Most key Bush fund-raisers are executives, entrepreneurs

WASHINGTON -- Almost three-quarters of President Bush's top campaign fund-raisers are corporate executives or business owners, and about 1 in 5 work for a financial services company, according to a study by a public interest group.

Texans for Public Justice, a group that tracks campaign finance, said that 358 of Bush's top 511 fund-raisers are corporate executives or business owners and that 99 work in the financial industry.

The report says that 91 top fund-raisers are lawyers or lobbyists.

Henry M. Paulson Jr., chairman of Goldman Sachs Group Inc., and William Strong, a managing director of Morgan Stanley are among the campaign's top donors. The campaign lists its top fund-raisers as rangers, who have raised at least $200,000, or pioneers, who have raised $100,000.

"The White House's agenda is business' agenda, and vice-versa," said Craig McDonald, executive director of Texans for Public Justice.

The study details the extent of corporate investments in Bush's reelection. Bush has raised at least $202 million for his reelection campaign, and Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kerry, 60, a four-term Massachusetts senator, has raised at least $116.3 million, according to Federal Election Commission filings and figures on the campaigns' websites.

Bush's campaign has twice as many people who raised at least $100,000 for the president's reelection as it did when Bush ran for the presidency in 2000, according to the Texas group.

Bush campaign spokesman Terry Holt said business leaders support the president because of his economic policies.

"The president's low-tax, low-regulation policies have led this country from recession to recovery," Holt said. "Job creators in this country recognize that the president's policies are working, getting this economy back on track."

Mary Beth Cahill, Kerry's campaign manager, said in a written statement that Bush should release a list of all meetings that White House officials had with campaign donors or their lobbyists. Kerry released a list of his meetings with lobbyists earlier this year.

"It's time for this pay-to-play White House to come clean about how these donations influence the president," Cahill said.

Bush, 57, has taken in campaign contributions from 261 chief executives of companies listed in the Russell 1000 Index, compared with 36 who have donated to Kerry. That's fewer than the 56 Russell 1000 chief executives who donated to Vice President Al Gore, the Democratic nominee in 2000.

At least 32 corporate chief executive officers have raised $200,000 or more for Bush. No chief executive of a company in Standard & Poor's 500 raised that much for Kerry.

The study said that the Bush administration has backed policies supported by the top fund-raisers. Bush has endorsed legislation making it harder for people to file for bankruptcy, a bill pushed by the banking industry. Lance Weaver, vice chairman of MBNA Corp. and former president Charles Cawley are among Bush's top fund-raisers. The company is the nation's second-largest issuer of credit cards.

Wall Street has boosted its donations to Bush, who signed a cut in taxes on capital gains and dividends and who has called for allowing Americans to invest part of their Social Security taxes in the stock market. Bush has received at least $6.6 million in contributions from the securities industry, up from $4 million in 2000, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan research group.

Holt said that Bush supports legislation that is good for the economy and that "people who see those policies at work are supporting the president."

Earlier this month, employees of Morgan Stanley and their relatives became Bush's most generous donors, giving him $518,255 for his campaign. Strong and Morgan Stanley chief executive officer Philip Purcell are two of Bush's top fund- raisers, along with Paulson and Merrill Lynch & Co. chief executive Stanley O'Neal.