Source: Wikipedia

Riverview Community Bank in Otsego, Minn., has been cited by the FDIC in connection with “unsafe and unsound banking practices.” Former Secretary of State and current Rep. Mary Kiffmeyer, R-Big Lake, is an owner and director of the bank — a bank that founders say was inspired by the hand of God.

But it seems God hasn’t spared the bank from the national economic downtown. According to FDIC documents (PDF), Riverview invested heavily in real estate and was operating with too few reserves.

“The FDIC considered the matter and determined that it had reason to believe that the Bank had engaged in unsafe and unsound banking practices and violations of law and/or regulation,” according to the FDIC’s order to cease and desist certain lending practices until the unsound practices are rectified.

It cited Riverview with a number of regulation violations, including “operating with a board of directors that has failed to provide adequate supervision over and direction to the management of the Bank, engaging in hazardous lending and lax collection practices, operating with excessive loan losses and with an excessive level of adversely classified loans or assets, operating with inadequate liquidity in light of the Bank’s asset and liability mix and operating with an inadequate risk rating and loan review system.”

The bank is directed by the FDIC to take corrective action to remedy the issues giving the bank 30 to 60 days to implement a new loan review system and improve liquidity.

The bank made news when it was founded in 2003 after founder Chuck Ripka said he heard the voice of God say, “Chuck, if you do all the things I told you to do, I promise you I will take care of the bottom line.”

Ripka told the Pioneer Press in 2004 that 77 people had “invited Christ into their lives” and that 70 “physical healings” had occurred.

The Lord would make the bank such a success that Ripka would be compelled to “tell the truth about what God is doing here,” he said.

Ripka left the bank in 2006, but Kiffmeyer is still listed as director and owner according to campaign disclosure records.

Stanley and Karen Hubbard are in a league of their own when it comes to political contributions. In the first 18 months of this election cycle the couple doled out $163,500 to federal political candidates and causes — $40,000 more than the next most generous Minnesota household. Republicans have largely been the beneficiaries of their largesse, with more than 80 percent of that money ending up in GOP coffers.

Stanley Hubbard

The owners of Hubbard Broadcasting, which includes KSTP radio (AM-1500) and TV (Channel 5), are not newcomers to the political game. Since 1990 Stanley has made 468 political contributions totaling more than $1 million to federal campaigns across the country, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Meanwhile, Karen has distributed 204 donations totaling more than a quarter of a million dollars.

Critics have sometimes accused Hubbard Broadcasting of letting the owners’ political beliefs interfere with its journalism. Most recently the company’s flagship TV station aired a rare editorial praising the behavior of police officers during the Republican National Convention, despite more than 800 arrests and accusations of police misconduct. Left unmentioned was the fact that Hubbard Broadcasting was a corporate sponsor of the event and that Stanley Hubbard served on the RNC Host Committee’s executive board.

In 2006 Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mike Hatch pilloried the company for its coverage of a gaffe by running mate Judi Dutcher regarding ethanol fuel E85. “Stan Hubbard is a political hack and he has a news media station that is full of political hacks,” Hatch said at the time. “What they did is they took her out of context.”

The top 100 givers in the state have made $4.1 million in federal political contributions since the beginning of 2007, or more than $40,000 per household. Republican donors have cut checks for $2.3 million, while their Democratic counterparts have contributed $1.8 million. To get a better understanding of the state’s most generous political patrons, the Minnesota Independent commissioned a study by the Center for Responsive Politics looking at the top 100 contributors.

In the first six installments of this series we looked at the bottom 90 members of the list, those contributing between $23,000 and $67,000. Today we hit the top 10. Donors on this section of the list contributed a total of $1,077,859 to federal political candidates and causes during the first 18 months of this election cycle. Democrats dominated this portion of the list, collecting nearly $700,000 from the top 10 donors.

