homesmillbrae.com » Campaign Cash

Bay Area Republican Donors Give Big Money In Traditionally Liberal Region …

Sun, 02 Sep 2012 15:30:30 +0000

Even though the San Francisco Bay Area isn’t exactly up for grabs in November, national candidates have been spending an awful lot of time here–and yes, that means candidates from both parties.

As the GOP parties it up (and stretches it out) in Tampa this week, a good amount of the money they’re using to do it comes from an area much more associated with opening up its wallet to liberals than conservatives. (That’s not including the approximately half of the $87 million American taxpayers will be “donating” to both conventions.)

(SCROLL DOWN FOR PHOTOS)

While Obama has come into the Bay Area on a near monthly basis for over a year, Romney also hasn’t been shy about heading out to the West Coast and bellying up to the spigot that’s our seemingly endless outpouring of campaign cash.

When in town for a fundraising trip last month, the presidential nominee attended an exclusive luncheon at the Silicon Valley home of tech billionaire Tom Siebel with former GOP gubernatorial candidate/eBay CEO Meg Whitman and former Secretary of State George Shultz. The former Massachusetts governor then shuttled north into San Francisco proper for a shindig at the ritzy Fairmont Hotel hosted by former San Francisco Giants exec Peter Magowen and socialites Alexis and Trevor Traina.

On another fundraising trip earlier this summer, Romney made a surprise visit to the closed-down factory of failed solar panel manufacturer Solyndra, where he hammered Obama on his support of green energy programs like the one that gave the defunct company a $535 million loan guarantee from the federal government.

“[This is] a symbol of gross waste,” Romeney told NBC Bay Area, while standing in front of the factory. “This is not the kind of building built by free enterprise, it’s the kind of building built with half a billion dollars of taxpayer funds.”

According to a report conducted by the Center for Investigative Reporting’s indispensable California Watch, the single largest individual political donor over the past decade is Republican Stanford physicist Charles T. Munger, Jr.. He’s given over $14 million to 25 candidates and 25 ballot measures, virtually all of which have ultimately come out victorious. That ability to pick winners could be chalked up to genetics: Munger is the son of Berkshire Hathaway vice-chairman Charles Munger, Sr. and brother to attorney Molly Munger, the public face behind a California ballot measure hiking taxes to pay for the state’s struggling education system.

The next largest California GOP donor is Stockton real estate developer and San Diego Chargers owner Alex G. Spanos with just under $9 million, followed by investment honcho Charles Schwab at a little shy of $3 million.

These individual donors aren’t the only big sources of Bay Area campaign cash for Republicans. There are also bundlers.

Bundlers are individuals who, in addition to contributing their own money, work to get their wealthy friends and co-workers to donate. Campaigns are only required to disclose bundles contributed by registered lobbyists; making bundlers public is up to the individual discretion of each campaign.

In 2008, Bay Area bundlers delivered between $2.3 million and $5 million to the campaign coffers of GOP nominee John McCain.

Romney, unlike his Democratic opponent, has refused to reveal the names of his bundlers this election cycle, leading the non-profit government transparency group OpenSecrets.org to file a petition asking the campaign to reconsider its decision.

Combine this lack of disclosure with the realities of the post-Citizens United world of campaign finance, where super PACs aren’t required to release the names of their donors, and it becomes infinitely more difficult to discern precisely who in the Bay Area is giving to the Romney campaign.

Californians have given the Romney-affiliated super PAC Restore Our Future $6 million and Karl Rove’s American Crossroads super PAC $4.3 million.

Check out this slideshow of California’s top individual campaign donors:

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30. Marcy Carsey – $309,121, 100% Dem

Company: Carsey-Werner LLC
Home: Los Angeles, CA
29. Paul Michelle Zygielbaum – $316,100, 100% Dem

Company: C8 Medisensors
Home: Santa Rosa, CA
28. David C. Bohnett – $361,600, 85% Dem

Company: Baroda Ventura
Home: Beverly Hills, CA
27. J.J. Abrams Kathleen McGrath – $371,600, 100% Dem

Company: Bad Robot Productions (Producer)
Home: Beverly Hills, CA
26. Alan F. Horn Cindy Harrell – $395,275, 100% Dem

