Comcast Finds Golf and 128 Lobbyists Can’t Sell US on Merger

Comcast spends more than any other company lobbying Washington. Its chief executive has golfed with President Barack Obama. Its executives raise cash for Democrats -- all for when they need something in return. This time, it didn’t work.

The company brought formidable muscle to its arguments. Comcast spent $17 million on lobbying and engaged 128 lobbyists in 2014, including seven former members of Congress, according to data gathered by the Center for Responsive Politics. Lawmakers know Comcast for its generosity. The company’s political action committee has given about $3.2 million to Democratic candidates since 2010, and about $2.7 million to Republicans, according to Center for Responsive Politics data. Donations have included $85,000 from Chief Executive Officer Brian Roberts, who golfed with President Obama in 2013 in Nantucket, Massachusetts, where he also hosted the President for dinner. White House visitor logs show Roberts had a dozen meetings there since 2010, a time when he served on Obama’s jobs council. They included one-on-one meetings with National Economic Council Director Jeff Zients and Larry Summers, who formerly held that job. Roberts and Executive Vice President David Cohen met with Zients again in September, as regulators were considering the merger.

“Nobody would have imagined, because everyone assumed it was this well-connected political juggernaut,” said Harold Feld, senior vice president of the policy group Public Knowledge that opposes the deal. Instead, Feld said, “the Obama administration has been tightening up.”