The first Fox News Republican Party Presidential debates are over. Not surprisingly Donald Trump entertained and insulted. The supporting cast for his new apprentice show mostly hung out in the background.
The misnamed American Federation for Children (AFC), is a lobbying group pushing for school vouchers, sponsored a New Hampshire Republican candidate's panel on educational issues. Trump did not attend giving Jeb Bush, Carly Fiorina, John Kasich, Bobby Jindal, Scott Walker and Chris Christie some attention as they all tried to squeeze, at least metaphorically, into the farthest right corner of the platform. Every one of them declared support for "school choice," which in this case means more charter schools and transferring public money to private schools. Christie attacked teacher tenure. Fiorina wants schools to build character. Jeb Bush, who has a problem being tedious and borrowing, told the audience "I'm on fire on this stuff," alas in a tedious and boring fashion.
AFC (maybe it should be called American Fried Children) is a major sponsor and ally of ALEC, the very right-wing American Legislative Exchange Council, which is anti-teacher unions and basically anti-public schools. The major funder for AFC is the DeVos family, which made its fortune from Amway. Betsy DeVos is chair of the AFC Board of Directors and also a head of the All Children Matter PAC that supports candidates that are pro-school vouchers and tax credits for donations to private and religious schools.
Many more "debates" for both parties are scheduled. We have barely entered the season of political attack ads that will soon dominate the television airways. But circus like debates and vitriolic TV sound bytes are not where policy discussions take place. The engine that drives politics in the United States is money. Super PACS have already spent about $250 million dollars to elect the President they want, and the election is still nearly a year and a half away.
At a right-wing Koch brothers sponsored extravaganza, five Republican presidential candidates, Jeb Bush, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Scott Walker, and Carly Fiorina, were busy selling themselves to over 400 wealthy Presidential buyers. The group promised to pay close to a billion dollars to elect a president who will do their bidding. According to Mark McKinnon, a Republican Party strategist who worked in Presidential campaigns for George Bush and John McCain, "For that kind of money, you could buy yourself a president." Donald Trump, rich enough to not need Koch money, did not attend.
Forbes Magazine reports Charles and David Koch are worth about $80 billion. Their political groups spent about $400 million in the 2012 election and another $300 million in the 2014 midterms, financing grassroots campaigns, election analytics, and a barrage of attack ads. The Koch brothers claim they are champions of free-market principles and are economic conservatives. They oppose the Affordable Care Act, food stamps, and the minimum wage. Koch supported organizations including Americans for Prosperity have financed campaigns against school integration, in favor of the privatization of education, and in support of charter schools.
The Koch brothers are not the only very wealthy people trying to pick the next President. Many of the Republican candidates have very narrow support from just a few very wealthy sponsors. According to a New York Times survey, four wealthy buyers have provided almost 70 percent of the $20 million raised by Scott Walker's super PAC; over three-quarters of the money raised by Mario Rubio's super PAC came from just four buyers; and almost all of Ted Cruz's super PAC money came from just three families. The Trump super PAC looks like it has only one major donor whose name is Trump.
None of these noted political philanthropists is known for throwing away money. The big question is what do these very rich people think they are buying? I don't care that much what the candidates say to the public about what they want. I want to know what is their message to the purchasers.
The New York Times put together a list of Presidential buyers and sellers. Backtracking to look at what the buyers are promoting clarifies many of the issues in this campaign, especially educational issues. On the Democratic Party side, a lot of Hillary money is coming from the movie industry. Million dollar donors include Jeffrey Katzenberg and Steven Spielberg of DreamWorks, although she has her share of investment backers including George Soros. But in honor of the Republican debate, I am focusing on big Republican Party donors.
The biggest donors to the Jeb Bush campaign are from Florida's health care industry and the oil industry. Miguel "Mike" Fernandez, founder of the private equity firm MBF Healthcare Partners, gave Bush $3 million, Francis Rooney, chief executive of Rooney Holdings, $2.0 million, the Hunt family, Texas oil billionaires, $2.0 million, oil magnates Jan & Trevor D. Rees-Jones $2.0 million, Hushang Ansary, a long-time Republican Party supporter with ties to the oil industry, $2.0 million, William Oberndorf, founding partner of SPO Partners, $1.5 million, Helen Schwab, wife of Charles R. Schwab, the brokerage-company founder, $1.5, and American Pacific International Capital where brother Neil Bush is on the board of directors, $1.3 million. Fernandez's company has large health care delivery contracts with the state of Florida. Schwab and Oberndorf are major donors to Jeb Bush's Foundation for Excellence in Education which advocates for charter schools, public support for private schools, ending tenure for teachers, data-based teacher salaries, and alternative teacher certification. Oberndorf has also contributed big money to a number of other school choice and corporate education reform groups including the American Federation for Children, the Center for Education Reform, the Brighter Choice Foundation, and All Children Matter.