Company: Warner Brothers
Home: Los Angeles, CA
25. Richard W. Boyce – $406,040, 99% Rep

Company: a href=”http://www.tpg.com/” target=”_hplink”TPG Creative Capital/a
Home: Portola Valley, CA
24. Charles B. Ann. L. Johnson – $406,912, 98% Rep

Company: Franklin Resources
Home: Hillsborough, CA
23. Jesse Melinda Rogers – $415,000, 95% Rep

Company: Altamont Capital
Home: Atherton, CA

Jesse Rogers at the Private Equity Analyst Conference.
22. Howard H. Gretchen Leach – $432,100, 99% Rep

Company: Leach Capital
Home: San Francisco, CA

Howard H. Leach and his wife (L) as they attend the inaugeration of 3 fountains at Versailles Castle on June 12, 2004 in Versailles, France.
21. Sandor Straus- $440,125, 97% Dem

Company: Merfin LLC
Home: Lafayette, CA
20. David Desjardins- $524,100, 100% Dem

Profession: Consultant
Home: Burlingame, CA
19. Charles R. Helen O. Schwab – $527,998, 97% Rep

Company: Charles Schwab Co
Home: San Francisco, CA
18. Stephen L. Bing – $532,000, 100% Dem

Company: Shangri-La Entertainment
Home: Encino, CA
17. Geoff Anne Palmer – $578,100, 100% Rep

Company: a href=”http://www.ghpalmer.com/home.html” target=”_hplink”G.H. Palmer Associates /a
Home: Los Angeles, CA
16. John D. Marcia L. Goldman – $580,100, 100% Dem

Company: Pace School
Home: Atherton, CA

John D. Goldman at the 2008 Goldman Environmental Prize award ceremony in San Francisco.
15. Lawrence Suzanne Hess – $719,650, 94% Dem

Company: Lehbros Ltd
Home: San Diego, CA
14. Terrence R. Barbara Caster – $723,450, 99% Rep

Company: Caster Group
Home: San Diego, CA
13. Howard Susan L. Groff – $735,000, 100% Rep

Company: Northwest Excavating
Home: Northridge, CA
12. Stephen M. Silberstein- $750,600, 100% Dem

Retired
Home: Belvedere, CA
11. Robert D. Arnott – $858,400, 100% Rep

Company: Research Affiliates LLC
Home: Newport Beach, CA
10. Morgan Freeman – $1,001,000 – 100% Dem

Profession: Actor
Home: Los Angeles, CA
9. Bill Maher- $1,010,000, 100% Dem

Profession: Actor
Home: Los Angeles, CA
8. Kareem Ahmed – $1,128,300, 100% Dem

Company: Landmark Medical Management
Home: Racho Cucamonga, CA
7. Haim Cheryl Saban – $1,166,073, 100% Dem

Company: Saban Capital Group
Home: Los Angeles, CA
6. Wayne D. Jordan M. Quinn DeLaney – $1,245,200, 100% Dem

Company: Jordan Real Estate Invest/Akonadi Fdtn
Home: Oakland, CA

Credit: ema href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/oaklandlocal/4708869922/in/set-72157624169308487/” target=”_hplink”Oakland Local, Flickr/a.
/em
5. Anne G. Earhart – $1,450,300, 100% Dem

Profession: Investor
Home: Corona Del Mar, CA
4. Irwin M. Joan K. Jacobs $2,205,300, 99% Dem

Company: Qualcomm Inc
Home: La Jolla, CA
3. Jeffrey Marilyn Katzenberg – $2,436,300, 100% Dem

Company: Dreamworks Animation SKG
Home: Los Angeles, CA
2. A. Jerrold Margaret Perenchio – $2,683,000, 100% Rep

Company: Chartwell Partners
Home: Los Angeles, CA

File photo of A. Jerrold Perenchio from 1971.
1. Peter A. Thiel – $4,794,700, 100% Rep

Company: Clarium Capital Management
Home: San Francisco, CA

HuffPost Live will be taking a comprehensive look at the corrupting influence of money on our politics Aug. 30 and Sept. 6 from 12-4 p.m. EDT and 6-10 p.m. EDT. Click here to check it out — and join the conversation.

