August 1, 2000

Big bonuses for Bush donors

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George W. Bush’s top campaign contributors enjoy some hifalutin’ perks from the Texas gubner, including appointments to state posts, sleep-overs at the governor’s mansion, and lots of corporate welfare, according to a new report from TEXANS FOR PUBLIC JUSTICE.

The 212 leading fundraisers — affectionately known as “Pioneers” — have delivered at least 24 percent of Bush’s $90 million war chest. “Thanks to this small group of business tycoons and lobbyists, Bush has raised more money than any other political candidate in history, twice as much as any presidential candidate before him,” said TEXANS FOR PUBLIC JUSTICE Director Craig L. McDonald. “If you can judge a candidate by his big donors, a Bush presidency will bring more corporate welfare, more pollution, less consumer regulation, and more business lobbyists to the White House.”

The leading Pioneers, according to the report, include Charles J. Wyly, Jr. (brother of Sam Wyly, founder of Green Mountain Energy), $210,273; businessman Dennis R. Berman, $175,000; investment banker Louis A. Beecherl, Jr., $154,000; and cosmetics tycoon Richard Heath, $124,449. Profiles of all 212 Pioneers are available on the TPJ site.

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WE'LL BE BLUNT

It is astonishingly hard keeping a newsroom afloat these days, and we need to raise $253,000 in online donations quickly, by October 7.

The short of it: Last year, we had to cut $1 million from our budget so we could have any chance of breaking even by the time our fiscal year ended in June. And despite a huge rally from so many of you leading up to the deadline, we still came up a bit short on the whole. We can’t let that happen again. We have no wiggle room to begin with, and now we have a hole to dig out of.

Readers also told us to just give it to you straight when we need to ask for your support, and seeing how matter-of-factly explaining our inner workings, our challenges and finances, can bring more of you in has been a real silver lining. So our online membership lead, Brian, lays it all out for you in his personal, insider account (that literally puts his skin in the game!) of how urgent things are right now.

The upshot: Being able to rally $253,000 in donations over these next few weeks is vitally important simply because it is the number that keeps us right on track, helping make sure we don't end up with a bigger gap than can be filled again, helping us avoid any significant (and knowable) cash-flow crunches for now. We used to be more nonchalant about coming up short this time of year, thinking we can make it by the time June rolls around. Not anymore.

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Getting just 10 percent of the people who care enough about our work to be reading this blurb to part with a few bucks would be utterly transformative for us, and that's very much what we need to keep charging hard in this financially uncertain, high-stakes year.

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