Right behind the Hubbards on the list is another influential media figure, John Cowles Jr. A native of Des Moines, Cowles came to Minneapolis in 1938 after his family purchased the Minneapolis Star newspaper. He eventually rose to become CEO of Cowles Media Co. and publisher of its flagship newspaper, the Star Tribune. In 1998 the company was sold to the McClatchy Co., and since then Cowles has been a prominent philanthropist and major Democratic contributor. So far this election cycle, Cowles and his wife, Sage, have given $122,000 to campaigns and causes.

Mark Dayton

Not surprisingly, some of the other biggest names in Democratic political circles crop up at the top of the fundraising pyramid. Former Sen. Mark Dayton hits fourth place on the list, contributing at least $105,900 to Democratic campaigns and causes through the first 18 months of this election cycle. Roughly half that money ($52,000) went to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. Although Dayton walked away from the Senate in 2006 after just one term, he is often rumored to be mulling a run for governor in 2010. Spreading around lots of cash to Democratic candidates will undoubtedly endear him to the party faithful.

Not far behind Dayton is his ex-wife, Alida Messinger. The Rockefeller heir, whose brother is Sen. Jay Rockefeller, has given at least $95,900 to Democratic efforts since the beginning of 2007. Messinger, who is invariably referred to as secretive in media reports, has long been one of the most prolific Democratic donors in the country.

A 2003 study by the Center for Public Integrity found that she’d given $2.3 million to so-called 527 groups during a two-year period, ranking her behind only Jane Fonda among the country’s most generous donors to such organizations. She hasn’t stopped writing checks since. An April study by the Campaign Finance Institute determined that she had contributed $433,000 to 527 groups in the first 13 months of this campaign cycle, making her the 11th largest donor to the advocacy organizations nationwide. She also has written a $1 million check this year to bolster support for a ballot referendum in Minnesota that would raise the sales tax to provide funding for the outdoors and arts.

Jim Deal is a relative newcomer to the world of big-time Democratic donors. The retired insurance executive first made a splash in 2006 when he donated $100,000 to Minnesotans for Change, an organization set up to thwart Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s re-election plans. “Minnesota’s on a disastrous collision course,” Deal told the Star Tribune at the time. “Obviously, I’m a liberal.”

That outlay of cash may have been made in vain, but it hasn’t stopped Deal from continuing to be one of the DFL Party’s biggest backers. Since the beginning of 2007, Deal and his wife, Pamela, have contributed $119,560 exclusively to Democrats, making them the third most generous household in the state.

On the Republican side of the ledger are a couple of prominent local business executives. George Anderson is vice president of operations at Roseville-based Crown Iron Works. He and his wife, Barbara, have contributed $94,400 to political campaigns since the beginning of 2007, with all but $4,400 of that money going toward Republicans. George Anderson also made a $10,000 contribution in 2006 toward a campaign to outlaw gay marriage. “I don’t have anything against anyone personally,” Anderson told Minnesota Public Radio at the time. “But I think it’s important to keep that definition straightforward, and not muddle it up.”

Brad Anderson

Brad Anderson has also been a reliable source of cash for GOP candidates. The Best Buy CEO, who got his start as a sales clerk at stereo store Sound of Music, took in compensation of $49.3 million last year. Roughly $75,000 of that money ended up funding Republican campaigns. Among his contributions: $10,000 for the Republican Party of Minnesota and $5,000 for Sen. Norm Coleman’s Northstar Leadership PAC.

Gerard and Cleo Cafesjian are the rarest of big-bucks political donors: they give generously to both parties. The couple have contributed a total of $102,700 this election cycle, split between Democrats and Republicans. Staunch conservatives like Rep. Michele Bachmann ($5,500) have enjoyed their support, as have liberal politicians like Rep. Betty McCollum ($3,000). Gerard Cafesjian is a prominent Armenian-American businessman who made his fortune as an executive at West Publishing Co. The couple is best known for spending $1.2 million to restore the Como Park carousel.

