Ben Smith at Politico is reporting this morning that Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp., the parent company of Fox News, gave $1 million to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce this summer (via Gawker). The Chamber would neither confirm nor deny the gift to Politico, and News Corp. declined to comment on the donation.
The Chamber has been an active force in Florida politics this year, donating $500,000 to the Florida First Initiative, a 527 group associated with the failed gubernatorial campaign of Republican Attorney General Bill McCollum, and running ads targeting Gov. Charlie Crist as a “flip-flopper.” The Chamber endorsed Republican Senate candidate Marco Rubio in July.
As Smith notes, the Chamber donation was “the second $1 million contributions [News Corp.] has made this election cycle to a GOP-aligned group. In late June it gave that amount to the Republican Governors Association.” That organization gave $2 million to the Republican Party of Florida last month, $1.3 million of which was used to air ads attacking Democratic gubernatorial candidate Alex Sink.
