David Koch is hosting a pair of fundraisers for Mitt Romney with Eric Cantor attending at his waterfront mansion in East Hampton on Long Island. One of his wealthy guests quipped that Obama was a socialist on his way in from his gold Mercedes according to this New York Times report.
Romney Donors Out in Force in Hamptons
By MICHAEL BARBARO and SARAH WHEATON
A few cars back, Ted Conklin, the owner of the American Hotel in Sag Habor, N.Y., long a favorite of the well-off and well-known in the Hamptons, could barely contain his displeasure with Mr. Obama. “He is a socialist. His idea is find a problem that doesn’t exist and get government to intervene,” Mr. Conklin said from inside a gold-colored Mercedes as his wife, Carol Simmons, nodded in agreement.
Ms. Simmons paused to highlight what she said was her husband’s generous spirit: “Tell them who’s on your yacht this weekend! Tell him!”
Over Mr. Conklin’s objections, Ms. Simmons disclosed that , the movie company, was on the 75-foot yacht, because, she said, there were no rooms left at the hotel.
Oh! The sacrifices the uber-wealthy must make to monkey wrench our political system! Having to bunk on a luxury yacht because all the luxury hotel suites nearby were booked up. Such deprivation is something I'm sure a major executive from Miramax can tolerate as a front line soldier in a class war on the American Middle Class.
As for Mr. Ted Conklin's preposterous John Birtcher ideas about President Obama, he should know better. But he is a symptom of a new rising power in American politics. The rich and delusional.
The Republicans’ $3 Million Weekend in the Hamptons
By JIM RUTENBERG
Mr. Romney is expected to pull in $3 million from an event at the Creeks, the estate of Ronald O. Perelman, the billionaire financier and Revlon chairman, where tickets range from $5,000 for lunch to $25,000 for a V.I.P. photo reception. Another will be held at the home of Clifford M. Sobel, an ambassador to Brazil under President George W. Bush, and a final dinner will take place at the Southampton estate of the billionaire industrialist David H. Koch, where the going rate for entry is $75,000 a couple and $50,000 a person.
At Mr. Koch’s estate, the guests will be treated to one-of-a-kind scenery as they wait for face time with a possible president. Tucked into the Southampton dunes, Mr. Koch’s home is valued at about $18 million by the real estate Web site Zillow, which reports that it has seven bedrooms and nine bathrooms. Its backyard is the sea.
But the jewel of the day is Mr. Perelman’s. With 9 fireplaces, 40 rooms and an expansive wine cellar, his estate makes the Koch spread look modest by comparison. Sitting on 57 acres, it was built for the painter Albert Herter in 1899, and when it last went up for sale in 1991 (for $25 million), The New York Times described it as “the largest and most spectacular estate in the Village of East Hampton, with more than a mile of frontage on Georgica Pond and a view of the Atlantic Ocean beyond.” That article also said that an American Conifer Society Bulletin — for tree enthusiasts — had called its grounds “the eighth wonder of the horticultural world” and “the most outstanding private conifer collection in the United States, a living work of art.”
This elite event is emblematic of Mitt Romney's whole campaign IMHO.