Convention cash: Colorado Independent dissects Democratic donors

Our sister site, The Colorado Independent, has an article scrutinizing donors to the Democratic National Convention. Reporters J.C. O’Connell and Naomi Zeveloff queried all 112 announced sponsors for the August gathering to see if they would reveal the amount of their contributions. Only 23 companies, contributing a total of $14.8 million, were willing to release the information.

A similar survey last month by MnIndy of donors to the Republican National Convention came up with equally scant results. Of the 53 donors listed on the host committee’s web site at the time, only 23 disclosed how much money they were contributing.

Under Federal Election Commission rules, the nonprofit groups charged with raising money for the conventions are not required to release any information about donors until 60 days after the close of the festivities. The 2002 McCain-Feingold campaign-finance law barred unlimited corporate contribution to political parties, leaving convention slush funds as the last outlet for unfettered political giving.

The Denver host committee has struggled to raise the $40 million it’s charged with soliciting, with $11 million left to tap at the end of June. By contrast the Republican nonprofit group has already met its $39 million mandate and is seeking an additional $19 million.