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Letter to the editor

John Kerry's top contributors

By Times Staff Writer
Published July 25, 2004

Among the top 20 are seven law firms, five Wall Street investment firms, four top universities, three big corporations and the federal government, whose employees, their families and each organization's political action committees contributed to Kerry's campaign. Figures are for January 2003 through early July 2004.

Contributor - Amount

1. University of California $295,125

2. Harvard University $203,935

3. Skadden, Arps et al. $187,475

4. Time Warner $177,006

5. Citigroup Inc. $157,806

6. UBS Americas $157,450

7. Goldman Sachs $155,250

8. Robins, Kaplan $148,250

9. Piper Rudnick LLP $131,152

10. Viacom Inc. $106,444

11. Microsoft $104,663

12. Mintz, Levin et al. $102,301

13. Akin, Gump et al. $102,200

14. Morgan Stanley $101,954

15. JP Morgan Chase $101,237

16. Stanford University $97,950

17. Holland & Knight $94,930

18. Latham & Watkins $94,025

19. U.S. government $90,749

20. Columbia University $88,383

- Source: Center for Responsive Politics

John Kerry's fundraising drive relies heavily on bundlers: deep-pocket donors who pull together individual donations - each under the $2,000 federal limit -- into quantities often ranging up to $250,000 and more. Of the 564 bundlers who each have collected at least $50,000 for the Kerry campaign, 21 are based in Florida. In Florida, 10 of the 21, including all three from the Tampa Bay area, include:

Frank Sanchez - Cambridge Negotiations Strategies, Tampa

Barry Cohen - Cohen Jayson & Foster law firm, Tampa

Jim Wilkes - Wilkes & McHugh law firm, Tampa

John Morgan - Morgan Colling Gilbert law firm, Orlando

Jay Blumenkopf - Proskauer Rose law firm, Boca Raton

Don Hinkle - Hinkle & Foran law firm, Tallahassee

William Huggett - William Huggett law firm, Miami

Chris Korge - Korge & Korge law firm, Coral Gables

Kirk Wagar - Wagar Murray law firm, Coconut Grove

Fernando Amandi - retired from Citibank/Motorola, Miami

- Source: Times research, Kerry campaign, www.whitehouseforsale.org

Some of the biggest sums of political funding used to come in the form of "soft" money that could be donated to political parties but not to specific candidates. New campaign laws banned the excesses of soft money, but still allow individuals to contribute up to $95,000 per two-year election cycle to political parties and PACs. The result? Indirect contributions are still big business with wealthy contributors during the presidential campaigns. In Florida, here are 10 examples of individuals from among dozens in the state who have given at least $25,000 (and often much more) to support the Democratic causes and, indirectly, the Kerry presidential campaign.

1. Daniel S. Abraham, former CEO of Slim-Fast Foods, West Palm Beach.

2. Fernando Amandi, retired Citigroup executive and prominent Republican backing Kerry, Highland Beach.

3. Paul L. Cejas, CEO of PLC Investments and the former U.S. Ambassador to Belgium (under Clinton), Miami Beach.

4. John Coale, lawyer with Coale Cooley in D.C. and Clearwater and husband of Fox News commentator Greta Van Susteren.

5. Gloria Gary, CEO of Gary Enterprises and wife of high-profile trial lawyer Willie Gary, Stuart.

6. Michael Goldberg, president of Miami's Aerolease Corp., fundraiser in Aspen.

7. Sidney Kohl, part of family that owned Kohl's department stores, Palm Beach.

8. Philip Levine, CEO of On Board Media and Bill Clinton buddy, Miami Beach.

9. Rodney Margol, co-vice chairman for finance, Democratic National Committee, lawyer with Margol & Pennington, Jacksonville.

10. Andrew Tobias, bestselling financial advice author, Miami Beach.

Source: Center for Responsive Politics

[Last modified July 24, 2004, 23:56:20]