Disney/ABC Board Members Gave McCain $8,900;
How Much to Obama?

[UPDATE: See the end of this post for new info.]

Later this week ABC News anchor Charlie Gibson will spend two days in Alaska interviewing Gov. Sarah Palin. It's quite a coup, scoring the first interview with her since she was plucked from relative obscurity to run as John McCain's veep choice, and out of concern for media transparency, I checked the FEC records for the board of directors of the Disney Company, the parent company of ABC.

What I discovered is that board members collectively gave $8,900 over the years to John McCain, either his presidential or senatorial campaigns, or his PAC.

On the other side of the political aisle, one Disney board member donated at least $4,600, and may have contributed as much as $30,000, to Barack Obama's presidential campaign. There are conflicting FEC files for this one board member, and I've emailed her corporation asking for clarification.

All that being said, I can't say if the board members who have donated to McCain applied pressure on the McCain campaign in order for ABC News to get the first interview with the woman who may become our next president, but I hope that by bringing some sunshine to the Disney board of directors' donations that there will be more eyes following the money from corporate media directors to political campaigns.

Let's go over the donations from the Disney leaders. Contributions to McCain are in italics.

Susan Arnold, of Proctor and Gamble, has only given money to the Proctor and Gamble PAC. No donations to Obama or McCain.

John E. Bryson, of the Edison International Corporation, has made donations to Democrats and Republicans, and Edison's PAC, but gave nothing to Obama or McCain.

John S. Chen, of Sybase Inc, gave McCain $2,300 in February.

Judith L. Estrin, of JLabs LLC, is the Disney board member with confusing FEC files. This record, from the Obama campaign, shows she contributed $28,500 in July. However, a search of her records at OpenSecrets.org shows she gave $2,300 in June and another $2,300 in July. It's possible the $28,500 donation is a typo, and I hope to hear back from Estrin's company clearing up the conflicting FEC files on her.

Robert A. Iger, CEO of Disney, has donated $200,900 over the years, with $125,000 going to Democratic candidates and PACs, and gave McCain's senatorial reelection campaign $1,000 in April 1998.

Steve Jobs, of Apple Computers, another big donor, who's given $228,000 to Democrats and only $1,000 to a Republican, made no contributions to Obama or McCain.

Fred H. Langhammer, of the Estee Lauder Companies, donated $2,100 to McCain in February, and also gave the Straight Talk America PAC $2,500 in June 2006. He likes the GOP so much he contributed $10,000 in April the Republican Senatorial Committee.

Aylwin B. Lewis, of Potbelly Sandwich Works, has apparently made no donations that show up in FEC files.

Monica C. Lozano, of the La Opinon newspaper, made no donations to Obama or McCain, but has donated $4,000 to Democratic hopefuls for House and Senate seats.

Robert W. Matschullat, formerly of the Seagram Company, donated $1,000 to McCain in 2000, but no donations this cycle to him or Obama.

John E. Pepper, Jr., chairman of the Disney board of directors and former vice president of finance at Yale, has given nothing to Obama or McCain, but he donated $5,000 in November 2005 to the Republican National Committee.

Orin C. Smith, former president of Starbucks, is a big donor to Democrats, but has made no contributions to McCain or Obama.

UPDATE:

I've heard back from Judith Estrin, confirming her whopping $28,500 donation to Obama. You can read my post about it, with a quote from Estrin, if you click here.

(Gov. Palin prepares for a blanket toss in
Barrow, Alaska, on June 30.)

Full Text of Sarah Palin Story in the National Enquirer

[UPDATED]

This caveat needs to be stated, just in case National Enquirer's attorneys decide to hassle me in court over keying in the text below, and posting it around the web: I believe it's within the scope of the fair use doctrine of U.S. copyright laws to provide the entire article from the September 5 edition of the National Enquirer on my blog to stimulate knowledge of the article for the general public.

As you can see from the note below, I've heard from the National Enquirer, and they're not happy with my posting their full article:

Michael,

We appreciate you interest in The National Enquirer’s Sarah Palin article but you cannot post our entire article, as you have done. You are violating our copyright. Please take it down ASAP. Thank you.

