Multimillionaires funding expensive pro-Bush 527 ads. No, really.

[elehhhhna]

Multimillionaires funding expensive pro-Bush 527 ads
By Geoff Earle


A billionaire, a professional sports magnate, a Texas oilman and the founders of Amway are funding the most expensive ad buy of the presidential campaign.

The $14 million ad, which began airing in key markets this month, shows President Bush hugging a teenage girl whose mother died in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The ad was paid for by the Progress for America Voter Fund, a 527 group that has run TV ads for Bush and against Sen. John Kerry.

In the latest ad, teenager Ashley Faulkner says of Bush, “All he wants to do is make sure I’m safe,” while her father, Lynn Faulkner, says he saw in Bush “what I want to see in the heart and soul” of a president.

Among the top contributors to the group are Roland Arnall and his wife, Dawn, who gave $5 million to the Progress for America Voter Fund. Arnall is the chairman of Ameriquest Corp., a lending institution. Forbes magazine estimated his worth at $2 billion. Arnall also has interests in oil and gas, insurance, and real-estate ventures.

Also donating $5 million was Alexander Gus Spanos, owner of the San Diego Chargers and chairman of AG Spanos Cos. Forbes estimated his worth at $850 million in 2002. Most of Spanos’s fortune is in real estate and construction.

T. Boone Pickens, who helped fund the group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, is the third-highest contributor to Progress for America. According to data compiled by the PoliticalMoneyLine database, Pickens kicked in $2.5 million. http://www.hillnews.com/news/102704/multimillionaires.aspx

[aquart]

1. Those people have way too much money.

Nothing left to buy but elections.

Let's remove that temptation.

[annabanana]

2. a million people with one dollar each

are worth more than one millionaire. PLUS they have 999,999 more votes.

[slestak]

3. Boone Pickens and I

are both alums of the same university. It breaks my heart to root for my football team that plays in a stadium named after him.

[fishwax]

8. My team plays at gaylord family Stadium, so I can relate

I know there's a lot of mud slinging between OU and OSU (especially this week), but neither of us have much to be proud of when it comes to the stadium name ... :cry:

[ClintonTyree]

4. I'm SHOCKED!!!!!!

SHOCKED I tell you.....who woulda' thunk it? Millionaires for Bush!

[NJmaverick]

5. Yet these hypocrites scream about George Soros

They make me sick! :puke:

[AIJ Alom]

6. "He's the most powerful man in the world and all he wants to do is make

sure I'm safe."

Yes hon. So then when you turn 18, you can remember his kindness and "sacrifice" yourself in Iraq.

If George W Bush cared about keeping people safe, he would have acted in August of 2001. He would have taken the August 6th pdb seriously especially since it mentioned airline hijackings, something that was confirmed when Zacarious Massoui was arrested in Minnesota on August 17 because he asked instructors how much damage a 747 would do if it crashed into a building. And yet W did nothing !!!

Hugging a girl who lost her mom after the worst terror attack on American soil will comfort her, but it sure as hell isn't going to keep her safe. Too little, too late.

[mcg]

7. So both the Amway and Moonie cults support Bush

<http://www.publicintegrity.org/527/search.aspx?act=com&orgid=714>

Progress For America Voter Fund
Conservative issues group
PO Box 57167
Washington, DC 20037
http://www.progressforamerica.com/pfa/

Contributors of at Least $10,000 Amount Raised
Ameriquest Capital Corp. $5,000,000
A.G. Spanos Construction Co. $5,000,000
Alticor Inc./Amway/DeVos Family Interests $4,000,000
Jerry Perenchio/Chartwell Partners Inc. $4,000,000
T. Boone Pickens $2,500,000
Alice Walton $1,600,000
American Financial Group Inc./Lindner family businesses $1,250,000
Robert C. McNair/Houston Texans $1,250,000
American Water Works Company Inc./Ware Family $1,000,000
Contran Corp. $1,000,000
Home Depot Inc. $1,000,000
Omni Hotels $1,000,000
Perry Homes $1,000,000
TRT Holdings Inc $1,000,000
Paul Singer/Braxton Associates $750,000
Crow Holdings $600,000
Kenny Troutt/Mt. Vernon Investments $500,000
Public Storage Inc. $500,000
Yancey Brothers Co. $500,000
Saunders Karp & Megrue $300,000

Recipients of at Least $10,000 Amount Spent
Mentzer Media Services, Inc. $23,209,630
FYI Messaging, LLC $1,545,038
TSE Enterprises, LLC $907,955
CAPITAL CAMPAIGNS $816,243
Austex Development Group $543,000
Moore Information Inc. $174,700
Patton Boggs $59,698
McCarthy Marcus Hennings Ltd. $41,815
Stevens Reed Curcio & Company $28,000
The New York Times $17,500
Cassidy and Associates Inc. $15,000
Advantage Inc. $12,100
United Seniors Association Inc $12,000

[graywarrior]

9. And then there's this for the dems

http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20041027/NEWS/410270301/1060

[liberal N proud]

10. The repubes have millionairs, the Democrats have millions

[Abelman]

11. Ugh

The founders of Amway are from Grand Rapids, right near my hometown. I lived in such a conservative area, I feel like screaming. So, I moved to Alaska. AAAAAAAAAAHAGHGHAHGHAHHAHAH!

I swear someday I'm just going to sell everything I own, buy a condo in Ann Arbor and make a living as a coffee shop attendant.