AT&T

AT&T is a global telecommunications and networking company that operates in 60 countries and 850 cities worldwide. The company is divided into AT&T Business Services and AT&T Consumer Services. In 2005, SBC Communications Inc. (formerly the Southwestern Bell Corporation) bought AT&T Corp., creating the largest telecommunications company in the U.S, and started using the AT&T brand name. I\

In 2006, AT&T purchased BellSouth for $86 billion in the largest telecommunications takeover in U.S. history. AT&T now services more than 68 million phone lines. Cingular Wireless changed into AT&T Mobility which is under AT&T and is the country's largest wireless carrier.

In 2011, AT&T reported total operating revenues of $126,723,000,000.

Ties to Pete Peterson's "Fix the Debt"
The Campaign to Fix the Debt is the latest incarnation of a decades-long effort by former Nixon man turned Wall Street billionaire Pete Peterson to slash earned benefit programs such as Social Security and Medicare under the guise of fixing the nation's "debt problem."

This article is part of the Center for Media and Democracy's investigation of Pete Peterson's Campaign to "Fix the Debt." Please visit our main SourceWatch page on Fix the Debt.

Ties to the American Legislative Exchange Council
AT&T is a member of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and is on ALEC's corporate "Private Enterprise" Board. William Leahy, Vice President of State and Legislative Affairs for AT&T, represents the corporation on ALEC's corporate board as of 2011. AT&T is the State corporate co-chair of Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas as of 2011.

A list of ALEC Corporations can be found here.

Ted Mullenix, CEO of lobbying firm Mullenix & Associates and widely considered Arkansas' top lobbyist, represents AT&T at ALEC as the Arkansas state chair alongside Rep. Linda Collins-Smith (D) and Sen. Michael Lamoureux (R) Pete Hernandez, Executive Director of Legislative Affairs at AT&T, represents AT&T as the California state chair alongside Sen. Joel C. Anderson (R). John Emra, Executive Director of External Affairs for AT&T's Connecticut operations, represents AT&T as the Connecticut state chair alongside Rep. DebraLee Hovey (R) and Sen. Kevin Witkos (R). Daniel Wilson represents AT&T as the Louisiana state chair alongside Rep. George Cromer (R) and Rep. Joe Harrison (R-51). Randal Russell, Executive Director of Bell South, represents AT&T as the Mississippi state chair alongside Rep. Jim Ellington (R). Holly Reed, Senior Vice President of External Affairs at AT&T, represents AT&T as the Texas state chair alongside Rep. Charlie Howard (R), Rep. Jim Jackson (R) and Sen. Kel Seliger (R) .

AT&T was also a "Chairman" level sponsor of ALEC's 38th Annual Conference in 2011 (at a rate of $50,000 as of 2010) and a member of the Louisiana Host Committee.

Jim Epperson, Jr., the Senior Vice President of AT&T, is the former chairman of the "Private Enterprise Board.

Randall L. Stephenson, President and CEO of AT&T, spoke to ALEC on August 5, 2010; see the video here.

AT&T has used ALEC model legislation to its advantage to prevent public utilities from laying fiber-optic cables to provide high-speed internet access. At ALEC's annual meeting in Orlando in 2002, a model bill that created significant hurdles for public utilities interested in funding fiber-optic cables. The bill originated in Utah, where two telecom companies lobbied for the set of bullet points upon which the bill was based. Greg Curtis, the Republican assistant majority whip in Utah at the time who was lobbied, could not remember exactly which companies had provided the bullet points, but suspected that one of them was AT&T.

The ALEC model bill has since been passed in six states. It was adopted in the state of Louisiana at State Bill 877, and has played a crucial role in preventing public utilities from laying fiber-optic networks. After the bill was passed, BellSouth (which is now owned by AT&T) and Cox Communications used litigation to try to derail a fiber-optic project in Lafayette. They demanded that a referendum take place on the project, which the bill suggests, and BellSouth orchestrated an extensive ad campaign to convince the public that the project shouldn't go through. In addition, Cox paid for a telephone poll that suggested that a public utility might "ration" television. The two companies also filed a lawsuit to prevent the city from issuing bonds to finance the project. Since the passage of the bill, no other municipality has attempted to use a public utility to lay fiber-optic cables.

Political contributions
Open Secrets reports that in 2010, AT&T gave $3.7 million to federal candidate and pro-corporate PACs. $1,612,582 was given to Democrats and $2,035,949 to Republicans.

