Comcast people among Obama Victory Fund top donors

With the 2012 presidential campaign heating up, Comcast Corp. executives or their wives, board members, and lower-ranking employees are some of the leading contributors to President Obama's reelection campaign.

More than 30 individuals gave, earlier this year, a total of $235,650 to the Obama Victory Fund, which supports Obama's reelection campaign and the Democratic National Committee, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan tracker of politics and money.

The Comcast contributions came several months after the federal government approved Comcast's deal to acquire NBC Universal Inc. and were the largest from individuals associated with one company or law firm in the January-through-June campaign-finance-reporting period. They easily beat the second-ranking organization on the center's list: Wall Street powerhouse law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom L.L.P., whose lawyers and employees contributed $141,500 to the fund, a fund-raising vehicle for higher-dollar political contributions.

A Comcast official said the political contributions were personal decisions and not actions taken through the cable company's political-action committee.

"Comcast's political giving is balanced nearly evenly between Republicans and Democrats. The personal contributions of our employees or members of their families are not controlled by the company and are at the discretion of the individual," Sena Fitzmaurice, vice president of government communications, said Friday. "Even so, our employees contribute to both Republicans and Democrats - including in presidential campaigns."

Though substantial, the Comcast political contributions were a small fraction of the $39 million that Obama raised over the six-month reporting period for the Obama Victory Fund. Obama is expected to eventually raise hundreds of millions of dollars by the time voters cast ballots in November 2012.

Dates of the Comcast-connected contributions, available on public filings at the Federal Election Commission, show they were made in May and June and were likely affected by a fund-raising dinner held in late June by David Cohen, a Comcast executive and influential Democrat. Obama attended the 120-person dinner in the backyard of Cohen's Mount Airy home.