Google's 2012 PAC spending nears half a million

Google's political action committee (PAC), Google NetPAC, shelled out $39,000 in campaign donations in July, bringing the search company’s campaign contributions for the year to nearly a half million dollars, according to a report filed with the Federal Election Commission.

The search giant’s PAC has given just over $423,000 in campaign donations in the first seven months of the year. In July, the PAC wrote checks for $26,000 to Republican candidates and $13,000 to Democratic ones. That included contributions of $5,000 each to GOP Whip Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), House Armed Services Committee Chairman Buck McKeon (R-CA) and Reps. Jeff Flake (R-AZ), Peter Roskam (R-IL) and Tim Scott (R-SC). On the Democratic side, Google’s PAC gave money to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Sen. Jay Rockefeller (R-WV), and poured $5,000 into Sen. Bob Casey (PA)'s coffers. Other tech company PACs have also been active in 2012.