(snip)
Donors said the institute had become more aggressive in recent months in its push for money. Though it is not required to do so, the institute lists all its donors on its Web site. This year, the organization began breaking them down by ranges of contributions, which showed the vast majority of its hundreds of contributors gave $500 or less. About 40 gave between $500 and $5,000, 8 gave up to $50,000 and 12 contributed above that level.
One donation in that category came from an elected Republican official who insisted on remaining anonymous, even to Mr. McCain, Mr. Davis said. Some donors, though, are communications industry giants who had business before the Commerce Committee when Mr. McCain was its chairman. Echosphere, a communications company started by Charles Ergen, a founder of EchoStar Communications and the DISH Network, gave $50,000 or more to the institute. So did CSC Holdings, a subsidiary of the Cablevisions Systems Corporation, headed by Charles F. Dolan, and the Chartwell Foundation, the charitable group funded by A. Jerrold Perenchio, the Univision billionaire.
Mr. Davis and Mr. McCain, who is not currently raising money for his own political purposes, said they saw no problem in accepting donations of that magnitude from foundations associated with people and companies with interests on Capitol Hill.
Donations under $500
[3508 names listed]*
Donations under $500
Mrs. Joan Arnow
Ms. Edith I. Blodgett
Mrs. Laura J. Buck
Mr. John Buenz
Mr. Gene F. Calahan, Jr.
Mr. Peter Carman
The Constitution Project
Mr. Charles D. Dickey, Jr.
Mr. Frank A. Donaldson, III
Mr. Robert H. Downing
Joseph Hoyt Foundation
Mr. & Mrs. John N. Kapoor
Mrs. Stephanie Keebler
Miss Vivian L. Kimble
Mr. Albert F. Knight
Mr. Bart A. Krupp
Mr. Rhoady Lee, Jr.
Dr. Don Lessem
Dr. Herbert J. Louis
Mr. Gordon R. Lowham
Mrs. Katharine F. McMillan
Mr. Leroy M. Michael, Jr.
Mr. Eliot Minsker
Mr. Thomas J. Orloski
Mr. & Mrs. R. F. Paschal, Jr.
Mr. John M. Percival
Mr. Feodor U. Pitcairn
Mr. Arnold A. Portigal
Mrs. Charles S. Potter
Mr. David Pottruck
Mr. David B. Rockwell
Ms. Ann Elise Sauer
Ms. Cheryl Scott
Mr. James A. Smith
Mr. David Spatz
Mr. John W. Swatosh
Mr. Jonathan Tratt
Mr. Thomas L. Webb
Mr. William B. Webber
Ms. Emilie S. Welles
Ms. Willy Werby
Mr. & Mrs. Wilson Wilde
Mr. John H. T. Wilson
Donations from $5,000 to $49,999
Mr. Herb Allison
Allison Family Foundation
Mr. Robert Batinovich
Mr. Stephen D. Daley
The David Geffen Foundation
Mr. Crawford Gordon
Mr. Max Palevsky
Mr. Greg Wendt
Donations above $50,000
Mr. William Bloomfield
Carnegie Corporation of New York
Chartwell Charitable Foundation
CSC Holdings, Inc.
Echosphere
The Educational Foundation of America
The JEHT Foundation
Mr. Jerome Kohlberg, Jr. Revocable Trust
McMullen Family Foundation
OSI Constitution & Legal Policy Program
Proteus Fund
Mr. Charles H. Spaulding
Stuart Family Foundation
Tides Foundation
*Just a hunch, but I wouldn't doubt many of these folks got listed for buying a $5.00 ticket to view a showing of Gore's "Inconvenient Truth" or some such nonsense.