Political money moves in the strangest ways
Another Shift in the Wind for Clinton and Murdoch
By MICHAEL LUO and TIM ARANGO
A popular parlor game in political circles in recent years has been dissecting the shifting relationship between Rupert Murdoch, the conservative media mogul, and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York.
Two years ago, there were signs of a thaw, with Mr. Murdoch, who owns The New York Post, not only endorsing Mrs. Clinton’s bid for a second Senate term in his paper, but also organizing a fund-raiser for her.
Recently, though, the relationship appears to have taken a turn for the worse. Mrs. Clinton has been skewered in The Post throughout her campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, and recently taken to task over her claim that she had encountered sniper fire in a visit to Bosnia as first lady (though she later said she had “misspoken”). The newspaper even ran an article, datelined Sarajevo, to debunk what one of its headlines labeled a “ ‘low blow’ lie.”
Now another sign has emerged offering possible clues to Mrs. Clinton’s Murdoch status: Mr. Murdoch’s daughter Elisabeth is holding a fund-raiser at her London home this month for Senator Barack Obama of Illinois.
Ms. Murdoch, 39, who is Mr. Murdoch’s second daughter, is one of several “event chairs” for the April 28 event at her home in Notting Hill. Others include the actress Gwyneth Paltrow; Cristina Stenbeck, a Swedish heiress; and a celebrity chef in London, Ruthie Rogers. David Blood, who runs an investment fund with former Vice President Al Gore that specializes in environmentally friendly companies, is listed as one of 20 “event hosts.”
A $2,300 contribution, the maximum allowable for a primary campaign, offers access to the V.I.P. reception; the main event requires a $1,000 donation.
Mr. Murdoch is the powerful chairman of the News Corporation, which includes in its vast holdings the Fox News channel, The Post and, most recently, The Wall Street Journal. Some of his media outlets have been criticized for conservative bias, having made a sport over the years of tearing into former President Bill Clinton and Mrs. Clinton, among other Democratic leaders.
But an analysis of campaign contributions from employees of the News Corporation and its affiliates, including 20th Century Fox, Fox Sports and the like, reveals they skew heavily Democratic and toward Mrs. Clinton, who collected more than $100,000 in donations compared with about $80,000 for Mr. Obama.
The records show that the employees gave less than $20,000 to Republicans seeking their party’s presidential nomination.
(Continued here.)
By MICHAEL LUO and TIM ARANGO
A popular parlor game in political circles in recent years has been dissecting the shifting relationship between Rupert Murdoch, the conservative media mogul, and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York.
Two years ago, there were signs of a thaw, with Mr. Murdoch, who owns The New York Post, not only endorsing Mrs. Clinton’s bid for a second Senate term in his paper, but also organizing a fund-raiser for her.
Recently, though, the relationship appears to have taken a turn for the worse. Mrs. Clinton has been skewered in The Post throughout her campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, and recently taken to task over her claim that she had encountered sniper fire in a visit to Bosnia as first lady (though she later said she had “misspoken”). The newspaper even ran an article, datelined Sarajevo, to debunk what one of its headlines labeled a “ ‘low blow’ lie.”
Now another sign has emerged offering possible clues to Mrs. Clinton’s Murdoch status: Mr. Murdoch’s daughter Elisabeth is holding a fund-raiser at her London home this month for Senator Barack Obama of Illinois.
Ms. Murdoch, 39, who is Mr. Murdoch’s second daughter, is one of several “event chairs” for the April 28 event at her home in Notting Hill. Others include the actress Gwyneth Paltrow; Cristina Stenbeck, a Swedish heiress; and a celebrity chef in London, Ruthie Rogers. David Blood, who runs an investment fund with former Vice President Al Gore that specializes in environmentally friendly companies, is listed as one of 20 “event hosts.”
A $2,300 contribution, the maximum allowable for a primary campaign, offers access to the V.I.P. reception; the main event requires a $1,000 donation.
Mr. Murdoch is the powerful chairman of the News Corporation, which includes in its vast holdings the Fox News channel, The Post and, most recently, The Wall Street Journal. Some of his media outlets have been criticized for conservative bias, having made a sport over the years of tearing into former President Bill Clinton and Mrs. Clinton, among other Democratic leaders.
But an analysis of campaign contributions from employees of the News Corporation and its affiliates, including 20th Century Fox, Fox Sports and the like, reveals they skew heavily Democratic and toward Mrs. Clinton, who collected more than $100,000 in donations compared with about $80,000 for Mr. Obama.
The records show that the employees gave less than $20,000 to Republicans seeking their party’s presidential nomination.
(Continued here.)
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