Article source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/29/bay-area-republican-donors_n_1841389.html

Obama back to Bay Area for more campaign cash – Enterprise

Thu, 07 Jun 2012 06:35:38 +0000

President Barack Obama returned to the Bay Area on Wednesday to treat himself to a second helping of campaign cash.

Spending a little more than four hours on the ground, the president mingled with officials and supporters at San Francisco International Airport, sped to campaign events in the city that generated hundreds of thousands of dollars and then was back at the airport to leave for other re-election activities in Southern California.

Obama arrived at SFO aboard Air Force One at 11:36 a.m., just two weeks after his swing through Silicon Valley. He left at 3:42 p.m.

At the airport, he was met by San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee, Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom and about a dozen female campaign volunteers. Obama gave them all a handshake and a hug.

“Events like this kind of pumped you up and keep you going,” said Oakland resident Nanci Clifton, one of those dozen campaign workers. She said meeting and hugging the president was an amazing and exciting experience.

Another one of the dozen was Regina Davis, who said she was a longtime Obama supporter who attended the president’s inauguration. “This is one of the most important elections we’re going to witness,” she said.

Obama jogged over to a fenced off area where he was greeted by several dozen other supporters, some wearing “Obama 2012″ T-shirts. He then got into the back of a black Cadillac limousine and left for his campaign appearances.

Obama was scheduled to attend

two events in the Financial District of San Francisco. First up was a luncheon at the Julia Morgan Ballroom at the Merchants Exchange on 465 California St.

The very elegant wood paneled Julia Morgan Ballroom, considered a neoclassic architectural gem in the historic Merchants Exchange building, was filled with 27 tables of 10 guests each.

The White House official count was 250, but organizers said the demand for the event — sold out — was big and they wanted to squeeze in a few

more. The majority of those paid $5,000 each to attend, but tickets went up to $7,500 for photo to $50,000 for “table captain.”

Diners enjoyed a menu of summer salad (Upland cress and red frilly mustard with plum vinaigrette); salmon with sea beans, purple artichokes and lemon caper sauce, and assorted desserts.

In addition to Gov Jerry Brown, Newsom was in attendance, as was Richard Blum, husband of U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein, and Democratic party chair John Burton.

San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee welcomed the audience.

President Obama ‘has been thinking the same things that we’ve been doing in San Francisco,” he said. “We’re creating jobs…we’re using our innovation locally to do that..and this is exactly the same page that President Obama has had.”

San Francisco Giants and baseball Hall of Famer Willie Mays, wearing a Giants cap, introduced Obama.

He said he had “a great, great pride” in Obama. “It’s just a wonderful feeling that I have in my heart,” he said. “He’s the man that we need to be in the White House.”

Obama himself was greeted with cheers and a standing ovation in the ballroom.

The president stood in front of a U.S. flag and a California flag before a backdrop of velvet curtains in the wood paneled dining room.

“It is true that they provide me with this really nice plane in this job..but as cool as Air Force One is, it is much cooler when Willie Mays is with you on the plane,” he said.

Obama acknowledged the historic landmark that his election, but added “we don’t make that history unless there are folks like Jackie Robinson and Willie Mays” to pave the way.”

The president launched into stump speech, and said that the idea that “everybody has a piece..in this exceptional, extraordinary country..was slipping away from too many people.”

“The American people are tough, and the tougher the times, the tougher they get,” he said. “Because of the extra talents and gifts and the resilience of the American people,” the administration has been able to create 4.3 million new jobs.

“We’ve been able to stabilize the situation, but we also understand” that folks are still hurting out there, he said.

And that’s why in some ways, “2012 is even more important than 2008…we’ve got to finish what we started,” he said to applause.

He said in 2008 he was running against “a guy…he believed in climate change, he believed in campaign finance reform, he believed in immigration reform,” he said, but added that today the fundamentals of the GOP “have shifted.”

In 2012, “we are going to be facing a fundamental choice,” he said. “I’ve been pretty clear about what I believe.”

“If somebody asks you, you tell them it’s still about hope and change,” he said of the 2012 election.

In one of the biggest applause lines, he spoke of women’s health and said, “We’re not getting rid of Planned Parenthood.”

Some diners on hand dismissed criticism of Obama’s trips to CA to pick up campaign cash and said that they understood Obama’s frequent fundraising in California.

