AT&T Gave $963K to Lawmakers in T-Mobile Bid

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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-09-21/at-t-gave-963-275-to-lawmakers-urging-u-s-approval-of-t-mobile-purchase.html

Representative Pete Olson and 99 fellow House Republicans signed a letter yesterday urging the Obama administration to resolve a government lawsuit and let AT&T Inc. (T) buy T-Mobile USA Inc.

All but one of the 100 lawmakers has received political donations from AT&T employees since 2009, according to a Bloomberg review of campaign finance records. The letter signers took in $963,275, Art Brodsky, a spokesman for Washington-based advocacy group Public Knowledge, said in an e-mail.

“AT&T’s congressional support for its takeover of T-Mobile comes at a price,” Gigi Sohn, president of Public Knowledge, a merger opponent, said in an e-mailed statement.

AT&T is working to rescue its $39 billion purchase of T- Mobile from a U.S. lawsuit that seeks to block the transaction as anticompetitive. The company is challenging a Justice Department conclusion that the merger would bring higher prices, and it is exploring compromises to satisfy regulators’ concerns.