By Peter Urban
Stephens Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON — While much of his fundraising efforts have been focused in Arkansas, U.S. Rep. Tim Griffin, R-Little Rock, did pick up a few notable contributions from movie and music industry PACs in 2011.
U.S. Rep. Tim Griffin
Griffin received $1,000 each from the National Music Publisher’s Association and Universal Music Group, and Motion Picture Association of America members Sony Pictures contributed $1,000 and Walt Disney $500 in November, according to a campaign financial report filed today with the Federal Election Commission.
The industry has lobbied heavily for Congress to approve anti-piracy legislation that Griffin had — until recently — co-sponsored.
Griffin withdrew his support for the legislation this month after receiving a barrage of constituent complaints fueled by Internet giants Google and Wikipedia.
The House Judiciary Committee, of which Griffin is a member, spent two days in December working through 25 amendments to the bill before Congress adjourned for the year. They had planned to continue refining the legislation in January but that effort ended after the deluge of protest.
Griffin’s congressional office received more than 800 emails and 250 telephone calls on the Wednesday that Wikipedia and other websites “went dark” in protest of the anti-piracy legislation. The opponents worried that expanding government enforcement powers would hamper their business.
Former U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd, who now heads the MPAA, had threatened to withhold campaign contributions to lawmakers who failed to support the Stop Online Piracy Act but has since softened his response.
Griffin ended 2011 with $479,591 in his campaign treasury after raising $172,351 in contributions during the fourth quarter.
He received $874,728 in contributions during 2011 from individuals and political action committees. The majority of the contributions came from Arkansas.
Griffin’s campaign today filed its year-end financial report with the FEC. The campaign issued a press release last week touting his fundraising results.
“I am very grateful for the generous support of Arkansans who want me to continue fighting for hard working Arkansas taxpayers by encouraging private sector job growth and making our federal government live within its means,” Griffin said.
During the fourth quarter of 2011, Griffin received $103,798 in itemized contributions from individuals that gave between $50 and $5,000, as well as $7,814 in unitemized small-dollar contributions.
Jim and Lynn Walton of Bentonville were among his top contributors during the last quarter — each gave $5,000. The Wal-Mart Stores Political Action Committee also gave $2,500, bringing its year-end total to $5,000, according to the FEC filing.
Griffin received nearly $68,000 in contributions from political action committees in the fourth quarter. He received contributions from several PACs associated with House Republican leaders, including Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., who chairs the House Budget Committee.
Griffin is holding a fundraising reception Thursday on Capitol Hill with Ryan as his “special guest,” according to an invitation posted on the Sunlight Foundation’s Politicalpartytime.org website.
Meanwhile, state Rep. Clark Hall and U.S. Rep. Rick Crawford were in a dead heat during the fourth quarter of 2011 in the 1st District race for campaign cash.
Hall, D-Marvell, received $125,216 in total contributions during the quarter. Crawford, R-Jonesboro, received $124,981.
The figures were included in financial reports their campaign filed recently with the Federal Election Commission.
Hall issued a news release Monday touting his fundraising as a major success given that he entered the 1st District race midway through October.
Crawford had raised just $1,000 in early October – before Hall entered the race. But, the Republican incumbent entered the fourth quarter already having raised $424,809.
The congressman closed 2011 with $277,636 cash on hand. Hall ended the year with $107,045 cash on hand, according to the FEC reports.