Here’s the complete list of donors occupying slots 1 through 10:

1. Stanley and Karen Hubbard, Lakeland, Hubbard Broadcasting, $163,500

2. John and Sage Cowles, Minneapolis, retired, $122,000

3. Pamela and James Deal, Anoka, NAU Companies, $119,560

4. Mark Dayton, Minneapolis, retired, $105,900

5. Cleo and Gerald Cafesjian, Naples, retired, $102,700

6. Joseph and Christina Sriver, Minneapolis, designer, $100,050

7. John and Sheila Morgan, Minneapolis, Winmark Corp., $96,850

8. Alida Messinger, Minneapolis, philanthropist, $95,900

9. George and Barbara Anderson, Champlin, Crown Iron Works, $94,400

10. Bradbury and Janet Anderson, Minneapolis, Best Buy, $76,999

Previously in The Crunch:

Minnesota’s top 100 political givers: 11 to 20

Minnesota’s top 100 political givers: 21 to 30

Minnesota’s top 100 political givers: 31 to 40

Minnesota’s top 100 political givers: 41 to 50

Minnesota’s top 100 political givers: 51 to 75

Minnesota’s Top 100 political givers: 76 to 100

Vance Opperman has been a major player in Democratic politics in Minnesota for four decades. In 1968, after helping lead opposition to the Vietnam War in Minneapolis, he was elected chair of the Hennepin County DFL. The recent law school graduate was just 25 years old.

Opperman went on to found a highly successful law firm, McGovern, Opperman & Paquin, amassing millions in the process. In 1991 the National Law Journal named him one of the 100 most influential attorneys in the country. But the majority of Opperman’s fortune came from the 1996 sale of West Publishing, the legal publishing behemoth, to the Canadian firm Thompson Corp. for $3.4 billion.

His success translated into huge amounts of cash for Democratic candidates and causes. In 1995 and 1996, Opperman and his wife Darin gave the Democrats at least $350,000 to bolster the re-election prospects of President Clinton. A 1998 City Pages cover story referred to Opperman as “the most powerful man you’ve never heard of.”

“When I was growing up, service in public office was a high honor,” Opperman told reporter Britt Robson at the time. “And people said, ‘I am giving up something of my life to give to the community. I have chosen this as a public service.’ And they meant it when they said that, and I think other people believed it.

“Now, you have to be crazy to run for office, and if you do, most of your neighbors immediately assume you are a crook. And that should make all of us a little bit sad.”

Opperman’s apparent disgust with the cynicism of modern politics, however, has not dissuaded him from continuing to play an outsized role in DFL campaigns in the ensuing years. According to a 2003 report by the Institute on Money in State Politics, he contributed $243,640 to Democratic Party committees between 1998 and 2002 — making him the second largest political donor in the state during that time period. So far this election cycle, Opperman and his wife Darin have contributed $46,000 to federal Democratic candidates and causes, placing the couple in 27th place on the list of Minnesota’s most generous political patrons.

The top 100 givers in the state have made $4.1 million in federal political contributions since the beginning of 2007, or more than $40,000 per household. Republican donors have cut checks for $2.3 million, while their Democratic counterparts have handed out $1.8 million. To get a better understanding of the state’s most generous political patrons, the Minnesota Independent commissioned a study by the Center for Responsive Politics looking at the top 100 contributors.

In the first four installments of this series we looked at the bottom seventy members of the list, those contributing between $23,000 and $44,000. Today we examine places 21 through 30. Donors on this section of the list contributed a total of $477,523 to federal political candidates and causes during the first 18 months of this election cycle. Republican contributors dominated this section of the list, with the GOP getting roughly 70 percent of their donations.

Robert Cummins is in many ways Opperman’s GOP counterpart. He has long been one of the most conspicuous GOP rainmakers in the state. The notoriously media-shy CEO of Plymouth-based Primera Technology has helped pad the coffers of groups across the conservative landscape. He’s given more than $300,000 directly to the state Republican party in the last decade and is a key donor to influential advocacy groups like the Taxpayer’s League of Minnesota and the Freedom Club PAC, which he helped found a decade ago.