Scott Walker's campaign is heavily dependent on $5 million dollar contributions from Diane Hendricks, a roofing billionaire, and Marlene and Joe Ricketts. The Ricketts family owns the Chicago Cubs and Joe Ricketts is a founder of TD Ameritrade. Another big Walker donor is Richard Uihlein, about $2.0 million, an heir to the Schlitz beer fortune. He has also received big donations from Len Blavatnik of Access Industries, a private holding company and Bernard Marcus co-founder of Home Depot, although they are backing other candidates as well. Hendricks is anti-union, anti-government, pro-charter school, and a big contributor to the Koch brothers Freedom Partners Action Fund. The Ricketts family money mostly goes to anti-union and anti-government causes, but their Cubs charities also support Chicago charter schools.
As noted in the Times article, Ted Cruz's campaign is heavily dependent on a few big contributors based in the oil industry. Robert Mercer, co-chief executive of Renaissance Technologies gave Cruz over $11 million and Toby Neugebauer co-founder of a private equity firm "donated" $10 million. However the biggest contributors were members of the Wilks family, owners of a hydraulic fracturing and oil-field services company, who kicked in a combined $15 million.
Marco Rubio is heavily dependent on four big donors. Norman Braman, owner of automobile dealerships, gave the Rubio campaign $5 million, Larry Ellison chief executive of Oracle Corporation kicked in $3 million, Benjamin Leon, a health care executive, gave $2.5 million, and the wife of Isaac Perlmutter, a prominent entertainment executive, donated $2.0 million. While Braman seems to have used his relationship to Rubio to promote government funding for his hospital projects, Ellison, who Forbes magazine calls the third wealthiest man in the United States, is a major investor in K12, a "virtual charter school" chain.
Rand Paul's big money donors include Jeffrey Yass, Executive of the Susquehanna International Group, an investment company and a board member at the conservative Cato Institute, $2.3 million, Scott Banister, a technology entrepreneur, $1.3 million, and George Macricostas, another technology entrepreneur, $1.3.
Paul's supporters generally are ideologically driven, although, Yass is also a major donor to Jeb Bush's Foundation for Excellence in Education.
Rick Perry only seems to be sticking around in the campaign because of $6 million from Kelcy Warren, a billionaire oil company executive, and $5 million from Darwin Deason, who made his money in computer services. John Kasich seems to be relying on just two wealthy donors, the Schottenstein Management Company and the Wendt Family Trust, as is Chris Christie, Steven & Alexandra Cohen ($2.0 Million) and Paul Fireman, founder of Reebok, who is promoting a new $4.6 billion casino resort for New Jersey ($1.0 million). Schottenstein Management, where Kasich formerly worked, is better known for its retail brands American Eagle Outfitters and DSW. Schottenstein helped Kasich get elected governor of Ohio in a campaign against an incumbent Democrat who wanted to restrict and regulate public money going to privately operated charter schools.
Based on their donor lists, Mike Huckabee (Ronald Cameron $3.0 million), Carly Fiorino (Jerrold Perenchio, $1.7 million), and Bobby Jindal (Gary Chouest $1.0 million) look like only one horse is pulling their wagons. So far the other announced Republican candidates have failed to attract deep-pocket donors which means they will probably be pulling out of the campaign unless Koch lightening strikes.
What do we learn? Big money Republicans think they will make even bigger money if their candidate becomes President. In general they want to promote pro-business small government low tax and solutions that will benefit them, end regulation of the oil industry, build more casinos, and privatize education. Ironically, given the rightwing opposition to the Affordable Health care Act, many are racking up big profits because of the expansion of health care. I guess money Donald Trumps principles.
Note to Candidates: According to a recent Gallup Poll, about half of Americans with children in public schools support the Opt-Out movement and over 60 percent oppose using student test scores to evaluate teachers. About two-thirds of those polled, including parents and non-parents said there was too much emphasis placed on standardized testing in public schools. Candidates, we want to see your opt-out t-shirts!