By Bob Turner

(AXcess News) Washington - Of the 17 companies that received TARP funds, employees who contributed to politicians received an average return of $75 for every $1 donated, according to a study by MapLight.org.

MapLight.org noted that 19,400 individual contributions from employees and individuals with ties to those 17 companies more than $21 million to sitting members of Congress since the 2008 election cycle.

Contributions were determined by analysis of data provided by the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP).

Of those companies which received TARP funds in the order of contribution where, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, American Express, Capital One, Bank of New York, Mellon Corp., American International Group, US Bancorp, Suntrust Banks, PNC Financial, Regions, M&T Bank Corp., Boston Private Financial Holdings and CIT.

Yet in all fairness it was the Bush administration that brought TARP legislation that President Bush signed into law in October 2008.  It was not a Democrat-led bill but fell to the 110th Congress under the "Bush Bucks" conservative era in Washington.

In an effort to side-step political donation rules changes, Senate Republicans blocked legislation calling for new disclosure rules for campaign advertisements, OpenSecrets.org disclosed.

On wednesday, Michael Beckel of OpenSecrets.org wrote:

"A unified Democratic caucus generated 57 "yes" votes -- three shy of the 60 votes needed to break a Republican filibuster and allow the legislation, known as the DISCLOSE Act, to advance to an up-or-down vote. For procedural reasons, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) switched his vote from a "yes" to a "no" in order to bring the bill up again at a later date.

"Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), who caucuses with the Democrats, missed the vote due to a funeral in his home state, and no Republicans broke rank to join their Democratic colleagues. Campaign finance reformers had been working to win over moderate Republicans such as Sens. Scott Brown (R-Mass.), Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Olympia Snowe (R-Maine).

"The transparency measure, technically the "Democracy Is Strengthened by Casting Light On Spending in Elections" Act (S. 3628/H.R. 5175), was crafted by Democratic leaders in response to the Supreme Court's January ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, which overturned a ban on corporations using money from their treasuries to fund independent expenditures.

"Since Citizens United, unions and corporations have been using the new campaign finance landscape to their advantage."

Note that unions where the biggest supporters of the Obama presidential campaign, so you can't leave Democrats out of the fray in judging politicians who are against any kind of campaign reform.