Cummins has also been the leading financial backer of efforts to ban gay marriage in Minnesota. In recent years he has contributed more than $400,000 to Minnesota Citizens in Defense of Marriage and Minnesotans for Marriage. Both organizations have advocated for a Constitutional amendment prohibiting same-sex unions.

In the first 18 months of this election cycle, Robert Cummins and his wife Joan have contributed $53,600 to federal GOP candidates and causes, placing them 21st on the list of Minnesota’s top political patrons. They’ve both written checks to all credible Republican Congressional contenders, including maximum $4,600 contributions from each of them to Sen. Norm Coleman. The couple have also chipped in $20,000 to the state GOP’s coffers this election cycle.

Another name on the GOP side of the ledger that’s no surprise is Glen Taylor. The Minnesota Timberwolves owner grew up on a farm in Comfrey, Minnesota. In 1975 he purchased a Mankato printing business that he’d worked at since graduating from college and transformed it into a multi-billion-dollar enterprise known as Taylor Corporation. Earlier this month Forbes estimated his current wealth at $3.3 billion. The Mankato businessman served as a Republican state senator from 1980 to 1986, rising to the post of Minority Leader.

Taylor and his wife Becky have contributed at least $48,900 to federal GOP candidates and causes so far this election cycle. That total includes $17,200 for the state GOP.

Taylor is not the only prominent Minnesota businessman writing big checks to Republican candidates. John Goodman, CEO of the Goodman Group, a Chaska-based development firm that specializes in building nursing homes and retirement communities, clocks in at 25th on the list. The Goodman household has doled out $48,150 so far this election cycle, almost exclusively to Republicans. The one exception? A $2,300 contribution to state senator Terri Bonoff, who unsuccessfully sought the DFL endorsement earlier this year in the Third Congressional District.

In 2002 Mark Davis expressed his disgust at electoral politics in an interview with Connect Business Magazine. “I am losing faith in our political system and political parties,” he said. “Now that our society has dug itself into thinking government can solve its problems, it will be hard for us to dig our way out.” But this lack of faith in government hasn’t stopped the president of Le Sueur-based dairy products company Davisco Foods International from giving generously to Republican politicians. Davis and his wife Mary have doled out at least $46,200 to GOP candidates since the beginning of 2007.

Despite the preponderance of Republican donors on this section of the list, one other Democratic name pops out: Mike Ciresi. The attorney gained notoriety for helping negotiate the state’s $6 billion settlement with tobacco companies in 1998. He has twice run unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate, most recently seeking this year’s DFL endorsement to take on Coleman. Ciresi and his wife Ann have given $45,273 to DFL candidates so far this election cycle, including donations to every Minnesota Congressional contender except for Collin Peterson.

Here’s the complete list of donors occupying slots 21 through 30:

21. Robert and Joan Cummins, Deephaven, Primera Technology, $53,600

22. Tim Owens, Wayzata, Voyageur Financial Services, $50,550

23. Daniel J. Starks, St. Paul, no employer listed, $49,100

24. Glen and Becky Taylor, Mankato, Taylor Corp., $48,900

25. John and Sidney Goodman, Minnetonka, Goodman Group, $48,150

26. Mark and Mary Davis, Saint Peter, Davisco Foods International, $46,200

27. Vance and Darin Opperman, Minneapolis, Key Investment, $46,000

28. Bruce Dayton, Wayzata, retired, $45,400

29. Mike and Ann Ciresi, Mendota Heights, Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi, $45,273

30. John and Mary Wren, Stillwater, Lakeville Motor Express, $44,350

Previously in The Crunch:

Minnesota’s top 100 political givers: 31 to 40

Minnesota’s top 100 political givers: 41 to 50
Minnesota’s top 100 political givers: 51 to 75
Minnesota’s Top 100 political givers: 76 to 100

