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BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Donors from agriculture, energy and financial services companies gave roughly $3.4 million to Idaho candidates running for state office in 2014.
The Idaho Statesman (http://bit.ly/1iaqufP ) reviewed campaign donations and found that those top three sectors represented more than a third of the $9.4 million that was contributed by all organized groups in the 2014 election. An additional $11.3 million was contributed by individual donors, and $1.1 million in donations were $50 or less, meaning they didn't have to be itemized.
In total, donors gave $21.8 million in contributions — $7.2 million of which came from interest groups outside Idaho.
Idaho's campaign donations are small on a national scale, ranking just 43rd among the states who contributed to $4.6 billion in donations last year. Top donor states included California, Texas, Illinois, Florida and New York.
"This is the way the system works," said Jasper LiCalzi, professor of political economy at The College of Idaho. "It's not directly 'You vote for this bill and we'll give your campaign $5,000.' It doesn't work that way. They give money to candidates who tend to support them anyway."
In Idaho, the highest non-individual contributors in 2014 were Idaho Power, Idaho Falls-based health care products company Melaleuca and Washington D.C-based conservative policy group Club for Growth. All gave more than $100,000 to various races.
"There are some overarching principles that we pay attention to, things like the economy and having a good business environment that provides for job creation and a good economy," said Jeff Malmen, Idaho Power's vice president of public affairs. "We do pay attention to the issues that impact our ability to reliably and affordably provide energy to our customers. It covers the gamut."
The largest single donor was Democratic gubernatorial candidate A.J. Balukoff, who gave $3.6 million to his own campaign. Balukoff lost to Republican incumbent Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter.
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