Source:
New York TimesNovember 25, 2008, 2:40 PM
Obama to Limit Inaugural DonationsBy KATHARINE Q. SEELYE
Barack Obama’s inaugural committee is limiting the amount of donations that it will accept to $50,000, part of his continuing pledge to limit the influence of money in government and a signal that Mr. Obama intends to encourage the public to participate in his inaugural. Inaugurations of previous presidents have accepted single donations as high as $250,000.
Mr. Obama’s newly formed inaugural committee announced further financial restrictions for the Jan. 20 celebration, saying today that it would not accept contributions for the inaugural from corporations, political action committees, lobbyists who are currently registered with the federal government, people who are not citizens of the United States or from registered foreign agents.
Five co-chairs of the committee were named today: William Daley, former Commerce secretary under President Bill Clinton; Penny Pritzker, finance chair of Mr. Obama’s presidential campaign; John W. Rogers, founder and chief executive of Ariel Investments; Patrick Ryan, a Republican who is in charge of Chicago’s efforts to get the Olympics in 2016; and Julianna Smoot, Mr. Obama’s national finance director during his presidential campaign.
Mr. Obama has not put an overall price tag on his inaugural, but Linda Douglass, a spokesman for the committee, said he expected to incur costs that past presidents had not because he wants to open as many events as possible to the public. “We’re going to explore all kinds of creative ways to open this up to the public, everything from the swearing-in to the events” she said.
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http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/25/obama-to-limit-inaugural-donations/?hp
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