Venture capital's (past) support for Todd Akin

Before becoming America's persona non grata, Todd Akin had the VC industry's support.

FORTUNE -- When Todd Akin made his outrageous comments over the weekend, I checked to see if Rep. Ignoramus (R-MO) had received any campaign contributions from the venture capital or private equity community (forgive me, but it's my beat).

No individual checks that I could find for this cycle, but it turns out that the National Venture Capital Association's political action committee (VenturePAC) gave $2,000 to his senate campaign in May 2011. It also made eight prior donations to Akin, going back to 2006, for a grand total of $13,500.

Seems the contributions were largely related to Akin's senior position on the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology (i.e., access). There he has supported the NVCA on such issues as opposing SOPA and supporting an expansion of SBIR grant availability to VC-backed companies (the latter of which is what the $2,000 donation was related to). On the other hand, he also voted against the debt limit increase and wants to abolish both the EPA and the Department of Energy.

Worth emphasizing that VenturePAC's donation to Akin was relatively small, and it did not make a donation in 2012. Do not expect that to change, given his recent statements.

Sign up for Dan's daily email newsletter on deals and deal-makers: GetTermSheet.com