Bush contributors led by Financial Interests

posted by ewing2001 on Friday July 18, @06:08AM

Opensecrets.org -July 16, 2003

Financial services giant Merrill Lynch topped the list of contributors to President Bush’s re-election campaign in the second quarter of this year, with $264,750 in donations from employees and their immediate family members, according to a preliminary study of mid-year campaign finance filings by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics.

Advertisement

Merrill Lynch’s total already exceeds that of Bush’s top contributor for the entire 2000 election cycle. MBNA, the credit card company, led all organizations with $240,675 in individual and PAC contributions for Bush’s first presidential bid. Merrill Lynch CEO Stan O’Neal is listed by the Bush campaign as a “Ranger” who has raised at least $200,000 for Bush. (The Center only counts contributions from Merrill Lynch employees and their immediate families toward the company’s total to Bush.)

Lehman Brothers, the large investment banking firm, was second among Bush’s top contributors with $152,500 in individual and PAC contributions. Haynes & Boone, a Texas law firm, ranked third with $141,400. Co-founder Michael M. Boone is a Bush “Pioneer” who has raised more than $100,000 for the campaign.

Twelve of Bush’s top 20 contributors are part of the finance sector, and 11 of those 12 are based in New York City. The Big Apple was one of Bush’s early stops after he began fundraising for his campaign in mid-May. New York City regularly ranks as one of the most lucrative metro areas for political fundraising, second only to Washington, D.C.

Bush raised a total of $34.4 million in the second quarter of this year, more than the major Democratic candidates combined, and had $32.7 million on hand as of June 30. Bush collected 14 percent of his contributions from donors in his home state of Texas. The nearly $4.2 million he raised in Texas is more than what all but four of his Democratic rivals raised in the entire quarter.

But Texas contributors weren’t the most generous to Bush. That distinction went to donors in California (just over $4.2 million), a crucial electoral state that Al Gore easily won in 2000. Bush raised $3.1 million in New York and $3.0 million in Florida.

Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean raised a reported $7.6 million in the second quarter, the most among the Democratic contenders. His total for the first and second quarter combined is $10.2 million, with $6.4 million cash on hand. His top contributors for the first and second quarters combined include AOL Time Warner ($46,225) and employees of the University of California ($25,974).

The ZIP code where Dean has raised the most money is 10021 in New York City ($85,000), which was the biggest source of money outside Washington, D.C. in the 2002 and 2000 election cycles. His next highest ZIP code is 90210 in Beverly Hills, Calif. ($64,500).

Sen. John Kerry (Mass.) has raised $12.9 million so far this year and has $10.9 million cash on hand as of June 30, the most among the Democratic candidates. His top three contributors are law firms, led by Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, the largest law firm in the country. Employees of the firm gave Kerry nearly $77,000 in the first six months of this year. Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi, and Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky & Popeo are second and third, respectively, on Kerry’s list of top contributors.

Kerry has raised 22 percent of his contributions ($2.6 million) within Massachusetts and $2.2 million from the Boston area alone.

Sen. John Edwards, who led his Democratic counterparts with $7.4 million raised in the first quarter, has raised $11.9 million for the year and has $8.1 million left in the bank. The top contributor to Edwards so far this year is Baron & Budd, the Dallas-based law firm that also topped the list of contributors to Edwards after the first quarter. The firm’s employees have contributed $92,000 to Edwards through June 30.

Only 10 percent of contributions to Edwards this year have come from his home state of North Carolina. He has raised the most money in California ($2 million) and Texas ($1.5 million).

Sen. Joe Lieberman (Conn.) has taken in $8.2 million this year, but was left with only $4 million on hand at the end of the reporting period. He has raised twice as much money in New York City this year ($1.2 million) than he has anywhere else. Los Angeles is his next highest metro area ($593,000), followed by Stamford, Conn. ($556,000).

The Los Angeles law firm of Irell & Manella, whose employees have contributed $54,200 to Lieberman this year, is the senator’s top contributor. Lehman Brothers ranks second with $39,250.

Rep. Dick Gephardt (Mo.) has raised $9.8 million for the year, including transfers from his congressional account. He had $6.3 million in the bank as of June 30. More than half of his contributions from individuals have come from his home state of Missouri, California and New York. Bryan Cave, the St. Louis-based law firm, is Gephardt’s top contributor for the year so far. Employees of the firm have given him $59,401. His second highest contributor is Anheuser-Busch ($42,250).

Sen. Bob Graham (Fla.) has raised $3.1 million in the first half of this year. Rep. Dennis Kucinich (Ohio) has collected $1.7 million; Lyndon Larouche has taken in $1.7 million; former ambassador Carol Moseley Braun has raised a little more than $217,109; and Al Sharpton has collected nearly $160,000.

The Center studied contributions in reports filed yesterday with the Federal Election Commission by Bush and his Democratic challengers for the White House. The reports covered fundraising and spending activity from April 1 to June 30. The Center’s analysis is based on a preliminary review of the reports. As the Center further processes the data, the numbers will change.

Research for this report was led by Susi Alger, Sheila Krumholz and Larry Makinson. They were assisted by Ethan Cramer-Flood, Sarah Mulhall, Prassana Nayak, Dustin Shian and Doug Weber.

<  IraqGate UK: Dead body matches Iraq Expert | Chairman Calls Capitol Police to Restore Order  >