Who's giving to who?
July 8, 2004 12:17 PM   Subscribe

You can probably guess who people like Janeane Garofalo and Ben Stein have given campaign contributions to. But how about Jennifer Garner? Reese Witherspoon? Siegfried and Roy? Karl Malone? The Newsmeat Hall Of Fame has the answers.
posted by SisterHavana (38 comments total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
Their donations don't really strike me as proportional to their income level. (is there a law that caps donations at a certain level?) Very interesting link(s), Sisterhavana.
posted by shoepal at 12:34 PM on July 8, 2004


Oh, Loretta.

Wow, Steve Jobs gave $50,000 to the Democrats in 2000. I wonder how that figured in when Gore joined Apple's board of directors.

(OT: I didn't know Gore has served as a senior advisor to Google.)
posted by bitpart at 12:35 PM on July 8, 2004


Ed Asner gave money to LaRouche. I wonder how much he spent on tinfoil.
posted by Mayor Curley at 12:52 PM on July 8, 2004


One of Malone's contributions to Dubya was for $-2000. Donation caps?
posted by clevershark at 12:53 PM on July 8, 2004


Interesting that Muhammad Ali gave to both the Democratic and Republican contenders in the same Kentucky House race.
posted by jpoulos at 12:56 PM on July 8, 2004


Sweet link, SisterHavana. It's like a filter for OpenSecrets.

And yes, shoepal, there is a $2k limit on individual donations to individual candidates. I'm not sure about donations to the National Conventions or Senate Election Committees or their ilk, although I did see some upwards of $20k.
posted by Ufez Jones at 1:00 PM on July 8, 2004


A certain Joel Biatch gave money to Joe Lieberman. Richard "don't call me Dick" Head also supports the Dems for President, while both Ellen Scum and Ward Shite used to back the GOP in the 80s.

Pretty amusing, I say.
posted by clevershark at 1:07 PM on July 8, 2004


With the Fundrace Neighbor Search, you can find this data for any contributor.
posted by monju_bosatsu at 1:10 PM on July 8, 2004


Ralph Nader's contributions speak volumes.
posted by jpoulos at 1:13 PM on July 8, 2004


This is a great link. You could surf this for a long time, and not just for famous people. Which is also fun. Would I have thought about whether Nolan Ryan donated to campaigns? No. Am I now totally amused that he only donates to Republicans, except when Bill Bradley was running in 1987? Yes.

As a childish aside, it's also funny to see what people list as their occupation. Nolan goes through retired, rancher, investor, and ballplayer, for example.
posted by livii at 1:15 PM on July 8, 2004


Oooh, now I can find out if all the hot celebrity chicks I salivate over are really heart-of-gold uberbabes, or if at the core of their delectable flesh winds a rotting canker. My sexual fantasies will never be the same!

Starfucking, to be sure, but interesting.
posted by scarabic at 1:20 PM on July 8, 2004


Nader could only manage to give $139 to his campaign this year? He's got a long way to go to catch up to Kerry's $1,787,965.
posted by pardonyou? at 1:25 PM on July 8, 2004


It's really interesting guessing who gave to whom.

Can Canadians donate, I wonder?
posted by orange swan at 1:26 PM on July 8, 2004


Sad :(
posted by misterioso at 1:30 PM on July 8, 2004


NY's Mayor Bloomberg (R) has given a hell of a lot of money to Democrats and the DNC.
posted by Guy Smiley at 1:37 PM on July 8, 2004


orange swan, only if they're Canadians with a Green Card. Living in Somerville, MA, I've been approached twice by DNC canvassers who've asked me, "would you like to help us get George Bush out of the White House?"

My usual reply is, "I'm Canadian. That means, 'yes, I would. But I can't.' "
posted by bl1nk at 1:49 PM on July 8, 2004


I thought as much. Otherwise the Dems would be overwhelmed with international money! Where as the Republicans would only get money from, umm, Tony Blair.
posted by orange swan at 2:03 PM on July 8, 2004


What I find not all that surprising is that Ben Stein is one of those Republicans who gave generously to Ralph Nader, presumably in order to draw away votes from the Democratic Party.

Talking point for any Nader-supporting friends:
"Ben Stein obviously thinks that a vote for Nader is a vote for Bush... how about you?!"
posted by insomnia_lj at 2:06 PM on July 8, 2004


it was interesting to search for family members.
posted by o2b at 3:19 PM on July 8, 2004


The FEC has a search function too if you want to just look up anybody's contribution. It probably searches the same info as the fundrace database.

