Merrill Lynch political money — 2010 cycle

Merrill Lynch as stored text, 2010 as cycle

Employer groupings sit on one axis; election cycles sit on the other. Rows that match both — Merrill Lynch and 2010 — sum to $1,005,807. 933 itemized contributions and 408 unique donors produced it. The total is not a corporate treasury gift and is not the company’s PAC. Independent expenditures and committee transfers live in other FEC tables.

Neither the Merrill Lynch hub nor the 2010 election cycle hub is this number; each hub drops one of the two keys. Merrill Lynch is an employer string, not a verified employee census and not the firm’s PAC. 2010 filings can still store this brand after later parent-company changes. 408 donors and 933 lines in 2010 matched that employer text. MERRILL, BANK OF AMERICA, BofA, and other broker spellings sit in other keys if filers typed them that way. This page is the stored string MERRILL LYNCH.

LobbyVault keeps this two-key page so a reader can open Merrill Lynch 2010 without treating the industry hub as a cycle total or the 2010 cycle hub as an employer total. The overlay at the Merrill Lynch 2010 path holds the itemized rows for this cell. This prose publishes the packet snapshot: $1,005,807, 933 contributions, 408 donors, and 4.2% of $23,982,707.

4.2% of the Merrill Lynch roll

The grouping’s stored total across cycles is $23,982,707. The 2010 slice of $1,005,807 is about 4.2% of that running sum. Other even-year windows hold the remaining 95.8% ($22,976,900). Treating 2010 as the Merrill Lynch FEC story would ignore that remainder.

Treat $23,982,707 as the denominator for the 4.2% share. It is not market capitalization, not revenue, and not proof of a multi-year political program. The industry hub is the year index for this string. This tie keeps 2010 from being folded silently into $23,982,707.

A 4.2% cell can sit next to larger or smaller even-year windows on the same Merrill Lynch hub. This packet does not publish those other cycle dollars, so they are not cited here. Open Merrill Lynch to drop the year filter. Open the 2010 election cycle to drop the employer filter.

933 contributions from 408 donors

Dividing $1,005,807 by 933 contributions yields about $1,078 per itemized gift. Dividing by 408 donors yields about $2,465 per donor. Contributions per donor average about 2.3. Those means describe the arithmetic on the packet. They are not medians and not a party split.

408 unique donors are contributor identities, not a headcount of employees, licensees, or members. Retirees and household members who reuse a workplace or title can appear. Repeat gifts raise the contribution count faster than the donor count. The overlay for Merrill Lynch 2010 holds the rows.

933 is a receipt count, not a unique-person census beyond the 408 donor figure already in the packet. A person who gave twice is two lines inside the 933. Unitemized gifts never appear in $1,005,807.

2010 as the cycle dimension

The 2010 election cycle hub includes every stored employer for that window. Merrill Lynch is one cell in that matrix. This packet does not publish a cycle-wide denominator, so no national share is stated. Open the 2010 election cycle to drop the employer filter and Merrill Lynch to drop the year.

Gifts from both years of the two-year FEC window sit in the $1,005,807 cell because the cycle is a two-year tag, not a single Tuesday. That mechanical fact is easy to forget when a searcher wants an election-night number. The overlay is where dates become visible. This join publishes the cycle total, the 933 contributions, the 408 unique donors, and the 4.2% share of $23,982,707.

2010 is a midterm federal cycle on FEC.gov. That calendar label does not explain $1,005,807. This packet does not carry party splits, committee names, or occupation mix beyond the stored string MERRILL LYNCH. Cite the two packet dollars — $1,005,807 for the 2010 slice and $23,982,707 for the Merrill Lynch book — and stop before assigning motive.

What the Commission does not verify

Itemized individual receipts are the universe. Unitemized gifts, independent expenditures, and PAC disbursements sit outside $1,005,807. Federal awards in other databases are different datasets. Sharing an employer string and a calendar year does not turn these gifts into contracts or grants. The page is not Merrill Lynch PAC disbursements and not a securities NAICS total.

Correlation between an employer or occupation string and a cycle year is not causation. The records show a text match, a date window, 408 donors, and 933 contributions. MERRILL, BANK OF AMERICA, BofA, and other broker spellings sit in other keys if filers typed them that way. All FEC ties lists other two-dimension pages.

Do not read $1,005,807 as proof that Merrill Lynch “drove” the 2010 cycle or that 2010 “drove” the Merrill Lynch book. The join is two fields. If the live hubs disagree with $1,005,807 or 408 donors, the newer FEC extract controls. This snapshot is not a third disclosure system.

Citing Merrill Lynch and 2010 together

Start with $1,005,807, then Merrill Lynch 2010 for rows, then the industry hub or the 2010 election cycle if a filter needs to come off. Citation template: Merrill Lynch, 2010, $1,005,807, 933 contributions, 408 donors, 4.2% of $23,982,707, source FEC.gov. Keep neighboring spellings and occupation titles out of the total unless they grouped to this exact string MERRILL LYNCH.

The 4.2% share, the 408-donor count, and the $1,078 mean gift belong to this intersection. Carry them onto a successor label or a sibling occupation word and they stop being facts from this packet. This prose is a packet snapshot. If a later extract disagrees, FEC.gov and the live overlay control.

Questions

How much did Merrill Lynch-listed donors give in 2010?

FEC.gov aggregates show $1,005,807 in itemized individual contributions for the Merrill Lynch grouping in the 2010 cycle, across 933 contributions and 408 donors. That sum is not a PAC total and not the $23,982,707 all-cycle figure.

What share of Merrill Lynch FEC money is 2010?

The grouping’s all-cycle total is $23,982,707. The 2010 cell of $1,005,807 is about 4.2% of that figure. Other cycles hold the remaining 95.8% ($22,976,900) on the industry hub. The overlay lists itemized rows for this cell; the Merrill Lynch hub holds other cycles; the 2010 election cycle hub holds other employer strings from the same window.

Is $1,005,807 the Merrill Lynch PAC total for 2010?

No. $1,005,807 is itemized individual contributions whose employer field grouped to MERRILL LYNCH in the 2010 cycle. It is not committee disbursements, not independent expenditures, and not a verified employee census. 933 contributions came from 408 donors.

Where is the overlay for the Merrill Lynch 2010 join?

Open Merrill Lynch 2010 for the cycle overlay, Merrill Lynch for the grouping hub, and the 2010 election cycle for the year without this employer filter. All FEC ties lists other two-dimension pages. This JSON file names the join; the overlay holds the itemized rows.