1992 Ad

Given the number of $100,000-plus donors that helped to Gbankroll his victory, President-elect Bill Clinton faces the same question that dogged President Bush: What will his administration do when its major benefactors come calling?

By the election's home stretch, more than 40 donations of $ 100,000 or more had streamed into the Democratic National Committee (DNC). This soft money played a significant role in the Clinton effort. All told, the DNC raked in $24 million in soft money from January 1991 through October 14, 1992.

Across town, the Republican National Committee (RNC) collected 60 contributions of $100,000 or more, part of its $29 million take during the same period. And in keeping with '90s-style realpolitik, several six-figure RNC donors in 1988 - members of George Bush's "Team 100" - also gave generously to the Democratic team in 1992. These figures don't even include the more than $21 million in soft money the parties collected to help congressional candidates.

Clinton has pledged to support legislation to shut down the soft money system. But since many of the mega-donors have major interests pending before government, many undoubtedly are going to expect special access and influence in the new administration. Here are some big donors to watch:

LABOR UNIONS gave well over $2 million to the DNC, led by the United Steelworkers, with just under $400,000, and more than $300,000 apiece from the Communications Workers of America and the National Education Association (NEA). The NEA issued a yellow pamphlet listing dozens of wants, from the obvious (more money for schools) to the obscure ("federal requirements that manufacturers add a bittering agent to all poisonous household products"). "It's safe to assume there will be a different environment under a Clinton administration," NEA official Dick VanderWoude said. The union's headquarters answered the phone one afternoon in October with the greeting, "NEA Clinton-Gore."

The United Auto Workers (UAW) and AFSCME each gave over $200,000, while the American Federation of Teachers and unions representing electricians, marine engineers, letter carriers, service employees and sheet metal workers each gave $100,000 or more. Labor's major concerns include job security, trade, health care and education.

TOBACCO INDUSTRY leaders RJR Nabisco and Philip Morris coughed up $125,800 and $142,000, respectively, for the Democratic fund while giving, together with U.S. Tobacco, more than $700,000 to the RNC. Unlike Bush, Clinton supports new smoking bans, increased excise taxes and anti-smoking campaigns. His positions on costly federal tobacco subsidies or his predecessor's policy of aiding cigarette exports are unclear.

ATLANTIC RICHFIELD (ARCO) contributed some $170,000 to the DNC while contributing $260,000 to the RNC. Indeed, ARCO was among the five largest contributors to both parties' various soft money accounts and even managed to give $100,000 to both sides on a single day. Firm spokesperson Albert Greenstein refused to comment on ARCO's agenda, but industry observers say the company wants to ensure that Clean Air Act regulations promote ARCO's reformulated gasoline, and is still bent on prospecting in the Alaska wildlife refuge, and blocking energy taxes and other "green" initiatives.

LIQUOR magnate Edgar Bronfman, a Bush Team 100 member in 1988 who gave another $450,000 to the RNC since 1991, came through with $100,000 for the DNC in September while his son, Edgar Jr., gave another $100,000. Bronfman Sr. is chair of Joseph Seagram & Sons, a leader in an industry that worries about liquor excise taxes, export policies and mandatory health warning labels. Anheuser Busch, the beer baron, gave $100,000 to the Democrats.

THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT on the Dems' six-figure donor list - Sony USA, Sony Pictures chair Peter Guber, Walt Disney Co. studio chair Jeffrey Katzenberg, and major Hollywood players David Geffen and Lew Wasserman. Sony's movie and music subsidiaries also chipped in $100,000 to the Republicans. As Sony lobbyist Dennis Thelen noted, moviemakers are concerned about a new European Community quota that restricts American films. "It's been a major issue for us for a while," says a Motion Picture Association of America spokesperson. Sony, which is based in Japan, also is concerned about Clinton's plan to tax foreign subsidiaries operating here.

HEALTH CARE reform was a big issue in the 1992 campaign, and in one six-week period alone health interests - including drug manufacturers, health insurance companies, hospitals and nursing homes - gave more than $280,000 to the DNC. One firm, Miami's Hospice Care Inc. (now called Vitas Health Care Corp.), earlier gave $137,250.

No fat cat donor list would be complete without the MANHATTAN MONEYMEN. Clinton's six-figure soft money supporters include investment banker Jerome Kohlberg, formerly a partner of the Wall Street corporate raider and Team 100 standout Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, New York venture capitalists Neil Hirsh, Paul Jones and Lionel Pincus, and Frederick Adler of Palm Beach, Fla.

Some people gave over $200,000, including Peter Lewis, chair of Cleveland's Progressive Corp., an insurance company; California software wizard Peter Norton and his spouse; and philanthropists Alida Rockefeller Messinger, Swanee Hunt and Merle Chambers (see below).

Soft money wasn't supposed to be raised, contributed or spent to help Clinton or Bush, since this kind of money was outlawed in presidential elections decades ago to prevent the White House from being bought. But, as in '88, the national parties ignored die law, and its subtleties were completely missed by six-figure contributors such as Jay Stein, chair of Stein Mart, a chain of Sunbelt department stores. Stein gave $100,000 shortly before the election because he wanted to help boyhood friend Al Gore and his running mate.

"Bill Clinton is a very balanced Democrat," Stein says. "Certainly the fact that he's part of the ticket plays a tremendous part in my decision to support them as liberally as I did financially."

COPYRIGHT 1992 Common Cause Magazine
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