Harry,
According to Ron Paul (Congressman) Obama spent more on his presidential
campaign than any other so far -- $650 million. (This speaks to inflation
as well as the corruption of American politics. [Or perhaps we should say,
the inevitable corruption of any voting system that we call democracy
whereby the candidates try to make themselves as popular as possible rather
than show evidence of their experience and management ability.] )
Keith
At 14:02 26/11/2010 -0800, you wrote:
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I wonder, Ed, if the Times will also do a piece on the money collected by
the Democrats?
Harry
From: [email protected]
[mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Ed Weick
Sent: Saturday, November 13, 2010 6:50 AM
To: [email protected]
Cc: [email protected]
Subject: [Futurework] Where is democracy going?
Articles like the following, from today's NYTimes, raise the question
whether, increasingly, there is much difference between politicians and
lobbyists. Like, who are the candidates that accept large contributions
from the wealthy and from corporate interests really working for?
Ed
November 12, 2010
Looking to 2012, Republicans Vie for Big Donors
By
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/l/michael_luo/index.html?inline=nyt-per>MICHAEL
LUO
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/r/mitt_romney/index.html?inline=nyt-per>Mitt
Romney is not running for president, yet. But a handful of big donors have
each contributed in the realm of $100,000, or more, to Mr. Romney this
year through a network of state political action committees he has set up
that enable him to avoid federal campaign finance limits.
Through a similar arrangement, the Minnesota governor and a potential 2012
contender,
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/p/tim_pawlenty/index.html?inline=nyt-per>Tim
Pawlenty, collected $60,000 in late September from a Texas home builder,
<http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/22/us/politics/22perry.html>Bob J. Perry,
one of the
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/r/republican_party/index.html?inline=nyt-org>Republican
Partys largest donors, and his wife, Doylene, and has taken sizable
contributions from a slew of others.
The money, which has gone to the politiciansleadership PACs,is not allowed
to be used to fuel a presidential run, but it often acts as seed money to
help raise a potential candidates national profile and provide financing
to other politicians who can help him later. The contributions can also
build an infrastructure of staff, offices and donors that can be later
transformed into a full-fledged campaign, but this kind of spending also
carries the potential of tripping over campaign finance laws.
The outsize contributions are possible because while donations to federal
PACs are limited to $5,000, many state-based entities have no such limits.
Some can also take donations from corporations and unions, which federal
PACs cannot directly do.
The generous giving to the state PACs is just one aspect of the 2012 money
race, which is well under way. In recent months, many of the
candidates-in-waiting have been actively cultivating the kinds of major
donors needed to finance expensive presidential bids.
Mr. Romney has been by far the most assertive, according to interviews
with a half-dozen top Republican fund-raisers, already pushing for
commitments from major donors should he formally decide to run.
Over the summer, Mr. Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, invited
top bundlers of campaign checks from key states to his vacation home in
New Hampshire on several occasions to help firm up their commitments. Mr.
Romney has already lined up an array of prominent supporters, including a
billionaire,
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/k/david_h_koch/index.html?inline=nyt-per>David
Koch, who has donated heavily to conservative causes over the years,
and<http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/05/us/politics/05donate.html> Robert
Wood Johnson IV, the billionaire owner of the New York Jets and one of the
partys most coveted fund-raisers.
Mr. Pawlenty has also been putting together a financial apparatus. On
Monday and Tuesday evening, for instance, he met with top fund-raisers who
flew to Minneapolis to listen to a briefing on his record as governor.
Those were the latest in a series of such meetings that began in
September, according to William Strong, a vice chairman at Morgan Stanley
who has spearheaded fund-raising for Mr. Pawlentys political action
committee, Freedom First.
Over the last year, Mr. Pawlenty has been methodically courting
fund-raisers in get-acquainted, friend-raisersessions and is now moving to
deepen those relationships with a potential eye on 2012, Mr. Strong said.
Noticeably absent from the wooing for the most part has been the former
Gov.
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/p/sarah_palin/index.html?inline=nyt-per>Sarah
Palin of Alaska, Republican fund-raisers said. She has raised large sums
for her federal political action committee, Sarah PAC, this year exceeded
only by Mr. Romney but largely through small-dollar contributions.
