Qwest Communications

As of April 1, 2011, Qwest Communications has merged with CenturyLink and is now called CenturyLink.

Qwest Communications (Qwest Communications International) is one of the largest local phone companies in the US. (AT&T, formerly SBC, is the largest followed by Verizon.) It serves 15 million phones in a 14-state region from Arizona to Wyoming and east to Minnesota. It provides long-distance, as well as broadband data, voice, and video services outside its local area and around the world.

CenturyLink Support for the American Legislative Exchange Council
CenturyLink is a corporate member of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). In August 2011, CenturyLink was a "Director" level sponsor of the 2011 ALEC Annual Conference in New Orleans, Louisiana ($10,000 in 2010).

Former Qwest CEO to prison for six years
In 2007, Joe Nacchio, former Qwest CEO, was sentenced to six years in prison for engaging in illegal stock trades back in 2002. The judge said that Nacchio showed "overarching greed". Nacchio had to forfeit the US$52 million he made and in addition pay a US$19 million dollar fine.

Political contributions
Qwest gave $494,002 to federal candidates in the 2006 election cycle through its political action committee - 26% to Democrats, 73% to Republicans.

Lobbying
The company spent $3,120,000 for lobbying in 2006. Most lobbying was done with in-house lobbyists but $360,000 went to six outside lobbying firms, including Walker Martin & Hatch and Barbour, Griffith and Rogers.

Personnel
Selected board members:
 * Charles L. Biggs, Former Senior Partner, Deloitte Consulting
 * Wayne W. Murdy, Chairman and CEO, Newmont Mining
 * Frank Popoff, Former Chairman, Dow Chemical Company

Contact details
1801 California Street Denver, CO 80202 Phone: 303-992-1400 Fax: 303-992-1724 Web: http://www.qwest.com

Related SourceWatch articles

 * James A. Unruh
 * Philip F. Anschutz

External articles

 * "Timeline of Qwest Woes", The Associated Press/CorpWatch, December 28, 2005.
 * Sam Pizzigati, "Soaring Executive Pay Attacked by Shareholder Activists", CorpWatch, June 26, 2007.
 * Dirk Smillie, "The Stealth Media Mogul: Billionaire Philip Anschutz is quietly building a small empire of social-networking sites, newspapers and now a leading conservative weekly," Forbes.com, June 29, 2009.