On June 30, 2011, the Center for Responsive Politics wrote, "Contributions to lawmakers and federal lobbying expenditures by telecommunications interests have spiked as a result of government intervention in the market. Facing potentially stifling federal regulations that threaten to short-circuit their profits, AT&T, Sprint, Verizon and T-Mobile have each dumped millions of dollars into campaign contributions and federal lobbying expenditures, hoping that a barrage of political influence will subdue any unwanted restrictions."

Past Elections
Edward E. Whitacre Jr., then Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of SBC (AT&T), was a Bush Ranger having raised at least $200,000 for Bush in the 2004 presidential election.

AT&T gave $2,341,683 to federal candidates in the 2006 election cycle through its three political action committees - 34% to Democrats, 66% to Republicans.

Lobbying
In 2010, AT&T spent $15,395,078 on lobbying expenses. You can see a full list of AT&T's lobbying firms and lobbyists HERE.

You can view a list of the federal bills AT&T lobbied for in 2010 HERE.

The company spent $23,070,720 for lobbying in 2006. $3,960,000 went to 25 outside lobbying firms with the remainder being spent using in-house lobbyists.

Leadership
Randall L. Stephenson Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President Ralph de la Vega President and CEO-AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets Ronald E. Spears Senior Executive Vice President, Executive Operations John T. Stankey President and CEO, AT&T Business Solutions Rayford Wilkins, Jr Chief Executive Officer — AT&T Diversified Businesses Alex Mandl Former President

Executives
As of January 2013
 * Randall L. Stephenson, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
 * William A. Blase, Jr., Senior Executive Vice President – Human Resources
 * James W. Cicconi, Senior Executive Vice President – External and Legislative Affairs, AT&T Services, Inc
 * Cathy M. Coughlin, Senior Executive Vice President and Global Marketing Officer
 * Ralph de la Vega, President and Chief Executive Officer - AT&T Mobility
 * John Donovan, Senior Executive Vice President, AT&T Technology and Network Operations
 * Andrew M. Geisse, Chief Executive Officer — AT&T Business Solutions
 * Ronald E. Spears, Senior Executive Vice President – Executive Operations
 * John T. Stankey, Group President and Chief Strategy Officer
 * John Stephens, Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
 * Wayne Watts, Senior Executive Vice President and General Counsel

Former executives include
 * James W. Callaway, former Senior Executive Vice President-Executive Operations
 * Richard G. Lindner, former Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

Board of Directors
As of January 2013
 * Randall L. Stephenson - Chair
 * James H. Blanchard - Lead Director
 * Gilbert F. Amelio
 * Reuben V. Anderson
 * Jaime Chico Pardo
 * Scott T. Ford
 * James P. Kelly, former chairman of the board and CEO of United Parcel Service
 * Jon C. Madonna, former chairman and CEO of KPMG
 * John B. McCoy
 * Joyce M. Roch&eacute;, former director of Anheuser-Busch Companies, Inc.
 * Matthew K. Rose
 * Laura D'Andrea Tyson, S. K. and Angela Chan Professor of Global Management at the Haas School of Business, University of California at Berkeley

Former board members include
 * William F. Aldinger III
 * August A. Busch III, Former Chairman of the Board of Anheuser-Busch
 * Lynn M. Martin
 * Patricia P. Upton
 * Mary S. Metz

Annual Revenue
2011 Total Revenue: $126.7 billion

Net Income: $4.2 billion

2010 Total Revenue: $124.3 billion

Net Income: $20.2 billion

2009 Total Revenue: $122.5 billion

Net Income: $12.4 billion

2008 Total Revenue: $123.4 billion

Net Income: $-2.4 billion

2007 Total Revenue: $118.3 billion

Net Income: $17.2 billion

Contact information
175 E. Houston San Antonio, TX 78205 Phone: 210-821-4105 Fax: 210-351-2071 Web: http://www.att.com

Featured SourceWatch Articles on Fix the Debt

 * Fix the Debt Portal Page
 * Fix the Debt's Leadership
 * Fix the Debt's Partner Groups
 * Fix the Debt's State Chapters
 * Fix the Debt's Lobbyists
 * Fix the Debt's Parent Group
 * Fix the Debt's Corporations
 * Pete Peterson
 * Peter G. Peterson Foundation
 * America Speaks
 * Simpson-Bowles Commission
 * Erskine Bowles
 * Alan Simpson
 * Social Security
 * Medicare
 * Medicaid
 * William Cashel

Related SourceWatch articles

 * TV4US

External articles

 * Muriel Kane, "Blackwater PR firm aided Chalabi; Works to polish AT&T's image," The Raw Story, October 23, 2007.

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