Jeno Paulucci was born in Aurora, Minnesota in 1918. The son of Italian immigrants, he began his improbable entrepreneurial career by creating the Chun King line of canned Chinese food products at the age of 22 with the help of a $2,500 loan. Three decades later he sold the company to R.J. Reynolds for $66 million. Paulucci also created Jeno’s Pizza Rolls and is widely credited as the inventor of this frozen-food delicacy. He sold that company to Pillsbury for $135 million in 1985. More recently he has developed the Michelina’s and Budget Gourmet lines of frozen foods. By his own estimation, the self-described “peddler from the Iron Range” has started more than 50 companies over the years.

Jeno Paulucci

Unlike many successful entrepreneurs, Paulucci has developed a reputation of being strongly pro-union and has frequently voiced support for raising the minimum wage. “Raise the minimum wage to $7 an hour now, and to hell with the fat cat CEO’s and their millions and billions,” Paulucci said in 2003.

Despite these pro-labor proclivities, he has been a strong financial backer of Republican candidates. So far this election cycle he and his wife, Lois, have made at least $39,800 in political contributions, almost exclusively to GOP causes. The one glaring exception: $4,600 for consumer activist Ralph Nader’s presidential campaign.

Paulucci is the 38th most generous political patron in Minnesota so far this election cycle. The top 100 political givers in the state have contributed $4.1 million to campaigns and causes since the beginning of 2007, or more than $40,000 per household. Republican donors have cut checks for $2.3 million, while their Democratic counterparts have handed out $1.8 million. To get a better understanding of the state’s most generous political patrons, the Minnesota Independent commissioned a study by the Center for Responsive Politics looking at the top 100 contributors.

In the first three installments of this series we looked at the bottom sixty members of the list, those contributing between $23,000 and $39,000. Today we examine places 31 through 40. Donors on this section of the list contributed a total of $418,454 to federal political candidates and causes during the first 18 months of the election cycle. Roughly 60 percent of the money went to Republicans.

These political patrons were almost exclusively partisan in their giving. Only three donors gave money to politicians in both major parties, and in each of those cases more than 90 percent of their contributions still went to one party. Dennis Doyle, for instance, the top executive at the Eden Prairie-based construction firm Welsh Companies, has made $44,300 in political contributions, with all but $3,000 going towards GOP candidates and causes. The Democrats to benefit from Doyle’s largesse: Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Hillary Clinton and Rep. Tim Walz.

There are a handful of names occupying slots 31 through 40 that stand out. Judson and Mary Lee Dayton are among five households bearing that prominent surname to make the list. The Minneapolis couple has given exclusively to Democratic candidates this campaign cycle, including $10,000 to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

Kelly Doran

Kelly Doran’s name is also familiar to anyone who’s followed DFL politics in recent years. In 2006 the multimillionaire developer initially campaigned for the U.S. Senate post ultimately won by Amy Klobuchar, but pulled out citing concerns about the effect that his serving in Washington would have on his family. He then changed course and ran for governor, but bailed from that race before the Democratic primary. “As a political novice, it became clear to me that it was going to be very difficult to run as an outside-the-system candidate,” says Doran, reached at the offices of his development firm. “The obstacles were many and the impact on your family is significant. The analysis of that didn’t make sense to me.”

According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Doran gave nearly $40,000 to Democratic political candidates and causes through the first 18 months of the election cycle, placing him 40th on the list. This includes maximum $4,600 contributions to Congressional candidates Ashwin Madia and Tim Walz, as well as $10,000 to the state Democratic party.

The Duluth native says he became more engaged in politics following the births of his three children. “One of my main concerns is what we’re doing financially for future generations in terms of our mounting federal debt and the problems we’re going to leave our kids and grandkids,” he says. “We just cannot continue to borrow money and borrow money and borrow money on the pretense that this is acceptable economic behavior.”

Most of the other prominent businessmen on this portion of the list line up on the GOP side of the aisle.

