Surgeon donations in the 2008 FEC cycle

Surgeon as occupation, 2008 as the cycle

Two FEC fields define the cell: occupation SURGEON and election cycle 2008. Matching rows sum to $1,397,855, 1,974 contributions, and 1,163 donors. 2008 is a high-donor one-word surgical cell, kept separate from specialty spellings. The occupation hub rolls every cycle that used this spelling. The 2008 election-cycle hub rolls every occupation that filed that cycle. Neither hub restates this intersection; this tie page exists because the two dimensions meet.

Surgeon is a one-word surgical title as typed, not a specialty recode. Nearby strings — ORTHOPAEDIC SURGEON, PHYSICIAN, MD, and GENERAL SURGEON — sit in other occupation hubs when filers used those words. Do not stack those dollar figures onto $1,397,855 or $18,386,780. A physician who wrote MD or Physician is outside SURGEON even if they operate.

2008’s dollar share is 7.6% ($1,397,855 of $18,386,780). The remainder sits in other cycles on the occupation hub and is not itemized by year on this packet. Correlation between a job title and a two-year FEC window is a reporting overlap, not causation of an election outcome. Itemized individual receipts are the coverage. Unitemized money never appears in $1,397,855.

The Surgeon string across cycles

Under the exact label SURGEON, harvested individual contributions sum to $18.4 million ($18,386,780). The 2008 cell is 7.6% of that occupation total. The FEC file does not verify an MD, a board certificate, or a state medical license. A share in a presidential cycle is a slice, not proof that the remaining dollars sat in any particular other year. Those other years are not in this packet.

Surgeon is not a CMS specialty code and not an ACS membership roll. Open Surgeon donations for the $18,386,780 roll. Open the 2008 election cycle hub for every occupation in that window. All occupations and All FEC ties place this pair beside other occupation-cycle pages without combining dollar figures.

2008 receipts and donors

Inside the 2008 cell, 1,974 itemized contributions map to 1,163 donors. That is about 1.7 receipts per donor in the join — a repeat-gift ratio, not a unique-person survey of everyone who holds a similar job. Dollars per receipt average about $708; dollars per donor average about $1,202. Averages hide large and small lines sitting in the same total.

Presidential-year volume can mix primary, general, and other receipts dated to 2008. This packet does not split $1,397,855 by those stages or by party. The 2008 election cycle hub shows the cycle’s full occupation mix; this page shows only the Surgeon row. 1,163 donors is a disclosure count for this key in 2008, not a turnout figure.

How to read the two dollar columns

Keep $1,397,855 attached to 2008 and $18,386,780 attached to the occupation string. Adding them would double-count the 2008 dollars that already sit inside the occupation total. Subtracting them does not yield “all other cycles”; it only yields a remainder that this packet does not itemize by year.

Cite FEC.gov. Individual contributions are not PAC independent expenditures and not lobbying registrations. Nothing in the join says donations paid for a federal award, a research grant, or a USAspending obligation. Quote $1,397,855 with both nouns: Surgeon and 2008.

What the Surgeon–2008 join does not claim

Occupation labels are filer-entered. Surgeon is not a CMS specialty code and not an ACS membership roll. A person who wrote a nearby title is not in $1.4 million. A person who wrote this string is in it even if the day job differs. LobbyVault does not audit licenses. The public record is the string plus the dollars.

No motive, no vote, no ranking of occupations. Not a surgical-board extract, not an NPI file, and not a hospital-privilege census. Use All occupations to compare other labels; use All FEC ties for other joins. 1,974 receipts and 1,163 donors are the volume facts for this join.

Questions

How much did surgeons donate in 2008?

Filers who wrote Surgeon on FEC individual contribution records itemized $1,397,855 in the 2008 cycle, across 1,974 receipts from 1,163 donors. That cell is 7.6% of $18,386,780 harvested under the same exact occupation string. Nearby spellings are counted on other occupation pages.

Does Surgeon include orthopaedic and other specialties?

This join uses the one-word string SURGEON. Orthopaedic Surgeon, General Surgeon, and Physician are other keys. Filers who typed a specialty sit in those other buckets. This page does not recode them into SURGEON or check a medical board.

What is an occupation-cycle join on LobbyVault?

It is the overlap of one self-reported occupation key and one even-numbered FEC cycle. The occupation hub holds $18.4 million for this string across cycles. The cycle hub holds every occupation that filed in 2008. This page reports only the overlapping cell, $1.4 million, so the two dimensions are not restated as one table.

Does the 2008 Surgeon total include PACs or party committees?

$1,397,855 is an aggregate of individual contributions whose occupation field matches this string. It is not PAC independent spending, not committee-to-committee transfers, and not a party split. This packet has no party field. Open the Surgeon donations hub or the 2008 election cycle hub for committee-level rows.