David Perel
Editor in Chief
National Enquirer

Needless to say, I've heavily reduced the amount of text from the article. You can still read excerpts from the story on the publication's site. Here are selections from the article:

Sarah Palin's Dark Secrets
by Rick Egusquiza, Michael Glynn and John Blosser

Sarah Palin is hoping to unite America as John McCain's vice president, but her own family is divided in a vicious war that is exposing her darkest secrets and threatens to destroy her political career ...

The Enquirer has learned exclusively that Wooten cheated on Palin's sister Molly with his first wife Angie, and when Palin found out, she went ballistic.

Palin charged that Wooten threatened to kill her father.

Another incredible allegation emerging from the family war is that Palin, mother of five, had an affair with a former business associate of her fisherman husband, Todd.

"Todd discovered the affair and quickly dissolved his friendship and his business associations with the guy," charges an enemy. "Many people in Alaska are talking about the rumor and say Todd swept it under the rug." ...

Meghan McCain on Abortion;
Paternity Tests for All Palin Kids?

A woman's right to an abortion, and to keep her medical records and procedures private, are principles I very much support, so I'm quite uncomfortable raising public questions about abortion and John and Cindy McCain's daughter Meghan.

But earlier this week on her blog, Meghan brought up the hypothetical question of her having an abortion, opening the door to letting in a few follow up questions to her posting. From Meghan's blog:

The first political convention I ever attended was when my mom was pregnant with me in 1984 and the Republican Party nominated Ronald Reagan for a second term as President. I have been on political stages and in campaigns since before I could walk or talk. If there is one thing I have learned, it is that it is difficult to establish your identity and independence as the son or daughter of a politician. When I was 14 years old, a reporter questioned my father about me having a hypothetical abortion, had I been pregnant at 14. This reporter's question single-handedly changed my life. This story comes up in almost every profile written about me and in almost every interview ... [Italics added.]

I wish she fully explained how the reporter's question single-handedly changed her life. Now, I am fully aware I'm going into private and uncomfortable territory here, probing any public woman possibly aborting her fetus, but when that public figure raises the issue of her father being asked such questions, and she blogs about how it affected her life, the normal zone of privacy is dramatically diminished. That being said, a few question pop into my mind.

Is the reason why the reporter's question changed Meghan's life because she herself had an abortion? What are her views on abortion? Are they in sync with positions her father holds?

Given the "let's examine every potential controversial angle" approach this election season on the part of bloggers and the corporate media, why would Meghan broach the topic her hypothetical abortion? Surely she could have expressed her deep empathy with Bristol Palin and other daughters of politicians, without revisiting that reporter's question from long ago.

Here is how CNN in 2000, from New Hampshire, covered the controversial question:

Republican presidential candidate John McCain, when asked Wednesday what he would do if his 15-year-old daughter Meghan became pregnant and wanted an abortion, said it would be a "family decision."

"The final decision would be made by Meghan with our advice and counsel," McCain said, speaking of himself and his wife Cindy.

Would Meghan be allowed to make her own medical choices? A clarification answered that matter:

Less than an hour later, his campaign issued a statement from McCain clarifying his position.

"What I intended to say is that this is a family decision. This family decision would be made by the family and not Meghan alone," McCain said in the statement.

But wasn't the entire question something better left to the privacy of Meghan and her family? Yes, but that didn't stop one anti-choice group from opining:

"The statement about his daughter is a private family matter. It is somewhat ambiguous, but the larger problem is that Senator McCain does not support the repeal of Roe v. Wade," said Roger Stenson, a spokesman for [an affiliate in N.H. of the National Right to Life Committee].

Without Meghan blogging this week on her hypothetical abortion question, I doubt I would have thought about this whole matter, much less written about it.

In related news about the personal being political, a hornet's nest of trouble has been stirred up by the National Enquirer related to allegations that Sarah Palin had an affair with a business associate of hubby Todd. From the CBS News blog earlier this week:

John McCain’s campaign threatened legal action against the National Enquirer today for running a story about McCain’s running mate, Sarah Palin, allegedly having an affair with her husband’s business partner.

“The smearing of the Palin family must end. The allegations contained on the cover of the National Enquirer insinuating that Gov. Palin had an extramarital affair are categorically false. It is a vicious lie,” said McCain senior adviser Steve Schmidt.