David Frauenshuh is a St. Paul native and longtime ally of Sen. Norm Coleman. He is best known for the controversial Lawson Commons development in downtown St. Paul. In 1997, during Coleman’s tenure as mayor, the city began building the $110 million office tower to lure Lawson Software from Minneapolis. Frauenshuh Companies was named the exclusive developer. In 2000 Frauenshuh purchased the building from the city, with no competing bids, for $54.7 million. Five years later the company turned around and sold the office tower for $84.5 million to a Dallas-based developer, pocketing a nifty, taxpayer-subsidized $30 million profit.

Frauenshuh has long been a substantial financial backer of GOP politicians. He raised more than $1 million for George W. Bush’s re-election campaign in 2004 and hosted a fundraiser for the president at his Edina home. This election cycle he and his wife, Sandra, have contributed at least $43,600 to Republican candidates and causes, including more than $15,000 to the state party.

Another notorious business figure on the list is John Grundhofer, former chairman of U.S. Bancorp, who clocks in at 37th place. Grundhofer arrived in the Twin Cities in 1990 to helm what was then known as First Bank System. During his first year on the job he was kidnapped from a downtown Minneapolis parking lot. The bank executive was bound, stuffed in a sleeping bag and left in a remote wooded area in Wisconsin. Grundhofer escaped two hours later and ran to a nearby farm for help. A ransom was demanded but never paid. No one was ever charged in the kidnapping. “I have no idea why this took place this morning,” he told reporters at the time. “We’re very grateful to the good Lord for me being here.”

The turbulent beginning to Grundhofer’s tenure at First Bank System was only a portent of things to come. He mercilessly cut costs at the struggling company, including a 20 percent reduction in personnel, earning plaudits from Wall Street and the sobriquet “Jack the Ripper” back home. “I’m not an evil man,” he insisted to the Star Tribune’s Neal St. Anthony in 1993. “I like people.”

In 2000, after U.S. Bancorp had lost its luster with Wall Street, Grundhofer engineered a $19 billion sale to Firstar Corp., a Milwaukee-based bank run by his brother Jerry. Jack the Ripper retired in 2002, but he didn’t walk away empty-handed: He’s guaranteed a $2.9 million annual salary for the rest of his life.

Grundhofer has contributed at least $40,500 to Republican candidates and causes so far this election cycle, including $10,000 to the National Republican Senatorial Committee and $10,000 to Sen. Coleman’s Northstar Leadership PAC. Other beneficiaries of his contributions: South Dakota Sen. John Thune and Indiana Rep. Dan Burton.

Here’s the complete list of donors occupying slots 31 through 40:

31. Dennis Doyle, Eden Prairie, Welsh Companies, $44,300

32. Daniel and Christine Rice, Lake Elmo, Strategic Communications, $44,200

33. David and Sandra Frauenshuh, Minneapolis, Frauenshuh Companies, $43,600

34. Judson and Mary Lee Dayton, Minneapolis, venture capitalist, $43,290

35. Qian, Thomas and Cynthia Redmond, Edina, retired, $41,900

36. Barbara Forster, Minneapolis, retired, $41,750

37. John Grundhofer, Minneapolis, retired, $40,500

38. Jeno and Lois Paulucci, Sanford, FL, Paulucci International, $39,800

39. Michael David and Barbara Goldner, Minneapolis, retired, $39,714

40. Kelly Doran, Bloomington, Doran Companies, $39,400

Previously in The Crunch:

Minnesota’s top 100 political givers: 41 to 50
Minnesota’s top 100 political givers: 51 to 75
Minnesota’s Top 100 political givers: 76 to 100

Al Franken: The 48th biggest political donor in Minnesota in the 2008 cycle.

The top 100 political givers in Minnesota have contributed $4.1 million to campaigns so far during the 2008 election season, or more than $40,000 per household. Republican donors have cut checks for $2.3 million, while their Democratic counterparts have handed out $1.8 million. To get a better understanding of the state’s most generous political patrons, the Minnesota Independent commissioned a study by the Center for Responsive Politics looking at the top 100 contributors. The analysis covers the first eighteen months of this election cycle.

