Here's one more good reason to never give politicians a single buck: One day they're championing childrens' rights, the next they're givin' 'em the IM reach-around. And then bored bloggers with nothing to do go looking to see how much money you gave to the guy who blames his boy-craziness on the booze and the other guy who covered his ass. Of course, the donations were all probably innocent and well-meaning, but, hey, how else we gonna fill up this thing? Unless you want more Terrell Owens stories. Got plenty of those. Maybe later.
According to Federal Election Commission campaign contribution reports, there are a couple of North Texans who may be rethinking their contributions to Mark Foley, the Florida Republican who's prone to masturbating while waiting for votes in the House of Representatives. Three years ago, Foley got a nice slice from our own Pete Sessions, who was just voted one of the "most corrupt members of Congress" by Center For Responsibility And Ethics In Washington. He gave Foley $1,000 in April 2003.
Foley got more than that from Clint Carlson, the namesake of Carlson Capital, L.P. investment group on McKinney Avenue. Carlson gave Foley $4,500 over a period dating from June 2003 to May of this year.
Three years ago, AmeriPath President Joseph Sonnier gave Foley $250, and a year earlier, local financial planner Todd Healey gave Foley $450. Plano's Daniel Delich, who works for consulting giant Camp, Dresser & McKee's Dallas office as a management consultant, gave Foley $500 even further back--in 2001. But Fort Worth's David Bonderman, who co-founded the well-known private equity investment firm Texas Pacific Group, has given Foley $2,000--half of it in August 2005, half of it two months ago. Texas Pacific Group is among the new owners of MGM, incidentally, along with Sony, Providence Equity Partners and Comcast.
Some other locals may also be rethinking their political investments: A handful of North Texans have given dough to Tom Reynolds, the House members whose chief of staff, Kirk Fordham, "negotiated with ABC News on Foley's behalf to try to contain the story," as Salon puts it this morning in its story about money passed between Reynolds and Foley and other deep ties between the two men. Wendy Baker-Mounce of Fort Worth, who's listed as the owner of "Sleep & Wellness Centers," gave the chairman of the campaign arm of House Republicans, the National Republican Congressional Committee, $1,000 on February 21. Susan Schwartz, a partner at the law firm Henslee Fowler Hepworth & Schwartz, also gave Reynolds $1,000 on March 31. Jeffrey Holler, chief financial officer for the Arlington-based Capital Chart Room (which is "navigating wealth for the affluent," says on its Web site), gave Reynolds a mere $500--but that was four years ago. Joel Maten's contributions to Reynolds date back even further: The real-estater and his wife Rosaleen gave him $2,000 eight long years ago.
Like I said, all probably harmless. But we killed a good five minutes there, didn't we? Gotta go. The boss is IM'ing me about our lunch plans. --Robert Wilonsky