“My reaction is the other candidates’ travel schedule is no more oriented to the masses. I wish we had a system where this kind of fundraising isn’t necessary,” said Martin Checov, (CQ) a San Francisco attorney who attended the event.

Outside the Merchant Exchange building, there was a variety of vocal protesters, what looked to be a few hundred. They included about 50 from the Bay Area Tea Party Patriots, and another group some protesting Obama’s crackdown on medical marijuana dispensaries, and anti-circumcision protesters.

And there were another two dozen from the Center for Biological Diversity — some dressed as polar bears, protesting Shell Oil’s drilling in the Arctic.

Obama is due back at SFO to fly out to Los Angeles this afternoon for three more events after spending just over 3½ hours in the Bay Area. His campaign reportedly expects to raise more than $5 million in California today.

The president’s Bay Area visit is not public, so unless you catch a glimpse of the black whir of a motorcade whizzing by — or get stuck in traffic because some roads were closed to make way for it — you won’t even known he’s here.

On May 23, Obama arrived at Moffett Air Field in Mountain View to attend pricey fundraisers where he raised millions of dollars in Atherton, Redwood City and the Fairmont San Jose hotel downtown. He stayed overnight in San Jose, and left Moffett the morning of May 24 to cap a 20-hour visit.

His latest visit comes just a day after voters in the Bay Area and around Californian cast ballots for Obama as the Democratic nominee for president. He ran unopposed and figures to win California in a landslide in November, but like Republican opponent Mitt Romney, Obama has been visiting the Golden State to raise tens of millions of dollars for nationwide campaigning.

Contact Mike Rosenberg at 408-920-5705. Follow him at twitter.com/rosenberg17.

Article source: http://www.chicoer.com/news/ci_20795155/obama-coming-back-bay-area-more-campaign-cash

Dumbarton Bridge’s falcon chicks die

Mon, 20 Jun 2011 05:23:43 +0000

Sad to report that the three closely monitored peregrine falcon chicks that recently hatched on the underside of the Dumbarton Bridge have died.

The discovery of a pair of nesting peregrines on a bridge undergoing a $46 million retrofit caused quite a stir back in April.

Not wanting to take any chances on disturbing the once-endangered birds, Caltrans set up a camera to monitor the nest and put up a blanket to shield it from dust and noise.

They even brought in state biologists to keep an eye on things.

But over the June 4-5 weekend, the Bay Area was hit by unseasonable rains.

“The chicks were only 2 weeks old, and they didn’t have … any resiliency to the cold and wet,” said Caltrans spokeswoman Effie Milionis.

Milionis says the biologists and others keeping an eye on the chicks never had a chance to save them.

“There wasn’t any indication they were in trouble – it happened in the wee hours of a Saturday morning,” Milionis said.

Heat is on: The June 30 deadline is just around the corner for San Francisco candidates for mayor, district attorney and sheriff to go public with their latest haul of campaign cash – and donors are feeling the heat like never before.

“I know people who go on vacation the last week just to avoid harassing campaign calls,” said one money bundler who asked not to be named, not wanting to offend his many political friends.

The problem is, between the large number of candidates and ranked-choice voting, no one knows whom to bet on.

Plus, there isn’t much reason to give, what with the lack of big real estate developments needing a vote and most of the candidates running from the middle.

Another problem for the city’s perennial donors – developers, land-use attorneys, lobbyists and the like – is this year’s $1,500 total limit on campaign contributions. They just can’t spread the money around like they used to.

“You have to get on the phone and call family members and friends to encourage them to give,” says veteran PR consultant Sam Singer, who has been feeling the financial squeeze from candidates. “Then you have to let the candidate know you got your aunt, uncle and father to contribute $500 because you asked them to.”

Plus, as one frazzled lobbyist told us, “Everyone’s got in the back of their mind, ‘What if Ed Lee jumps in?’ ”

One thing for sure, says campaign consultant Jim Ross: “This upcoming filing is going to shake the actual contenders from those who aren’t.”

Mexican connection: A new congressional study, co-written by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, says 70 percent of the nearly 30,000 firearms that have fueled Mexico’s spiraling violence in the past couple of years were traced to the United States – with California, we’re told, very much in the mix.

Take the case of Claudio Penunuri, an illegal immigrant living in Southern California, who pleaded guilty to a scheme to buy more than $100,000 worth of high-powered rifles from licensed dealers. Then he shipped the weapons across the border, prosecutors say.