%I see that Matt Haughey, Anil Dash, and Jason Kottke haven't contributed squat.%
posted by norm at 3:28 PM on July 8, 2004


It's interesting that both Garofalo and Stein have taken an interest in the Wisconsin senate race.

Go Russ!
posted by mrbula at 3:47 PM on July 8, 2004


What does a negative contribution mean? I'm seeing a lot of: -$2000
posted by danny the boy at 4:03 PM on July 8, 2004


rupert murdoch gave money to kerry!

wait till fox news hears about this!
posted by yeahyeahyeahwhoo at 4:20 PM on July 8, 2004


or, to be creepier... look up the donations of your neighbors.
posted by John Kenneth Fisher at 4:25 PM on July 8, 2004


even creeper: Three Bodies Found at Sam Donaldson’s Ranch!!!?

(found on the root of that site)
posted by delmoi at 4:53 PM on July 8, 2004


*sigh*

Janeane Garofalo is every geek boy's dream (especially mine) ;-)
posted by muppetboy at 5:18 PM on July 8, 2004


So does everyone live in Kentucky? I am seeing more than a few Hollywood types giving to this candidate.

CLOONEY, NICK (D)
House (KY 04)
CLOONEY FOR CONGRESS

What gives?
posted by fluffycreature at 7:01 PM on July 8, 2004


CLOONEY, NICK (D)
What gives?


George's dad.
posted by PrinceValium at 7:13 PM on July 8, 2004


Absolutely fascinating. Thanks, SisterHavana.

Fun to see all of Charlie's Angels listed, as well as the cast of Cheers, SNL, and ER. Heh.

And muppetboy: you're kidding, right? Please tell me you're kidding.
posted by davidmsc at 8:08 PM on July 8, 2004


Now I'm glad Karl didn't get his championship ring.
posted by rushmc at 9:33 PM on July 8, 2004


So Homer's a staunch Democrat and Bart's a Republican? It's like Family Ties all over again.
posted by arto at 12:21 AM on July 9, 2004


Under Michael Stipe:

STIPE, KEVIN MR.
ALPHARETTA, GA 30022
REAGAN CONSULTING INC./CONSULTANT BUSH, GEORGE W (R)
President
BUSH-CHENEY '04 INC $2000 03/05


It's not like all Stipes in GA are somehow connected with Michael.

I was pretty disappointed to see the contribution records of some of these celebs. In 2002 I was in charge of an effort to organize student rallies in very targeted districts in which just a small change in turnout would swing the election. I created a celebrity list, based on word of mouth from the Hill as to who would and would not be willing to jump on board with my effort.

About half of the "big Democrat" celebs haven't contributed more than $500 this cycle. Or in the previous cycle. Et cetera...

These "anybody but Bush" celebs are all talk, no action. They're willing to give face time and get some publicity, but they can't bother to write a single check? Reminds me of how Ben Affleck campaigned with Gore, but hadn't ever bothered to vote in eight years.
posted by jennak at 2:03 AM on July 9, 2004


So Homer's a staunch Democrat and Bart's a Republican? It's like Family Ties all over again.

Actually, your link showed that Apu is a staunch Democrat. However, this link proves that Homer has a thing for Barbara Boxer.
posted by jonp72 at 2:03 AM on July 9, 2004


Reminds me of how Ben Affleck campaigned with Gore, but hadn't ever bothered to vote in eight years.

Is that why Gore lost Massachusetts?
posted by Mayor Curley at 3:08 AM on July 9, 2004


What a tightwad: no one gets more than $2,000 from BillG. I'm dirt poor by comparison but I contributed more than that to both Dean and Kerry this year.
posted by psmealey at 5:33 AM on July 9, 2004


[t-shirt] I gave John Kerry $35 and didn't get my name on the lousy internet [/t-shirt]
posted by m@ at 7:16 AM on July 9, 2004


rupert murdoch gave money to kerry!

Most industrialists do this, hedge their bets by giving a little something to both sides; it's a pretty inexpensive way to be able to say they supported them if they won. The real support of a Murdoch doesn't come in the form of a $1000 check.
posted by George_Spiggott at 10:10 AM on July 9, 2004


What a tightwad: no one gets more than $2,000 from BillG

Until recently, at any rate, nobody gave more than $2000 to any one candidate; that was the individual donation limit. They're now, IIRC, double that as part of McCain/Feingold.

(people give more indirectly, either to a party or PACs)
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 12:00 PM on July 9, 2004


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