Hmmm, should I be wondering if all of the Palin children, should take paternity tests? Did the alleged affair lead to Sarah becoming pregnant? Who else is thinking about paternity tests and the Palin kids?

From the New York magazine blog a few days ago:

Schmidt shocked Kurtz with his outrage. But when the writer pressed him, it turns out that a lot of his anger was over questions that reporters had asked, not things they had published. Schmidt was apoplectic over calls that were made regarding the parentage of Trig Palin, in particular. In an interview with Katie Couric, Schmidt said:

Members of this campaign went to off-the-record lunches with reporters today, and they were asked if she would do paternity tests to prove paternity for her last child. Smear after smear after smear, and it's disgraceful and it's wrong. And the American people are going to reject it overwhelmingly when they see her.

But the mainstream media has not published anything (that we have seen) about Palin taking a paternity test. This idea was introduced to the national conversation by Schmidt himself. So, basically, Schmidt is outraged by journalists doing their jobs — asking questions, no matter how outrageous or offensive, and publishing only things that have merit. (As Kurtz pointed out, how absurd would it have seemed in 2007 to ask about Eliot Spitzer's involvement in a prostitution ring?)

Absurd of me to ask rude questions about Meghan McCain and proof of paternity for all of Palin's children? The answer to my question, in the larger framework of McCain's reckless, impulsive and absurd choice for his Veep candidate is yes, but obviously that hasn't prevented me from posing the questions.

McCain Kids Don AIDS Red Ribbons

I'd like to say a word of thanks to the children of John and Cindy McCain for donning AIDS red ribbons on Monday at the GOP convention in St. Paul.

Photos of the kids wearing the international symbol of solidarity for people with HIV/AIDS and awareness about the disease appeared today on Meghan McCain's blog.

There's no explanation from Meghan about why she and her siblings wore the ribbons, and I've seen nothing on the web or in the press about this, so if anyone learns why they put the ribbons on, please let me know.

Small visible gestures of solidarity, to be sure, but anything positive from the GOP family this week on HIV/AIDS is something I want to note.

Cindy, Jack & Jimmy McCain

Meghan and Bridget McCain

Meghan McCain

Palin Said 'Minimize' Earmarks in '06;
Then Requested $197M From Feds

On one hand, an interview in the fall of 2006, before Sarah Palin was elected governor, conducted by Tim Bradner of the Alaska Journal of Commerce and web-posted two days ago, reveals she said things about earmarks that might please John McCain's anti-pork heart:

Q: How do you feel about congressional earmarks placed in federal funds to the State Transportation Improvement Plan (STIP)?

A: When I was a municipal mayor I was very frustrated at times with the state's STIP process. I'm all about local control because people at the local level are the best able to make judgments on projects that affect them. Given that, I'd like to minimize the earmark process in federal funding. Alaska is not seen in a very favorable light in Congress. We're going to have to find a more mature way to go about how we request federal funds.

However, on the other hand, a September 1 story in the Los Angeles Times shows that Palin's desire to minimize Alaska's dependence on earmarks didn't exactly become reality:

But under her leadership, the state of Alaska has requested 31 earmarks worth $197.8 million in next year's federal budget, according to the website of Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), the former chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee.

The image above, from the Washington Independent web site, sheds light on Palin's earmark views before she was elected governor:

Take, for example, Wasilla City Council Informational Memorandum 99-62, prepared on June 14, 1999. This little gem outlines some of the state-funded projects that Wasilla City secured that year, including $1.2 million for storm water treatment and $605,000 for pedestrian pathways.

Then, slapped in the margin, former Mayor Sarah Palin — reformer extraordinaire — scribbled the following message:

FYI This does not include our nearly one million Dollars from the Feds for our Airport Paving Project.

We did well!!!

If Sarah Palin believes requesting $197 million in federal earmarks is minimizing the pork-barrel ways of doing business in Washington, then I can't imagine how she would define taking maximum advantage of earmarks for Alaska.

