Thursday, April 03, 2008

George Soros, Still At It   [Byron York]

The Campaign Finance Institute has a new study out about 527 groups and the money they raised in 2007.  And the story is the same as it ever was: Democratic-affiliated groups raised $54.9 million in 2007, and Republican-affiliated groups raised $20.3 million.  The top Democratic group, the Service Employees International Union Political Education & Action Fund, raised $13.9 million.  The top Republican group, Newt Gingrich's American Solutions, raised $6.9 million.  The fifth-largest Democratic 527, EMILY's List, raised $5.3 million.  The fifth-largest Republican 527, the Club for Growth.net, raised $940,000.  (These 527s are often not the only group associated with their parent organization, so they might be raising large amounts of money, for example, for political actions committees as well.)

The top 2007 giver to 527s is — drum roll, please — George Soros, with $3.5 million in contributions to Democrat-affiliated groups.  The rest of the top ten are Rachel Mellon, with $3.48 million to Democratic-affiliated groups, Sheldon Adelson, with $2 million to Republican-affiliated groups, Fred Godley, with $1.1 million to Republican-affiliated groups, Donald Sussman, with $1 million to Democratic-affiliated groups, Stephen Bing, with $883,000 to Democratic-affiliated groups, Robert Bingham, with $812,000 to Democratic-affiliated groups, Lee Fikes, with $600,000 to Democratic-affiliated groups, John R. Hunting, with $593,000 to Democratic-affiliated groups, and Francine Goldstein, with $500,000 to Democratic-affiliated groups. (It should be noted that the two Republicans in the top ten, Adelson and Godley, gave most of their money to Gingrich.)  And you should remember that these are 2007 figures — off-year figures — and the contributions will likely go way up in 2008.

As for Soros: In the reporting for my 2005 book, The Vast Left Wing Conspiracy, I asked Michael Vachon, Soros' top political advisor, why Soros had chosen to spend nearly $30 million in 2004 to try to defeat George W. Bush:

Why, I asked Vachon, was Soros giving such huge sums? It seemed out of character for a man who had previously never made a contribution above $100,000. Vachon said Soros was simply trying to ensure a fair competition in the presidential race, to level the playing field between the rich Republican Party and the poor Democratic Party. “Look at the playing field,” he told me. “There is so much money on the other side. This is what was available.”

Fast-forward to today.  Things have changed.  If Soros wanted to use his money to level the playing field, wouldn't he be giving to Republican groups?  I'll have to ask about that.

04/03 01:51 PMShare