Local donors bank on McCain

Analysis:

This front page story is based on the Grand Rapids Press look at recent Federal Election Commission records on who in West Michigan is making large donations to Presidential candidates. Three GOP donors were cited in the story and two Democratic donors. Very little information is provided as to why people are making such large donations other than the comments by Kate Pew Walters who thinks that people will back a Democratic candidate because of Bush’s foreign policy. The reporter does not ask for a clarifying question about what differentiates Bush’s foreign policy from that of the Democrats.

However, the story is primarily about who gave how much in West Michigan. The amount given ranges between the maximum of $2,300 to $250, but no where in the story does the reporter ask what the money will be used for or if those making donations are expecting political access because of the donations. This Presidential cycle is expected to break the 2004 campaign record for money raised. Large campaign contributions dominate electoral politics so much that even the Press reporter, when referring to money donated by locals to Democratic candidates, states “Not surprisingly, Democrats came away with pocket change.” The article states that some gave $1,000 to Democratic candidates. Do you think that for most of the readers of the Grand Rapids Press that $1,000 is “pocket change?” The other omission from this story was to not provide readers with non-partisan resources to further investigate campaign financing as the 2008 Presidential race evolves. A useful non-partisan site is the one hosted by the Center for Responsive Politics, which has a detailed data-base for the 2008 Presidential candidates and the money they have raised to date.

Story:

GRAND RAPIDS — Some of West Michigan’s deepest Republican pockets — Secchia, Van Andel, Gainey, Cook — were tapped recently for the McCain presidential campaign at a breakfast featuring dry scrambled eggs.

Now, the campaign is searching for new money, the “up-and-comers.”

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., hopes to pick those pockets when he visits Grand Rapids on May 9 for two fundraisers, including one for young professionals who will be asked to give $50 to $100 each.

In West Michigan, McCain is off to a strong start, according to a Press analysis of Federal Election Commission records.

While former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney was Michigan’s campaign-contribution leader in the first quarter of this year, he was a distant second to McCain in the Grand Rapids area, the analysis shows.

Seventy donors in the Grand Rapids area gave nearly $73,000 to McCain — a fourth of what the senator collected statewide, records show. He received more in this area than the other five top contenders combined.

Romney, who collected more than $925,000 across the state, got almost $21,000 from 15 contributors in the Grand Rapids area.

Not surprisingly, Democrats came away with pocket change — from eight contributors to Sen. Barack Obama, four to Sen. Hillary Clinton and three to Sen. John Edwards.

Just three people gave to Republican Rudolph Giuliani, the former mayor of New York.

In all, 83 people in the Grand Rapids area gave $105,300 to the top six presidential contenders.

Philanthropist Kate Pew Wolters, chairwoman of the Steelcase Foundation board, gave $1,000 each to Clinton and Obama and wasn’t surprised few others had given to Democrats so far.

“It’s still early in the game,” Wolters said. “I still haven’t decided who I’m going to support. I decided to put my money behind the two candidates I saw as being the most favorable.”

She believes the Bush administration’s foreign policy will drive others to help the Democratic contenders — either by volunteering or with cash.

“It’s not going to be just about money,” she said. “But it helps.”

Patrick Miles Jr., who is leading Obama’s fundraising in West Michigan, said he wasn’t surprised at the slow start here.

“We’re starting from ground zero,” he said.

Obama will focus first on the Detroit area, with an event planned May 7. Miles said plans are under way to create a West Michigan fundraising committee and for an appearance here by Obama later this year.

“They’re not going to overlook Grand Rapids,” said Miles, a Grand Rapids attorney who graduated from Harvard Law School with Obama in 1991.

McCain raised most of his West Michigan money — more than $50,000 — when he attended a March 5 breakfast at the East Grand Rapids home of developer Sam Cummings, said John Helmholdt, who is helping to run McCain’s Michigan campaign.

“It was just a buffet line with scrambled eggs that tasted like they were cooked a week ago,” said former U.S. Ambassador to Italy Peter Secchia, who wrote a $2,300 check.

Among the area’s big-name Republican supporters who gave to McCain:

Harvey Gainey, owner of Gainey Transportation Services, and his wife, Annie; Robert Israels, president of Israels Designs for Living, and his wife, Paulette; Charles Yob, the Republican National Committeeman; Stephen Van Andel, chairman of Alticor; Cummings, who is president of Second Story Properties; and Peter Cook, founder of the former Mazda Great Lakes, and his wife, Emajean.

Peter Cook also gave an equal amount — $2,300 — to the Romney campaign.

The family of Amway Corp. co-founder Richard DeVos, major conservative Republican donors in the past, did not give to any campaigns in the first quarter.

The McCain campaign has knocked on the DeVos doors, but nobody has answered.

“They’ve all been reached, all been called,” Helmholdt said. “They’re like a lot of other people, just still undecided and on the fence.”

The McCain campaign hopes to raise another $65,000 at two events May 9:

A $100 per person fundraiser for young professionals at McFaddens Restaurant & Saloon, 58 Ionia Ave. SW.

A $1,000 per person reception at the home of Joel and Lee Anne Langlois in Alpine Township, Helmholdt said.

“The goal is to achieve the max-out ($2,300),” Helmholdt said. “But there is a large pool of individuals who are politically active who can afford $1,000.”

Secchia said his contribution should not be seen as an endorsement. He knows and likes all the Republican candidates and likely will give to them when they come calling, he said.

“I’m not trying to cover my bases; I’m too old for that,” he said. “Politics is like charities; you might support four different charities.”

Isabelle Terry, a 43-year-old homemaker from Rockford, wasn’t invited to the breakfast. Instead, the wife of a stockbroker went online to donate $250 to Giuliani.

She was one of three from the Grand Rapids area who gave to the former mayor. She plans to keep giving to him, she said.

“I would really like to see him on the slate,” Terry said. “He’s very likable as a man. We stand together on a lot of issues.

“But he’s got a tough row to hoe.”