District 34: Who are Chap Petersen's Big Spenders?

State Sen. , the 34th District Democrat facing Republican in November, raised $565,826 in political contributions since 2008, according to the Virginia Public Access Project.

VPAP, which maintains an election finance database, says one of his biggest contributors . Other donors include campaign contribution powerhouses Edward Rice, Leonard Bennett, Virginia Trial Lawyers Association, Suzann Matthews and Dominion.

Petersen's biggest contributors (Mary Petersen, Matthews, Rice, Bennett and the West Group) spent most, if not all, of their funds on Democratic campaigns. Bucking that trend, AOL and Dominion donated to campaigns on both sides of the political spectrum, with a majority of funds given to Republicans. 

The largest chunk of contributions came from individuals and businesses in the law (more than $126,000), technology/communication (more than $60,000) and retail (more than $50,000) industries.

Here's the breakdown of Petersen campaign contributions since 2008.

Top donors:

• AOL Inc.: $15,250.  to see who else Patch's parent company funded.
• NOVA Datacom LLC: $15,000 (Info tech company in Chantilly)
• Mary S. Petersen: $13,850 (Realtor, Cassidy & Pinkard Inc in Fairfax). Mary Petersen, Chap's mother, also contributed to Creigh Deeds for Governor, the Democratic Party's campaign for Virginia Senate Caucus, David Meyer for Fairfax City Council, David Marsden for Senate, Sharon Bulova for Fairfax County Board Chair. Click here for a full list of contributions.
• Myong J. Lee: $10,000 (Restaurants, Alexandria)
• Edward Hart Rice: $10,000 (Stockbrokers/Financial Advisors, Vienna). Rice spent $915,200 in campaign contributions since 2008, including $225,000 to Creigh Deeds for Governor and $160,000 to Steve Shannon for Attorney General.
• Leonard A. Bennett: $9,400. (Consumer Litigation Association, Newport News) Another big spender, Bennett gave $230,000 in contributions since 2008, with $110,000 to A Strong Majority PAC and $60,000 for Brian Moran for Governor.
• Firefighters Local 2068: $9,000. The firefighters group also spent money on Sharon Bulova, the Fairfax County Democratic Party and a number of Fairfax County Board of Supervisors candidates. Click here for the full list.
• Surovell Isaacs Petersen & Levy PLC: $8,500 (Private law firm in Fairfax, Petersen works here). The firm also sent money to Scott Surovell for delegate, Fairfax County Democratic Party, Robin Abbott for delegate. Click here for a list.
• Dominion: $8,019. Another big spender, having contributed over $2 million to campaigns since 2008. Dominion spent $121,000 to the Virginia Democratic Party and another $100,000 to the Virginia Republican Party. See a full list of contributions here.
  
• World Resources Corp: $7,750 (Waste Disposal/Landfills, McLean). World Resources also contributed $2,500 to Richard Saslaw for Senate and another $2,500 to Sharon Bulova for Fairfax County Board Chair.
• S William Livingston, Jr: $7,600 (Covington & Burling, Alexandria). Livingston also spent money on Creigh Deeds for Governor and others.
• Donald J Rippert: $7,000 (Accenture, Great Falls)
• Va Trial Lawyers Assn: $6,742. The association spent over $650,000 on contributions since 2008. $60,000 went to the Democratic Party's Commonwealth Victory Fund. Click here for a full list.
• JJA Consultants Inc: $6,315 (Consulting firm, Fairfax).
• West Group: $6,000 (Commercial real estate, McLean). The West Group spent over $160,000 on campaigns since 2008, including $41,933 to McAuliffe for Governor. Click here to see a list of all contributions.
• Elizabeth L Useem: $5,850 Unseem is employed by the Philadelphia Education Fund in Merion Station, Pa. She supported Petersen through his lt. governor, delegate and senate campaigns. She also donated money for Linda Puller's campaigns for senate and delegate.
• Allen Allen Allen & Allen: $5,000 (Trial lawyers, Richmond). The company spent $151,000 to Democratic candidates since 2008... and almost double that to Republican candidates. Click here for the full list.
• Suzann W Matthews: $5,000. VPAP lists her as self-employed, living in McLean. She's given over $450,000 to candidates since 2008. Click here for a full list of contributions.

Who's missing? Here's a look at some of those who contributed between 2001 and 2007, and haven't since.

• Virginia Democratic Party: $254,077 total contributed to Petersen between 2001-2007.
• Virginia Senate Caucus Democratic Party: $249,200
• Moving Virginia Forward: $117,750
• Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee: $60,000
• One Virginia PAC: $50,000
• Loren W Hershey: $25,510
• Va League of Conservation Voters: $23,430
• Daniel M Pritchard: $23,000. Not to be confused with the Prichards, a family immersed in Fairfax City community (reverend at Truro Church, former mayor) and related to the Petersens.

Petersen has made a few contributions of his own:

• He gave $66,172 to his own campaign for lt. governor since 1997.
• $9,951 to his own campaign for senate.
• $9,381 to his own campaign for delegate.
• $2,600 to Blue Dominion Majority PAC in 2006.
• $500 to Mark Keam for delegate in 2009.
• $500 to Johnny Joannou for delegate in 2007.
• $500 to Tim Kaine for governor in 2005.
• $500 to Jeffrey Dion for Prince William County Board of Supervisors.
• $350 to David Bulova for delegate in 2005.
• $308 to Ron Christian for senate in 2003.
• $250 to Ron Lederer for Fairfax City mayor in 2008.
• See the full list of Petersen contributions here.

Check back for a look at Culipher's campaign contributions.