backing the reelection campaigns of top congressional leaders, including House Speaker John Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor, according to its latest Federal Elections Commission filing.

In order to become certified by the FEC, Facebook Inc. PAC had to name five donation recipients, in addition to stating that they’ve been around for six months and have more than 50 members.

The earliest listed contribution on the filing is to House Speaker John Boehner’s campaign, on February 15. It has since funded House Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s campaign, as well as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s, according to Facebook Inc. PAC’s filing with the FEC on March 30, 2012.

Facebook's PAC also donated to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s campaign and to Majority Leader Harry Reid’s.

There are likely many more politicians that have received donations, but only five had to be named in the filing. It is possible that other candidates received money before the donation to John Boener. No specific dollar amounts were noted, either, but that information will appear along with the names of all other recipients in the quarterly FEC filing due Sunday.

Facebook made news when it decided to launch its first PAC last fall, and in the following months pulled in $170,010 from 42 donors, including CEO Mark Zuckerberg and dozens of top executives, according to the Center for Responsive Politics’ OpenSecrets.org.

Facebook VP of Advertising David Fischer joined Zuckerberg in donating $5,000 to Facebook Inc PAC, as did COO Sheryl Sandberg, VP of Corporate Communication Joe Lockhart, VP of Product Chris Cox, VP of Engineering Mike Schroepfer, CFO David Ebersman, CTO Bret Taylor, and numerous other directors and vice presidents.

Some notable non-Facebook employees have also donated to Facebook's PAC, including SurveyMonkey CEO Dave Goldberg, PriceWaterhouseCoopers Partner Laura Cox Kaplan and Pierian Labs Executive Brian Goler.

In a statement last fall, Facebook spokesman Andrews Noyes said the new PAC would allow employees to have a greater stake in the political process.

The PAC “will give our employees a way to make their voice heard in the political process by supporting candidates who share our goals of promoting the value of innovation to our economy while giving people the power to share and make the world more open and connected,” said Noyes in an email to the Washington Post.

Who else the venerable social networking giant decided to give that money to, however, and how generously, will be unveiled Sunday.

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