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Bush raised $13.8-million for recount©Associated PressJuly 28, 2002 WASHINGTON -- When the 2000 presidential election ended in a virtual deadlock, George W. Bush quickly raised nearly $14-million to help him win the Florida recount, taking in money so quickly it surprised even his staff. "I think we were a little bit stunned by the amount we received," said Benjamin Ginsberg, a Bush attorney for the recount. According to documents filed by Bush, the campaign took in $13.8-million, most of it through donations of $5,000 or less. Democrat Al Gore raised about one-fourth as much, but generally in larger contributions. The Gore campaign, which filed its disclosures more than a year ago, spent $3.2-million in its losing battle for Florida's 25 electoral votes, mostly from large gifts. Bush's recount fund filed the required forms July 15, the last day of an IRS amnesty program for groups that don't comply, avoiding millions of dollars in possible fines. "They obviously begrudgingly disclosed, and did it way after the fact," said Larry Noble, executive director of the Center for Responsive Politics. "It's better than nothing, but it would have been better to have disclosed it when the money was coming in." Ginsberg said there was no legal obligation to file the information with the IRS because the Bush recount effort was organized as part of the larger campaign, unlike Gore's recount effort. He noted that Bush had posted much of the information on the Internet months earlier. The filings, a stack of documents about 6 inches thick, show that Bush moved quickly to dispatch lawyers and staff members to Florida, Texas and elsewhere, booking hundreds of plane tickets, rental cars and hotel rooms. The campaign also paid $13,000 to Enron Corp. and $2,400 to Halliburton Co. to use their jets.
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