Japanese utility executives major campaign contributors

The A.P. reports that the executives of Japan's utility industry -- including Tokyo Electric Power Company, which owns the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant -- comprise 72% of the personal contributions to the Liberal Democratic Party which ruled Japan almost continuously from after World War Two till 2009.

Of course, a similar dynamic exists in the U.S. Between 1999 and 2009, according to Judy Pasternak at the American University Investigative Reporting Workshop, the U.S. nuclear power industry contributed $64 million to the campaigns of federal candidates. An analysis by Beyond Nuclear showed that U.S. Representative Fred Upton, a very pro-nuclear Republican from Michigan who now chairs the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee, with jurisidction over nuclear power matters, received $79,000 in personal campaign contributions from individuals associated with the nuclear power industry in just the 2008 to 2010 election cycle alone. Meanwhile, political action committees (PACs) associated with the nuclear power industry donated a whopping $671,000 to Rep. Upton during the 2008-2010 election cycle. The nuclear power industry has regularly gotten a very good return on its investment in Congressman Upton's electoral success.