The top federal political action committees for law firms pumped just as much money into the 2012 election cycle as four years ago, but channelled a larger chunk of their money away from Congress and toward state lawmakers across the country.
The 20 highest-spending law firm PACs reported almost $9 million in contributions to party leadership committees, congressional candidates and state elections during the past two years, a higher total than the previous two presidential election-year cycles, records from the Federal Election Commission show. By comparison, the 20 highest-spending firms during the 2008 election cycle injected $8.5 million into the elections, a big jump from the $5.2 million the top 20 firms spent in 2004, the records show.
