Blogswarming the Patricians: Keller Through McBurney

I took the list of patricians, from Thomas Keller III through the McBurneys.

Since some commenter will inevitably write "what, don't these people have the right to contribute what they want to whomever they want?", let me answer in advance; of course they do. As demonstrated amply elsewhere on this site, I support genuine free speech (including abolition of speech rationing rules) more than anyone else.

The point is, "Growth for Justice" portrays themselves (allowing for the constant use of the word "progressive", which I argue is meaningful only to people who are hip to the fact that "liberal" is a dirty word, and "progressive" is more opaque to non-wonks) as typical (albeit wealthy) Minnesotans who are just concerned.

In fact, as shown by their campaign donations, the 26 people on my list, from Thomas Keller III through the McBurneys can not be shown to be anything but reflexive DFL contributors: among them, they donated $216,296.46 to various Democrat and DFL candidates, campaigns and PACs, against $1,950 to GOP candidates and groups (and $900 to Peter Hutchinson). That's about 98 to 1, if you're keeping track at home.

This is no representative sample of Minnesotans. These are big-state patricians, supporters of the Minnesota "liberal" establishment. They support a return to the status quo before 2002; high taxes, rapacious bureaucracy, endless entitlements of power to those who administer the above.

I used four sources: Opensecrets.org, newsmeat.com, fec.gov, and the Minnesota Campaign and Public Disclosure Board, usually referred to as MN CFB below. Note that information from Opensecrets and Newsmeat is generally linked directly in the list below; the FEC and CFB sites don't support direct linking to query results, so I display the links to the sites.

Below - my group's contributions on a person-by-person level.

Thomas A Keller III: - A Twin Cities attorney, Keller gave a total of $ to federal and state candidates - all of them DFLers.

Bill Kelly - an executive with Wells Fargo - is on record for a total of $16,400 in contributions at the federal and levels. Along with Patricia Kelly gave 21181.46 in political contributions. Of that total, $1,200 went to GOP candidates and committees. However, while $250 went to Tim Pawlenty, the remaining $950 went to "Republicans for Choice" - not exactly a mainstream GOP organization, sort of like kicking in for "Democrats for Killing Terrorists".

Susan Kinder, listed as an executive at American Express, is listed for over $3,000 in contributions with the FEC, all for Democratic candidates (John Kerry, Betty McCollum et al) and causes (Emily's List); the MN CFB site lists $2080 more for Steve Kelley, Roger Moe and other state DFLers. By another source kinder (who also apparently works or worked as an executive recruiter) contributed $5,000 - again, all to Democrat or DFL candidates and groups. No money went to GOP candidates.

Anne Knapp - A DFL activist and dark horse candidate for the 5th District seat, Knapp's record at OpenSecrets almost $11,000, of which $2,000 went to Norm Coleman, $250 to Mark Kennedy (in 2004) and $1,000 to...the American Quarter Horse Association? Newsmeat shows consistent DFL focus in her recent donations, while the Campaign Finance Board site shows $5050 in donations to the left-leaning Minnesota Women's Campaign Fund State PAC.

Laurie M. Kramer, spouse of Joel Kramer (below), is listed as a mental and/or public health educator on Opensecrets and Newsmeat and the FEC, which lists her as giving $2K each to Paul Wellstone and John Kerry, with another thousand to Amy Klobuchar in '05. She is also shown on the MN Campaign Finance Board site as having given $2,500 to Becky Lourey (on whose ticket her husband Joel ran for Lieutenant Governor in the '02 campaign), $2,000 of it in 2002 and the rest in December of '05. No GOP giving at all.

Joel Kramer is a former Star-Tribune editor, and was in 2002 the running mate of ultraliberal Becky Lourey. He is also the founder and leader of Growth and Justice, the group behind the Patricians' open letter. Kramer, a driving force behind the "Bend Over For The Budget Happy To Pay For A Better Minnesota" movement if there ever was one, Kramer is listed as giving over $20,000 to Becky Lourey in 2001, as well as another thousand to eventual nominee (and gubernatorial campaign second-place finisher) Roger Moe, according to the MN CFB. The FEC lists Kramer as giving $11,200 to the likes of Mark Dayton, Amy Klobuchar, Walter Mondale, the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee - and $250 of it to Rudy Giuliani's 2000 campaign exploratory committee. Open secrets shows nearly $10,000 in contributions, all to liberal Democrats.