Jews 4 Jesus Clarifies Remarks at Palin's Church

Three little words: Fab U Lous! The Jews for Jesus web site was updated this afternoon because of his role in putting the McCain/Palin campaign on the defensive about his talk at the governor's church. One more big drip, added to all the other drips the GOP has to deal with over Palin, that ain't going away. This group promises more info soon. Can't wait for them to feed more crumbs to the mainstream press, hungry to take down the McCain/Palin campaign. I wonder if I should walk over to the J4J headquarters, only five blocks from where I live, and offer assistance in helping them get their views on the talk their leader gave at Palin's church out to the media, just to keep feeding that hungry media beast that smells GOP blood in the water.

From the Jew for Jesus site:

David Brickner was recently a guest speaker at Wasilla Bible Church, the church Sarah Palin attends. Please be aware that his statements regarding God's judgment have been published out of context in a way that we feel is misleading.

David holds the traditional evangelical belief that God judges all people for sin, and that Jesus is the solution for the sins of everyone who will repent and receive God's gracious forgiveness.

We are preparing some links in case you have any questions about David Brickner's views on God's love for Israel, or God's judgment for sin. Please come back in a little while.

HRC Gave $10K to 'Republicans Who Care'

Funny, I don't recall a press release from the Human Rights Campaign or seeing anything on their blog about how their 527 organization, HRC Equality Votes, contributed a nice five-figure donation to the moderate Republicans Who Care group.

I would think a $10,000 donation from America's supposed bi-partisan gay political organization, would be something to shout about because it shows, to a very small degree, how it isn't totally beholden to the Democratic Party. But I can't expect the P.R. department at HRC to keep the gay community informed about every little donation they make to GOP groups in a tight election year, right?

Thanks to the records at OpenSecrets.org, I now know that HRC Equality Votes not only made the $10,000 donation to the Republican group, but I also have learned, through this page that the donation was made on March 25, 2008.

Now what about the following the money and paper trail on Republicans Who Care? Well, they're affiliated with the Main Street Fund, another moderate GOP group, which in turn is linked to the Republican Main Street Partnership. The Republicans Who Care have a pitiful one-page web site that was last updated back in January.

On the expenditures page for the Main Street Fund, the records show that the group spent $180,000 for broadcast media costs, and the money was used to hire Response America, a direct marketing agency.

And how does Response America tout itself and its clients?:

Response America has served as the direct marketing agency for some of the most prestigious national and regional Republican and right-of-center accounts in recent years. Our direct marketing strategies have raised nearly $100 million and generated over 1,000,000 new donors for our clients.

Our breakthrough voter targeting techniques combined with our firm’s nationally renowned creative and strategic firepower deliver the right message to the right voters at the right time. We know how to persuade and mobilize voters to win on Election Day.

Who are some of their current clients?:

McCain for President 2008
Republican National Committee
National Republican Senatorial Committee
National Republican Congressional Committee

HRC donors must feel so good knowing the organization they support has provided gay dollars to any GOP organization this election season, and that the recipient group is linked to Republican efforts to election John McCain.

ABC News: McCain Says AK Proximity
to Russia Is Palin Credential

This kind of thinking from McCain is supposed to reassure voters he can be trusted to run the country? It makes me want to go out right now and get some medicine from one of my local pot dispensaries, and try to stay calm and able to alugh as the stupidity from McCain rises to ever-higher levels.

From the ABC News site:

Sarah Palin will be "a spectacular running mate..." Senator McCain lists among Palin's credentials her command of the Alaska National Guard, her understanding of energy issues, and the proximity of her state to Russia.

16 P.R. People for McCain Campaign,

Still No Cogent Message

Okay, call me Mr. Naive for thinking that a modern presidential campaign, with 16 staffers running the communications department, ought to be able to answer a few hard questions about Gov. Sarah Palin's foreign expertise that qualifies her to be Veep, maybe even Commander-in-Chief.

CNN's Campbell Brown on Monday tried prying some answers out of McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds, but as anyone who's watched the tape of that interview knows, Bounds couldn't address the simple matter of Palin's alleged accomplishments, especially on international issues, that would make someone vote for the GOP ticket.

But Monday is, in terms of news cycles, ancient history. That was two days ago and still the 16 people in McCain's public relations shop haven't issued a detail rebuttal, with lots of evidence, to CNN's Brown and her millions of viewers. Fear is what strikes at my heart when I think this P.R. team might someday run the White House communications office.