According to the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, 14 of those assault and sniper rifles turned up on Oct. 14, 2008, during a shootout with four men at a Tijuana home that killed a Mexican police officer. Afterward, the cops found the body of a tortured kidnapping victim in a freezer.

Feinstein is pushing for a law to require multiple rifle or shotgun sales to be reported to the ATF – the same way it’s required for handguns.

Clubbed: No sooner did state Sen. Leland Yee win the Sierra Club’s prized endorsement in the San Francisco mayor’s race than he voted against a bill backed by the group to block a giant landfill in San Diego County.

“We didn’t really quite understand why he would have voted ‘no,’ ” said Richard Miller, spokesman for the club’s San Diego chapter.

Yee’s mayoral rivals cite a $2,500 contribution the senator got last year from landfill manager Waste Management, whose parent company, Taconic Resources, is supporting the project.

Records also show he received $8,200 from 2003 through 2009 from the Associated General Contractors of California political action committee, whose members could benefit from the construction.

Yee spokesman Adam Keigwin, however, said his boss opposed the bill because it was the right thing to do.

Keigwin said the bill was really about protecting Indian gambling interests. “The local tribe doesn’t want a landfill near their casino,” he said.

The bill blocking the landfill passed the Senate, 32-3 – Yee being one of the three. It now goes to the Assembly.

EXTRA! Catch our blog at www.sfgate.com/matierandross.

Chronicle columnists Phillip Matier and Andrew Ross appear Sundays, Mondays and Wednesdays. Matier can be seen on the KPIX-TV morning and evening news. He can also be heard on KCBS radio Monday through Friday at 7:50 a.m. and 5:50 p.m. Got a tip? Call (415) 777-8815, or e-mail matierandross@sfchronicle.com.

This article appeared on page C – 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle

Article source: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/06/19/BAQM1JVEDN.DTL&tsp=1

homesmillbrae.com » Campaign Cash

Bay Area Republican Donors Give Big Money In Traditionally Liberal Region …

30. Marcy Carsey – $309,121, 100% Dem

29. Paul Michelle Zygielbaum – $316,100, 100% Dem

28. David C. Bohnett – $361,600, 85% Dem

27. J.J. Abrams Kathleen McGrath – $371,600, 100% Dem

26. Alan F. Horn Cindy Harrell – $395,275, 100% Dem

25. Richard W. Boyce – $406,040, 99% Rep

24. Charles B. Ann. L. Johnson – $406,912, 98% Rep

23. Jesse Melinda Rogers – $415,000, 95% Rep

22. Howard H. Gretchen Leach – $432,100, 99% Rep

21. Sandor Straus- $440,125, 97% Dem

20. David Desjardins- $524,100, 100% Dem

19. Charles R. Helen O. Schwab – $527,998, 97% Rep

18. Stephen L. Bing – $532,000, 100% Dem

17. Geoff Anne Palmer – $578,100, 100% Rep

16. John D. Marcia L. Goldman – $580,100, 100% Dem

15. Lawrence Suzanne Hess – $719,650, 94% Dem

14. Terrence R. Barbara Caster – $723,450, 99% Rep

13. Howard Susan L. Groff – $735,000, 100% Rep

12. Stephen M. Silberstein- $750,600, 100% Dem

11. Robert D. Arnott – $858,400, 100% Rep

10. Morgan Freeman – $1,001,000 – 100% Dem

9. Bill Maher- $1,010,000, 100% Dem

8. Kareem Ahmed – $1,128,300, 100% Dem

7. Haim Cheryl Saban – $1,166,073, 100% Dem

6. Wayne D. Jordan M. Quinn DeLaney – $1,245,200, 100% Dem

5. Anne G. Earhart – $1,450,300, 100% Dem

4. Irwin M. Joan K. Jacobs $2,205,300, 99% Dem

3. Jeffrey Marilyn Katzenberg – $2,436,300, 100% Dem

2. A. Jerrold Margaret Perenchio – $2,683,000, 100% Rep

1. Peter A. Thiel – $4,794,700, 100% Rep

Obama back to Bay Area for more campaign cash – Enterprise

Dumbarton Bridge’s falcon chicks die