There have been some notable occasions where Ms. Palin has also engaged in
the kind of glad-handing with major donors that typically precedes a
presidential run. In early October, for example, she had dinner with a
contingent of prominent Republican donors, political figures and others in
West Palm Beach, Fla., for an event organized by Christopher Ruddy, head
of the conservative magazine and Web site <http://www.newsmax.com/>Newsmax.
I saw it as a combination of conservative opinion leaders and some of the
leading fund-raisers in Florida and some others across the country and
having Governor Palin give sort of a dress rehearsal for what it would be
like if she got in the race,said Brian Ballard, a lobbyist who was the
Florida finance chairman for the presidential campaign of Senator
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/m/john_mccain/index.html?inline=nyt-per>John
McCain of Arizona and was among the attendees.
Even with all of the jockeying, Republican fund-raisers and operatives
said that commitments for 2012 seem to be unfolding at a slower pace than
the last presidential cycle, because so much uncertainty remained over who
would actually run.
People are shopping,said Kirk Blalock, a partner at the Washington
lobbying firm, Fierce, Isakowitz & Blalock, who was a top fund-raiser for
the McCain campaign. People arent buying yet.
Many donors are awaiting decisions by potential 2012 candidates like Gov.
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/haley_barbour/index.html?inline=nyt-per>Haley
Barbour of Mississippi, who has been collecting giant checks in his
capacity as chairman of the Republican Governors Association,
which<http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/17/us/politics/17donate.html> raised
record amounts this year. The relationships he forged with deep-pocketed
donors could double as useful building blocks for a presidential run.
There is also Gov.
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/d/mitchell_e_jr_daniels/index.html?inline=nyt-per>Mitch
Daniels of Indiana. He has said he will wait until the end of his states
legislative session in April to make a decision, but he has held
fund-raisers in recent months for his state-based leadership PAC, Aiming
Higher, in Chicago, Washington and New York. He did four fund-raising
events in New York alone.
Senator
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/t/john_r_thune/index.html?inline=nyt-per>John
Thune of South Dakota, who is also contemplating entering the 2012 fray,
has been sounding out top fund-raisers as well.
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/g/newt_gingrich/index.html?inline=nyt-per>Newt
Gingrich, the former House speaker, is one of the biggest variables. Mr.
Gingrich has not been openly buttonholing major donors for a presidential
bid, fund-raisers said. Nevertheless, all the work he has been doing for
his policy center, American Solutions, generating large contributions (the
group is permitted to take in donations of unlimited size) and building
donor lists, could form a strong financial foundation for a run.
Top fund-raisers said they had observed relatively little effort so far on
the part of former Gov.
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/h/mike_huckabee/index.html?inline=nyt-per>Mike
Huckabee of Arkansas, whose leadership PAC fund-raising has trailed that
of Mr. Romney, Ms. Palin and Mr. Pawlenty, to cozy up to major donors. His
supporters, however, point out that his strength has always been more at
the grass-roots level.
Even with all of the uncertainty, some large donors have already made
sizable investments with those who could wind up as presidential candidates.
Mr. Barbour has banked several $25,000 contributions in recent months from
Mississippi corporations, like Anderson Companies, a construction firm,
and Ergon, which is involved in petroleum products, through Haleys
Leadership PAC, a committee he set up in Georgia, where there are few
campaign finance restrictions.
Richard Marriott, the hotel executive, and his wife, Donna, have together
given Mr. Romney $225,000 this year mainly through the state-based
affiliates of his federal PAC, Free and Strong America, in Alabama, Iowa,
Michigan, New Hampshire and South Carolina.
Other major Romney contributors include Edward Conard, a former executive
with Mr. Romney at Bain Capital, who donated $100,000, and Hushang Ansary,
a Texas
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/energy-environment/oil-petroleum-and-gasoline/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier>oil-and-gas
investor and former Iran finance minister, who contributed $95,000.
The network of state PACs Mr. Romney has set up seems intended to give him
leverage in some important early-voting states but also to take advantage
of permissive campaign finance rules. Alabama, Iowa, and Michigan, for
example, do not cap contributions to these kinds of PACs.
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Keith Hudson, Saltford, England
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