UW faculty, staff giving favors Obama more than 80-1

Sen. Barack Obama has received some 591 reported campaign contributions from University of Washington professors and staff.

The number received by Sen. John McCain? Seven.

While it may come as no surprise that UW employees are leaning toward the Democratic presidential nominee, the chasm between the candidates is remarkable. Yet even with UW donors favoring Obama by more than 80-1, Republican nominee McCain is still doing better north of the Montlake Cut than he is across town at Seattle University.

Professors and staff at the private Catholic university have donated at least 54 times to Obama — and not once to McCain.

The data, which record donations of more than $200, are collated by the Center for Responsive Politics. They reflect a national trend in which college professors and administrators are donating eight times as much to Obama as they are to McCain.

And the UW staff contributions to Obama, now at $259,000, last month placed it eighth in the nation among all colleges donating to the candidate. UW staffers have donated $6,000 to McCain.

While higher education has a long-standing image as leaning liberal, academics actually gave more to Republican nominee George W. Bush eight years ago than they did to Democratic counterpart Al Gore, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education.

But Obama, who taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago, is a kind of dream candidate for professors, the Chronicle reported, because he seems to talk and think like them.

At the UW, Arthur Blair Jr., a staff engineer who builds experimental apparatus for faculty and students, was one of just six people listed as donating to McCain (one donor gave twice). Blair gave $500.

He said he is an independent voter who doesn't particularly like McCain but also doesn't want to see government dominated by one party. He said the UW campus does seem left-leaning, although not as much as some other campuses.

"It's too bad. I hate to see any one demographic go overwhelmingly for one party," Blair said of the UW contributions. "It makes me think that people aren't really thinking for themselves — they are just going with the herd."

Some UW professors interviewed said they'd rather not discuss their contributions publicly for fear of appearing biased in front of students.

But Martha Tucker, a librarian in the mathematics research library, doesn't teach and was happy to discuss her $250 donation to Obama. She said it's the first time in her life she's donated to any candidate.

"I just felt things were in real need of a change from the last eight years," she said. "It was my little bit toward helping out."

Tucker said she is surprised so few UW folks donated to McCain: "I would have thought there would be more Republicans," she said.

As a first-time contributor, Tucker said she was taken aback at the information she was required to divulge. She had expected donating to be essentially a private process.

But while voting might remain confidential, donors who give more than $200 are required by federal law to report their name, address, employer and occupation. That is to prevent corruption and also to track which industries may have an economic self-interest in any given election, said Massie Ritsch, a Washington, D.C.-based spokesman for the Center for Responsive Politics.

The two Seattle universities weren't the only Washington institutions heavily favoring Obama, according to figures collected by the Center. Contributions from Boeing workers in this state favored Obama 10-1. Only one Starbucks employee gave more than $200 to McCain, compared with 44 who gave to Obama. At Microsoft, workers in this state donated $519,000 to Obama and $41,000 to McCain.

Nationally, Microsoft's employees are ranked as Obama's fourth-largest contributor with $714,000 in donations. Obama's top contributors work at the University of California system, followed by Goldman Sachs and Harvard University.

McCain's top contributor is listed as employees at Merrill Lynch, followed by workers at Citigroup and Morgan Stanley, according to the Center. Company contribution totals include any money from affiliated political action committees.

McCain struck out completely in this state at four of the six public universities — Western Washington, Eastern, Central and The Evergreen State College. At Washington State University, McCain recorded $1,500 in contributions compared with Obama's $14,000.

McCain came close to surpassing Obama in donations from Weyerhaeuser. But Obama was still ahead Thursday, $7,150 to $6,000.

Nick Perry: 206-515-5639

or nperry@seattletimes.com