October 14, 2008

Oversight of Hedge Funds/Top Dem Donors Postponed Until After Election

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On Friday, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee announced that a hearing scheduled for Thursday, October 16 on the role of hedge funds in the current financial crisis would be postponed until after the election. The committee, chaired by Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), says the postponement is to “accommodate the schedules of witnesses.” Fine. But several of the hedge fund execs asked to testify at the hearing are big Dem donors who the party might not want to embarrass before the election. And by big Dem donors, I mean BIG Dem donors. Here are the numbers for the 2008 election cycle (excluding 527 contributions):

  • John A. Paulson, President, Paulson & Co., Inc: $86,974, $43,400 of that to Democrats
  • George Soros, Chairman, Soros Fund Management, LLC : $111,190, $110,150 of that to Democrats
  • Philip A. Falcone, Senior Managing Director, Harbinger Capital Partners: $0
  • James Simons, President, Renaissance Technologies, LLC: $117,050, $105,050 of it to Democrats (only $2,000 to Republicans—the rest went to a PAC.
  • Kenneth C. Griffin, Chief Executive Officer and President, Citadel Investment Group: $70,100, $60,750 of it to Democrats

That’s $385,314 worth of 2008 election cycle donations from five witnesses (one of whom didn’t give anything). $319,350 of it, or 82.9 percent, went to Democrats.

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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