What do these 16 people do all day and should they start informing the American voter about Palin's supposed credentials to sit in the Oval Office, if the White Haired Dude keels over, should a miracle happen and the GOP retains control of the White House? I must have missed the cogent message from these folks about why their ticket should win in November.

From the Democracy in Action project at George Washington University:

COMMUNICATIONS

Communications Director

Jill Hazelbaker

(reported Dec. 20, 2006 by Wally Edge of PoliticsNJ) Spokeswoman on Tom Kean Jr.'s 2006 U.S. Senate campaign in New Jersey. Degree in political science and history from the University of Oregon. From Salem, OR.

National Press Secretary

Brooke Buchanan

Regional press secretary for the RNC, 2006. Department of State Global Operations Team at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, 2005. Nevada communications director for Bush-Cheney '04. President of UNLV College Republicans in 2003-04.

Deputy Communications Director and Research Director

Brian Rogers

Research director on Victory 2006/Californians for Schwarzenegger in 2006. Previously research analyst at the RNC, 2003-05, and at the NRSC in the 2002 cycle. Graduate of Washington & Lee University.

Deputy Communications Director - Online Activities

Michael Goldfarb

(reported by The Weekly Standard on June 2, 2008) Taking a leave of absence from position as online editor of The Weekly Standard. Senior Press Officer at Freedom House, 2000-05. Prior to joining Freedom House, he worked as a reporter in Israel for United Press International and as a writer for Time.com, the Web site of Time magazine. B.A. in history from Princeton University.

Regional Communications Director

Jeff Sadosky

Spokesman on Fred Thompson's campaign (started Aug. 17, 2007). Came to the campaign from his position as communications director of the Florida Republican Party. Press secretary to Sen. Mike DeWine (R-OH). A regional press person for Bush-Cheney '04. Worked at TNSMI/Campaign Media Analysis Group from 2001-04. Graduate of James Madison University with a degree in international affairs.

Deputy Regional Communications Director

Crystal Benton

Started on the campaign as NH press secretary. Communications director for the Reform Institute. Acting press secretary in Sen. McCain's Senate office. B.A. in journalism from Emerson College. From Pembroke, NH.

TV/Radio

Andrea Saul

Previously at the RNC. Media director for the 2006 Conservative Political Action Conference.

TV/Radio

Charlie Adams

Previously on Fred Thompson's campaign.

TV/Radio Booker

Brittany Brammell

Santa Clara University graduate.

Rapid Response

Tucker Bounds

Served as regional/travelling press secretary prior to the July 2007 restructuring. A regional press secretary at the RNC. Oregon communications director for Bush-Cheney '04.

Deputy Comms. Director/National Spokesperson for Vice Presidential Response

Ben Porritt

(first reported by Mike Allen mid-Aug. 2008) Vice president at Outside Eyes. Press secretary to House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. Public affairs specialist in the Office of Public Affairs at the Department of Justice. A spokesman for Bush-Cheney '04, then a spokeman for the Presidential Inaugural Committee. M.B.A. from University of Southern California's Marshall School of Business, 2008. Undergraduate degree from Bradley University, 2002.

Senior Advisor

Nicole Wallace

(started May 1, 2008) Political analyst for CBS in New York. Communications director on Bush-Cheney '04 (announced May 30, 2003 [Nicole Devenish]). Came to the campaign after serving as special assistant to the President and director of media affairs at the White House, responsible for regional press strategy and outreach. Worked on the Florida recount. Communications director for the Florida State Technology Office in 2000. Press secretary to Gov. Jeb Bush in 1999. Worked for the California Republican Party and Dan Lungren's gubernatorial campaign in 1998, and for the Republican caucus in the California Assembly, 1997-98. Briefly a television reporter in California. Graduate of U.C. Berkeley and graduate school at Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University in Illinois.

Senior Advisor

Matt McDonald

(started in June 2008) MBA from MIT's Sloan School of Management, 2008. Senior advisor on Californians for Schwarzenegger. Associate communications director at the White House, 2005-06. Director of rapid response on Bush-Cheney '04. B.A. in economics from Dartmouth College, 2000.

