[A-List] US election: Big donors bet on both horses

[Bill Totten <shimogamo@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

by Emad Mekay

Asia Times (September 09 2004)

Four of the ten most lavish contributors to the George W Bush and John Kerry
presidential campaigns are the same financial-services corporations, says a new
analysis of campaign fundraising released on Tuesday.

According to the Washington-based Center for Public Integrity, a non-partisan
think-tank, President Bush and his Democratic challenger now share nearly half
of their biggest donors, suggesting that the companies are hoping to cement a
friendly relationship with whoever wins the White House in November.

By historical standards, the race is too close to call. A USA Today/CNN/Gallup
poll showed Bush leading at 52%, Kerry at 45% and independent candidate Ralph
Nader at 1% among likely voters. However, Bush's lead was within the survey's
error margin on the North American Labor Day (this past Monday), the traditional
start of the campaign's final leg.

"Conventional theories in campaign finance state that you always want to have
money on the winning horse", said Alex Knot, one of the authors of the report.
"If there are any favors that are granted for those that contribute, the
investment of a couple hundred thousand dollars is nothing compared [with] the
windfalls of billions in legislation".

Until this cycle, most of Kerry's top contributors had come from the
telecommunications industry and law firms. Most of Bush's largest donors are
financial corporations with executives who have pledged to raise money for the
president's re-election.

"While the 2004 ballot is setting up to be one of the most divisive elections in
history, campaign contributors to the candidates are looking more similar than
ever", said the report.

"What we are seeing is a different trend in fundraising where financial
organizations that once exclusively favored Republicans are now also favoring
Kerry", said Knot. "There are a few reasons why this could be taking place. One
of the most intriguing theories is that these companies are hedging their bets."

Bush's top career patrons are financial powerhouses such as Morgan Stanley Dean
Witter & Co, Merrill Lynch & Co Inc, and PricewaterhouseCoopers. Kerry's largest
career donors are Harvard University, Time Warner, and law firm Mintz, Levin,
Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo.

The White House has repeatedly been criticized for the perception that it
rewards corporate interests at the expense of ordinary Americans. The center
says donors have an interest in continuing that trend.

"The ten largest donors to Bush during the cycle are all financial institutions",
said Knot. "So obviously they care about or have an interest in some of the
things that Bush has an interest in. Some of these could be the three tax cuts
that Bush has put in place during his first term."

The largest of the cuts that would affect these corporations would be the cuts
on capital gains and dividends, as many of these companies have a large amount
of investment income. Bush has also promised to make those cuts permanent and
has floated the idea of privatizing social security, a pension plan for the
elderly, and investing the funds in the stock market.

Companies that gave money to both campaigns gave more to Bush than to Kerry.
Citigroup, for example, gave Bush $246,645 and Kerry $169,254. Morgan Stanley
Dean Witter & Co gave Bush $486,125 while giving only $100,204 to Kerry, and
Goldman Sachs Group gave the Republican campaign some $295,950 while giving the
Democratic camp only $127,750. Bush netted $368,900 from UBS AG Inc while Kerry
received $138,700.

Knot explained the lion's share going to Bush on the grounds that Kerry spent a
shorter period of time raising money as the official nominee of his party, and
that Bush already has a record of being friendly to corporations.

According to the center, these powerful companies are backing the election of
already wealthy candidates. Financial-disclosure forms show that the two main
contenders are millionaires, though none can use more than $50,000 of his own
money unless he opts out of federal matching funds.

Kerry and his wife Teresa Heinz Kerry have a disclosed worth of as much as $747
million, but the most that Kerry can personally lay claim to is $14.8 million of
those assets. The bulk of the fortune belongs to Heinz Kerry, though the two do
hold some assets jointly, says the report.

The next-wealthiest household belongs to Richard and Lynn Cheney, whose personal
assets together amount to as much as $111.2 million.

Kerry's running mate John Edwards discloses the upper end of his family's wealth
at $44.6 million, and Bush rounds out the field with some $18.9 million in
assets.

Even third-party candidate Ralph Nader has as much as $4.9 million, and
reportedly earned more than half a million dollars last year alone through
speeches and other activities. (Inter Press Service)

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Front_Page/FI09Aa03.html

Please also see:-

"The Military-Industrial Man"
by Chalmers Johnson, TomDispatch.Com (September 14 2004)
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0914-20.htm

"The Buying of the President 2004: Part 1 of 3"
by Charles Lewis, WorkingForChange.com (January 20 2004)
http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?itemid=16308

"The Buying of the President 2004: Part 2 of 3"
by Charles Lewis, WorkingForChange.com (January 29 2004)
http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?itemid=16359

"The Buying of the President 2004: Part 3 of 3"
by Charles Lewis, WorkingForChange.com (February 4 2004)
http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?itemid=12590


Bill Totten     http://www.ashisuto.co.jp/english/