Qwest Communications

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

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. [2]

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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[3] ($10,000 in 2010).[4]

About ALEC
ALEC is a corporate bill mill. It is not just a lobby or a front group; it is much more powerful than that. Through ALEC, corporations hand state legislators their wishlists to benefit their bottom line. Corporations fund almost all of ALEC's operations. They pay for a seat on ALEC task forces where corporate lobbyists and special interest reps vote with elected officials to approve “model” bills. Learn more at the Center for Media and Democracy's ALECexposed.org, and check out breaking news on our ExposedbyCMD.org site.

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. [5] [6]

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. [7]

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. [8]

Personnel

Key executives and 2006 pay: [9]          Options
exercised
Richard N. Baer, Corporate Secretary and General Counsel    $2,030,000    $6,380,000
Paula Kruger, Exec. VP of Mass Markets Group    $1,070,000    $1,520,000
Edward A. Mueller, Chief Executive Officer    N/A    N/A

Selected board members: [10]

Contact details

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

Articles and resources

Related SourceWatch articles

References

  1. CenturyLink, CenturyLink and Qwest Complete Merger, corporate press release, April 1, 2011
  2. Profile, Hoovers, accessed July 2007.
  3. American Legislative Exchange Council, 2011 Conference Sponsors, conference brochure on file with CMD, August 4, 2011
  4. American Legislative Exchange Council, Sponsorship Opportunities at ALEC's Annual Meeting, organizational website, 2010, accessed August 4, 2011
  5. Tom McGhee and Andy Vuong, "Nacchio to prison for six years, Denver Post, July 28, 2007
  6. Ruthie Ackerman, "Bye, Bye Nacchio", Forbes, July 30, 2007.
  7. 2006 PAC Summary Data, Open Secrets, accessed July 2007.
  8. Qwest Communications lobbying expenses, Open Secrets, accessed November 2007.
  9. Qwest Key Executives, Yahoo Finance, accessed November 2007.
  10. Board of Directors, Qwest, accessed July 2007.

External resources

External articles