The Mother Jones 400 (1996): An Overview

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Who are these guys?

Well, for one thing, they are predominantly guys–there are only 50 women on the list. Fully half of the Mother Jones 400 are either heads of corporations or lawyers. Many of them also appear on Forbes magazine’s list of wealthiest individuals. More than anything, the Mother Jones 400 are people who want something from Congress (see “Backing Winners“).

Why do they give?

While some give for reasons of philanthropy or vanity, the majority are bankers, lawyers, investors, or other businessmen with a big financial stake in the outcome of legislation like securities deregulation, tort reform, or the telecommunications bill. While there are slightly more Democratic givers than Republicans on the list, the GOP agenda of tax cuts and industry deregulation has opened up a number of new pockets.

How do they give?

Every which way they can. In addition to direct contributions to federal candidates (limited to $1,000 per candidate per election), donors can give money to the Democratic and Republican parties.

Many members of the Mother Jones 400 also give through corporate or single-issue political action committees (PACs), which in turn give money to candidates who support their interests. The total amount an individual may give to national candidates, parties, and PACs combined is limited to $25,000 per year.

Getting around this limit, however, is not hard. The biggest loophole is “soft money” to the political parties. There are no limits to the amount of soft money an individual may give. Although soft money is supposed to be used only for “party-building” activities such as get-out-the-vote drives, in practice it pays for overhead and other behind-the-scenes expenses, freeing up other party money to support candidates.

Soft money and donations to federal candidates, parties, and PACs are all reflected in the Mother Jones 400 list. What the list does not reflect is the money these large donors may have convinced others to give, through fundraising efforts or through a loophole called bundling.

Bundling is when a donor collects contributions from family members, business associates, etc., “bundles” them all together, and sends them to a candidate. For example, Steve Wynn (#373 on the Mother Jones 400 list) reported giving Bob Dole just $1,000 since 1993. However, 99 employees and family members of firms owned by Wynn gave Dole bundled contributions of $78,300 in 1995. In some cases, like Fred Lennon (#1 on the list) and his company’s distributors, it appears that employees are pressured to give.

Who they give to

Democratic givers outnumber Republican givers slightly. A few donors give to both political parties.

Where they are

The 400 donors are heavily concentrated in just four states: New York (76), California (73), Texas (43), and Florida (24).

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

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The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

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AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

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