Mr. Obama's List of Inauguration Donors Is Disclosed

by Pythiian1 | December 14, 2008 at 02:14 pm
2551 views | 56 Recommendations | 9 comments


On Friday, Dec.12, the Presidential Inaugural Committee (PIC) has published the names of donors whose contributions are being used to stage the Presidential Inauguration on Jan. 20, 2009.

In a statement, the PIC said the move is consistent with "the President-elect Obama's commitment to change the way business is done in Washington." 

The Presidential Inaugural Committee has raised almost $10 million so far to cover the costs of putting on a four-day fete that may draw the biggest crowd ever for an inauguration, casting the fundraising as ground-breaking in its restrictions and transparency.


Individuals are also limited to giving $50,000, considerably less than the $250,000 corporate and individual donations.


Bundlers, individual donors who gather contributions on behalf of the committee, will be limited to $300,000 donations and will be identified on the PIC's website.


According to NP articles about the Inauguration, the Mall will be equipped with JumboTrons as it will be opened for the public to witness the swearing-in ceremony. 
The committee unveiled a new page on its website , that shows every such donation within 48 hours of receipt.


The list can be sorted by donation amount, and the contributor's name, home town and employer. The money will go toward everything from JumboTrons on the Mall to staging 10 official Inaugural balls.


The list of donors and bundlers shows contributions coming from 28 states so far, with a strong contingent of celebrity and power brokers. 


Six pages of donors available yesterday on the inaugural committee Website showed 169 individuals donating $50,000 each, including hedge fund billionaire George Soros, a well-known supporter of liberal causes, three of his children and a daughter-in-law.


The celebrity contingent includes actors Sharon Stone, Halle Berry and Jamie Foxx, Motown founder Berry Gordy and producers Robert Zemeckis and James Lassiter. They each gave $50,000.


Local power brokers are also on the list. District real estate developer Herb Miller contributed $25,000, and Maryland real estate developer Morton Funger and Virginian Anthony Welters, executive vice president of United Health Group, each gave $50,000.



The unofficial Inaugural balls are not supported by the PIC as discussed in another NP article by this writer.  

recommend This comment thread is now closed
0
Jarrett Martineau

Thanks for this post. Good work.

0
Pythiian1

Thank you for your comment and recommendation.

1
denseatoms

Should answer the questions of those conscientious enough to look (of either political stripe).

1
Pythiian1

I hope people will click through the URLs provided in the article. The information is self-explanatory. 

0
Paschen

Some off those donors are not named since this list is only limited to one event and those not include all donors to Obama since the campaign started, off wish there are some I would not want to see on a donors list. 

0
Pythiian1

Thanks for your recommendation, Paschen. You're right, the Obama presidential campaign donors' list is completely separate from the list of Inauguration donors. 

1
politisite

Did you check that List Twice?

0
jayinvienna

Construction of viewing stands in front of the White House began more than two months before the January 20, 2009 presidential inauguration. The actual oath of office will be administered on the western steps of the U.S. Capitol building. After the ceremony, the new president will follow the parade route down Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House.

jayinvienna has contributed a photo to this story.

0
Pythiian1

Thanks Jayinvienna for your photo. 

This story was created over 3 months ago, the comment thread is now closed.

What is NowPublic?

NowPublic lets people work together to cover news events around the world.

Find out more

Crowd Power

Rhonda J Mangus
First Flagged at 2:23 PM, Dec 14, 2008 by Rhonda J Mangus
These members have powered this story:

Related Stories

Recommendations (56)

Most recently recommended by:
 

closeSign in to NowPublic

is reporting from