Wes Vernon, NewsMax.com
Thursday, July 31, 2003

Federal Election Commission records reviewed by NewsMax.com show that among those officials who list Starwood or a Starwood hotel property as their workplace favored Democrats by better than 3 to 1 over Republicans for the 1999-2000 election cycle.

Starwood's hotels include Sheraton, Westin, St. Regis, Luxury Connection, Four Points and, ironically, W.

In the 2001-2002 cycle, a midterm election period, the amount contributed was considerably smaller than during the presidential election time. But the ratio of contributions to Democrats then was more than 5 to 1.

The latest figures for 2003-2004 so far show a preference for Democrats over Republicans running almost 6 to 1.

Most of the above individual contributions were traceable to a candidate or a political party, though a tiny minority involved Democrat-leaning PACs (such as homosexual and feminist causes, vs. one gun-rights group for the Republicans). They do not include industrial PAC money, which is less ideologically driven and handled through different channels with a sharper eye on where the power lies in the company’s or the industry’s interest.

Some of the biggest beneficiaries of Starwood political largesse are Al Gore, Sen. Joe Lieberman, former Sen. Bill Bradley, and the now-disgraced former Sen. Robert Torricelli.

Leading Democrats such as Gore, national chairman Terry McAuliffe, Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle and Sen. Hillary Clinton have condemned Fox News for daring not to copy CNN's leftist slant.

For decades, the left wing was accustomed to one-sided networks that ignored or reviled the conservative side of the public debate. The left is wailing now that FNC has broken the leftist hammerlock on what the public sees and hears.

Thus, a corporation that carries foundering CNN but refuses to air Fox News, even though Fox is more than twice as popular with the public, raises questions. Are the political preferences of its decision-makers affecting how the company treats its hotel guests?

Starwood’s corporate offices rejected repeated requests to comment for this article.

NewsMax readers have complained that they are unable to receive Fox News Channel in hotels they have visited, whereas CNN (known among conservatives by such monikers as Clinton News Network, among other nicknames) is consistently available.

John Malkin, Fox News' vice president of affiliate sales, estimates that FNC is available in “about half” of America’s approximately 4 million hotel rooms “that are capable of carrying programming.” A major part of the problem, he acknowledges, is that CNN had a 20-year head start.

But there are indications of pockets of political prejudice. In Montgomery County, a left-wing bastion in Maryland, the cable system waited five years before making Fox available. Even then there was chagrin, typified by a man who wrote a newspaper saying he was “offended” that viewers would be allowed that choice.

“Starwood has not embraced the [Fox News Channel] like Marriott and Hilton have, and we’re surprised that they haven’t, but we’re continuing dialogue,” Malkin told NewsMax.

A few of the individual hotels have chosen to include Fox, “but the Starwood Corporation has yet to embrace the FNC product,” he said. “Hopefully they will soon.”

Travelers who want to avoid hotels that refuse to carry Fox News should inquire before making reservations.

Note that just because Fox has received the corporate green light from Marriott and Hyatt does not mean you can automatically expect it the next time you visit one of their hotels. Each local hotel manager still must go to the trouble of ordering the hookup. But corporate approval is a big boost.

CNN continues to have an advantage in private homes as well. Malkin said that as of July, Fox was available to about 82.6 million households, compared to 86.4 million for CNN. Still, Fox News has become so popular where it is available that it now has higher ratings that all the other cable news channels combined.

“We’ve had the lead since January 2002 and never looked back,” he said.

Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
Corporate Scandals
Media Bias
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