As we know, a letter was sent to Speaker Nancy Pelosi from the 20 mega-rich Clinton donors, asking her to retract her statement that she gave on ABC's "This Week With George" about how superdelegates should go with the leader in pledged delegates for the nomination.
Here's their implied threat to Speaker Pelosi below:
We have been strong supporters of the DCCC. We therefore urge you to clarify your position on super-delegates and reflect in your comments a more open view to the optional independent actions of each of the delegates at the National Convention in August. We appreciate your activities in support of the Democratic Party and your leadership role in the Party and hope you will be responsive to some of your major enthusiastic supporters.
I was quite taken by the implied threat in the body of the letter which basically states, if you don't back our girl, Hillary, we're going to ask for our money back. I looked at the list of the names below in the letter:
Marc Aronchick
Clarence Avant
Susie Tompkins Buell
Sim Farar
Robert L. Johnson
Chris Korge
Marc and Cathy Lasry
Hassan Nemazee
Alan and Susan Patricof
JB Pritzker
Amy Rao
Lynn de Rothschild
Haim Saban
Bernard Schwartz
Stanley S. Shuman
Jay Snyder
Maureen White and Steven Rattner
I decided to see how credible this threat was by looking up the donations they'd given to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
Marc Aronchick
He's an attorney in Pennsylvania with the law firm Segal and Pudlin. He's given over:
$87,750
to Democrats. And the DCCC has received $7,000 from Marc Aronchick.
Clarence Avant
He's one of the owners of MoTown Records and of Polygram Records as well. He's given over:
$329,115
to Democrats. And the DCCC has received $38,000 from Clarence Avant since 1993.
Susie Tompkins Buell
I couldn't find employment for Susie Tompkins Buell, but she's given over:
$558,622
to Democrats since 1997. And the DCCC has received $31,250 from Susie Tompkins Buell.
Sim Farar
He's a securities banker. He's given over:
$203,814
to Democrats. And the DCCC has received nothing from him specifically.
Robert L. Johnson
As we all know, he owns Black Entertainment Television. He's given over:
$1,703,977
to Democrats since 1995. And the DCCC has received $52,000 from him.
Chris Korge
He owns his own firm, and he's given over:
$180,950
to Democrats since 1994. And the DCCC has received nothing from him.
Marc and Cathy Lasry
Marc's given over $240,300 to Democrats and Cathy has given $205,800 to Democrats as well. Together, they've given about $100,000 to the DCCC.
Hassan Nemazee
He seems to be a venture capitalist, and he's given over:
$398,500
to Democrats. The DCCC has received $26,000 from him.
Alan and Susan Patricof
Alan's also in the financial industry. He's given over:
$558,585
to Democrats. His wife, Susan, has given $465,957 to Democrats as well. Together, they've given about $57,500 to the DCCC.
JB Pritzker
Also another venture capitalist. He's given over:
$132,100
to Democrats as well. The DCCC has received $12,900 from him.
Amy Rao
Amy Rao seems to own a computer firm, and she's given over:
$288,750
to Democrats. The DCCC has received $41,000 from her.
Lynn De Rothschild
She's of the Rothschild family name and wealth. She's given over $2,000 to Dick Gephardt, which was what I could find on opensecrets. And nothing to the DCCC from her. I'm sure there's more information on FEC.
Haim Saban
He's big in telecommunications, and he's the biggest Clinton donor to date with over:
$13,497,791
given to Democrats in political funds. The DCCC has received $48,500 from this guy.
Bernard Schwartz
Another financial industry guy. He's given over:
$5,280,100
to Democrats. The DCCC has received $42,800 from Schwartz.
Stanley S. Shuman
He's given over:
$543,016
to Democrats as well. The DCCC has received $10,000 from him.
Jay Snyder
Snyder is in the financial industry as well. He's given over:
$654,439
to Democrats as well. The DCCC has received $11,000 from him.
Maureen White
Ms. White seems to be a philanthropist. She's given over:
$427,206
to Democrats. The DCCC has received $2,500 from her.
Steven Rattner
He's also in the financial industry. He's given over:
$699,213
to Democrats. The DCCC has received $11,000 from him.
Finally, we've reached the end of that donor list. As you can see, they have given $25,912,969 to the Democratic Party. As you can see, Mr. Saban accounts for a huge chunk of that money. The DCCC has received $491,459 in total direct contributions from these 20 donors.
Here's what I propose we do to show our financial clout as the little people. I know we can easily meet the goal of $491,459 in a day. Let's send $491,459 directly to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee to show that we will NOT be cowed by those fat cat donors!