Campaign contributions, lobbying and post-Katrina contracts

This research explores the relationship between political campaign contributions, lobbying and post-Hurricane Katrina cleanup and reconstruction contracts. Specifically, a case-control study design is used to determine whether campaign contributions to national candidates in the 2000–04 election cycles and/or the employment of lobbyists and lobbying firms increased a company's probability of receiving a post-hurricane contract. Results indicate that both a campaign contribution dichotomous variable and the dollar amount of contributions are significantly related to whether a company received a contract, but that lobbying activity was not. These findings are discussed in the context of previous research on the politics of natural disasters, government contracting and governmental and corporate deviance.