Most sources show "Management Consultant" Matt Kramer to have given $500 to the DNC, while the MN CFB site shows $1322 in giving to the 2002 Becky Lourey campaign.

Mark Lacek, who runs a marketing company specializing in administering frequent flier mileage accounts, gave (according to the FEC and Newsmeat, $250 to Amy Klobuchar last October. His wife Susan, who runs a philanthropic non-profit, has no record of political contributions.

Amy Lange, listed as a nurse-midwife at Planned Parenthood, gave (according to Newsmeat and OpenSecrets to Paul Wellstone, John Kerry, Moveon, and the Democratic National Committee. The Minnesota Campaign Finance Board site also shows $150 in donations to the Minnesota House DFL caucus, as well as $135 to ultraliberal Karen Clark's 2002 campaign.

James Lenfestey is a former Strib editor. His wife, Susan, is a regional far-left gadfly, distinguished by being perhaps the most comically unhinged liberal writer working in Minnesota today. Open Secrets shows $28,800 in donations between the two of them (to the whole lefty rogue's gallery; Wellstone, Klobuchar, Wesley Clark, the DNC, Emily's List) as well as South Dakota gubernatorial candidate Stephanie Herseth. Newsmeat shows more. The FEC shows $9,200 in contributions to federal races (Kerry, Mondale, Wellstone) and the MN CFB show still more state and federal contributions.

David Lillehaug scarcely needs an introduction, either as a former US Attorney or as a statist, big-government liberal DFLer, running for the US Senate DFL nomination in the past. He has particularly distinguished himself as an enemy of the law-abiding gun owner. Opensecrets shows $11,000 in DFL and Democrat donations, as does Newsmeat. Interestingly, he gave over $1,000 to moderate, responsible DFLer Joe Lieberman. According to the campaign finance board, Lillehaug ponied up over $3,700 to liberal candidates in Minnesota, including $2,500 to the campaign of liberal-Republican-turned-liberal-Democrat Judy Dutcher for governor in 2002. Lieberman is the closest thing to a Republican that has ever gotten a nickel from David Lillehaug.

Physician David and developer Peggy Lucas have given about $2,000 to various Democrat/DFL candidates (ranging from Betty "Rubble" McCollum to John Kerry) and Independence Party gubernatorial candidate Peter Hutchinson, according to the OpenSecrets and the MN CFB.

Listed as a homemaker on the Open Secrets site, Kim Lund has given over $8,000 to Paul Wellstone, John Kerry and over 4,000 to Amy Klobuchar.

Dain Rauscher exec (and/or consultant) Bill Mague gave $1,000, split between the DNC and John Kerry, according to OpenSecrets. A Deb Mague in the same zip code gave $250 to Amy Klobuchar.

Businesswoman (and sometimes internet talk host Chris Mahai has a long record of relatively small donations (via OpenSecrets, Newsmeat, the FEC (showing almost $1200 to the MN Women's Campaign Fund and $500 to liberal Rebecca Yanish) and the CFB which shows a donation to Judy Dutcher.

Jan Malcolm, non-profit executive (Allina, Courage Center, etc) is on file with about $1000 in donations to Republicans ($250 to Gil Gutknecht in 1997, the rest to varioius Jim Ramstad campaigns), and $2000 to the likes of Walter Mondale, the DFL, and Amy Klobuchar.

"Consultant" Jennifer Martin gave thousands to lefty candidates from Betty McCollum to John Kerry (OpenSecrets, Newsmeat, FEC, and a grand total of $500 - half to the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the rest to the "GOP FC PAC", for which I can find no reference.

Tom and Barb McBurney gave, between them, $600 to Ford Bell, $500 to Amy Klobuchar, $3260 to the left-leaning "Minnesota Women's Campaign Fund PAC" (accoriding to the CFB), and $400 to IP candidate Peter Hutchinson (again, according to the CFB).

Posted by Mitch at July 10, 2006 07:41 AM | TrackBack