Senior Advisor

W. Taylor Griffin

(late June 2008) Senior vice president for communications at the Financial Services Forum; joined the Forum in Jan. 2006. Director of the Treasury Department’s Office of Public Affairs. Deputy communications director for surrogate and broadcast media on Bush-Cheney '04. Media coordinator and regional spokesman.White House Office of Media Affairs. Press staffer in Austin on the 2000 Bush campaign. Deputy press secretary for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Graduate of Appalachian State University. Native of Wilson, NC.

Speechwriting

Matthew Scully

(started in April 2008) A senior speechwriter for President George W. Bush from July 1999 to Aug. 2004 (includes 18 months in the 2000 campaign). Author of Dominion: The Power of Man, The Suffering of Animals, and the Call to Mercy (St. Martin's Press, 2002). Former literary editor of National Review.

and Matt Burns will join the campaign after the Convention (first reported by Mike Allen mid-Aug. 2008)

Palin Sued by Autistic Teen Needing Services;
Lesbian Lawyer Speaks

I just got off the phone with Sonja D. Kerr, a disability attorney and a lesbian, in Anchorage, Alaska, who has a lawsuit pending in the courts against Gov. Sarah Palin. Kerr has sent me a copy of the 46-page filing, which you can read here.

Kerr represents Billy Olson, a 16-year-old with severe autism, whose parents are suing the governor and the state because Alaska lack 24-hour residential programs for severe-needs autistic children and adolescents. Billy Olson is currently living in an out-of-state residential facility, thousands of miles away from his family.

According to attorney Kerr, Palin was named in the lawsuit because of her official capacity role, as determined by federal inter-agency agreements.

The plaintiffs are seeking relief in the form of the state establishing and operating a 24-hour resident facility for Billy Olson and other young people with autism.

This case is interesting, of course, because it involves Palin, John McCain's pitiful choice to be his Veep running mate, and also because it may be one paper trail not followed by McCain's vetting team.

Kerr told me she's received two other calls besides mine about the lawsuit -- one from a reporter at the Seattle Times, and another from Duncan Osborne of Gay City News in Manhattan. No calls from other parties about the case have been received at Kerr's law office.

Not only that, but an additional curiosity to this matter is the fact, according to Kerr, that Palin has a nephew with autism. Kerr mentioned this in the context of she and others involved in the case expected Palin to not fight and not put Alaskan government resources into challenging the lawsuit, that Palin would instead move to have the state begin addressing the growing needs of kids with autism.

A Google search turned up this bit of info and link:

Alaska Governor Sarah Palin

NOW, THEREFORE, I, Sarah Palin, Governor of the state of Alaska, do hereby proclaim April 2008 as:. Autism Awareness Month ...
gov.state.ak.us/archive.php?id=936&type=6

However, if you click on the link, you find it is dead.

As you can see from the partial docket from the Alaskan court's web site, the case is far from being settled, and no effort by Palin is in the works to buidling 24-hour residential facilities to assist autistic people like Billy Olson and the governor's nephew.

Click here to read the online records of this lawsuit:

08/14/2008	Letter Filed/Lodged (8-15-08, Letter Memorandum and Notice Form sent) Attorney: Owens, Bradley D (7610122)	0.00	0.00
08/07/2008	Letter Filed Attorney: Kerr, Sonja D (0409051) Cindy Olson (Plaintiff); W O (Plaintiff);	0.00	0.00
07/29/2008	Letter Filed to Provide a Citation to Supplemental Authority Re Pending Motions to Dismiss Claims Attorney: Owens, Bradley D (7610122) Anchorage School Board (Defendant);	0.00	0.00
07/23/2008	Letter Filed to Provide a Citation to Supplemental Authority Re Pending Motions to Dismiss Claims Sonja D Kerr (Attorney) on behalf of Cindy Olson (Plaintiff)	0.00	0.00

-- SNIP --

07/23/2007	Case Flagged for Civil Rule 4(j) Tracking (3AN) Sarah Palin (Defendant); Roger Sampson (Defendant); Karleen Jackson (Defendant); Carol Comeau (Defendant); Anchorage School Board (Defendant);	0.00	0.00
07/23/2007	Summons and Notice to Both Parties of Judicial Assignment	0.00	0.00
07/23/2007	Complaint for Injunctive Relief	150.00	0.00