Posts tagged big donors
Holding Politicians Accountable
“Super PAC mega-donors have now given more than a quarter of a billion dollars, with the addition of their August contributions. In another milestone, there are now 89 donors who have each given $1 million or more.
“Overall, super PACs have raised $374 million in the 2012 election cycle, and donors who gave $500,000 or more make up 68 percent of the total.”
Adelson’s company fined $25,000
The company owned by top GOP donor Sheldon Adelson was fined $25,000 today, reports the Las Vegas Review-Journal:
Finding that Las Vegas Sands Corp. and affiliate Sands China Ltd. had shown an “intention to deceive the court,” Clark County District Judge Elizabeth Gonzalez on Friday fined the companies $25,000 and imposed other sanctions.
Adelson and his wife have given $10 million to Mitt Romney’s Restore Our Future super PAC and millions more to Congressional candidates, party committees, and other super PACs. This also marks the second donor to Romney’s super PAC to be fined in court in the past week. Last Friday, Scotts Miracle-Gro, which donated $200,000 to Restore Our Future in June, was fined $12.5 million for environmental violations.
Gatsby or Romney?
The New Republic: “I was hardly the only one who, on reading the reports of Mitt Romney’s three weekend fundraisers in the Hamptons— one hosted by the Koch brothers—was put in mind of a certain classic American novel set amid the pre-1929 excesses and inequality of the Roaring Twenties. To underscore to what an extent Powerboat Mitt evokes the unapologetic upper-crust ethos of Jay’s days, here is a quick game for us to play. The challenge: pick whether the quote is from The Great Gatsby or from reports from yesterday’s shindigs.”
New York Times: Romney's Personal Touch Pays Off With Donors
“To a remarkable degree, interviews with donors, fund-raisers and staff members show, that financial haul has hinged on Mr. Romney’s clout in the business world and his relentless personal cultivation of contributors, a political ritual for which Mr. Obama has shown little enthusiasm and Mr. McCain, the last Republican presidential nominee, displayed outright disdain.
“Mr. Romney has repeatedly invited top-flight donors to his home on Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire for intimate gatherings where he serves cookies baked by his wife, Ann. He has spent hours meeting one-on-one with wealthy would-be backers from Cincinnati to Los Angeles who remain on the fence. And he has held seminars on issues that animate supporters, like Israel, education and energy.”
Bill Clinton to lend star power, Wall Street savvy to Obama fundraisers in New York
“Bill Clinton will appear with President Obama at a triple-header of fundraisers in New York on Monday, lending his star power and fundraising prowess just days after he tweaked Obama for going after Republican Mitt Romney’s private business record.
“Clinton brings to the Obama reelection campaign strong ties to wealthy New York donors, including those in the financial services sector, where some are disappointed in the president’s attacks on Romney’s record as a private-equity manager at Bain Capital.”
Sensitive Donors
The Courts have given wealthy individuals the ability to tremendously influence our political process—influence that most people can’t even dream of having—and in a free country, we deserve to know about it.
Conservative hero Justice Antonin Scalia once said about a case involving the disclosure of petition signatures, “running a democracy takes a certain amount of civic courage.” Courage is something you’d think these wealthy donors, many of whom are self-made, would possess in spades.
Grassroots vs. Ad War
It looks like wealthy Democratic donors are starting to give out cash, but that money will likely focus on grassroots organizing over the Republican’s ad war:
After months on the sidelines, major liberal donors including the financier George Soros are preparing to inject up to $100 million into independent groups to aid Democrats’ chances this fall. But instead of going head to head with the conservative “super PACs” and outside groups that have flooded the presidential and Congressional campaigns with negative advertising, the donors are focusing on grass-roots organizing, voter registration and Democratic turnout.
The departure from the conservatives’ approach, which helped Republicans wrest control of the House in 2010, partly reflects liberal donors’ objections to the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision, which paved the way for super PACs and unbridled campaign spending.