In our first examination of these figures, we concentrated on the bottom quarter of the list, donors who have contributed between $23,471 and $28,900. The second installment in this series examined the next 25 names on the list, occupying slots 51 through 75. Today we crack the top 50, looking at places 41 through 50.

The donors in this decile have contributed between $32,750 and $36,800 each. Democratic candidates received slightly more than Republicans ($187,380 to $160,700) from this group. All but one of the ten donors gave exclusively to one major party or the other. The lone exception: Rebecca and Robert Pohlad. The latter is one of three sons of banking scion and Twins owner Carl Pohlad, as well as the top executive at beverage distributor PepsiAmericas. The couple have slightly favored Republicans in their largesse this election cycle ($19,700 to $16,500), but have also given $4,600 to the presidential campaign of Barack Obama while stiffing John McCain. They are just one of three Pohlad households to crack the top 100.

The most immediately recognizable name on this portion of the list is Al Franken. The U.S. Senate candidate and his wife, Franni, wrote checks totaling $33,800 to Democratic candidates and causes through the first 18 months of this election cycle. Among the beneficiaries: Third Congressional District challenger Ashwin Madia ($4,600); Maine Rep. Tom Allen ($4,600), who is challenging Sen. Susan Collins for her post; and the Mind Matters PAC ($5,000), which focuses on mental illness and addiction issues.

The most conspicuous name on the Republican ledger is Michael Wigley. He is one of the state’s staunchest conservatives and a longtime influential donor. Wigley’s political resume lists practically every important conservative institution in the state. He’s the founder and chairman of the Taxpayers League of Minnesota, a founder of the Freedom Club of America PAC and a board member at the Center of the American Experiment. Wigley has made millions in construction over the years and is the chief executive officer of Great Plains Companies.

The businessman has never been shy about wielding his clout. In 2000 he threatened to cut off funding for Republicans if Rep. Steve Sviggum wasn’t removed as Minnesota House Speaker. Sviggum’s sin? Failing to deliver sufficient tax cuts. At the time Wigley was breathtakingly blunt in laying out the quid pro quo that he expected for his political contributions. “Last cycle, I estimate that the Freedom Club and its members contributed somewhere in the neighborhood of $500,000 to individual House candidates, the House caucus and independent expenditures,” he wrote in an email to House Republicans. “If Steve resigns, we have a chance to get some of that money back in the game. If he doesn’t, most of it is gone.”

Wigley was an early backer of Rep. Michele Bachmann, helping the fledgling politician oust moderate Republican Gary Laidig from a state Senate seat in 2000. He also helped lead the conservative revolt against Gov. Tim Pawlenty after he signed off on a bump in the cigarette tax in 2005, breaking his pledge to not raise taxes. “Sure, Governor Pawlenty still insists that the tobacco tax increase is really a ‘health impact fee,’ not a tax,” Wigley and fellow anti-tax activist David Strom wrote at the time. “But outside the reality-challenged bubble of the Governor’s office, nobody seems to be fooled by these verbal gymnastics.”

But perhaps the most telling sign of Wigley’s influence on Republican politics in the state came at a 2003 Humphrey Institute forum featuring Wendell Anderson and three other former Governors. “Where’s Mr. Wigley?” Anderson asked the crowd. “He runs state government. Do you know Mike Wigley? Why would you want to be governor and not be able to do anything?”

Other political contributors occupying slots 41 through 50 on the list are less well known to the public. Shayna Berkowitz is a longtime DFL activist and executive producer of the 2004 documentary Wellstone!. Marlene and Tom Kayser are also easily recognized in progressive circles. The latter is a partner at legal powerhouse Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi, while his wife has long been active in feminist causes.

On the Republican side, Hugh Schilling is the founder and chairman of Horton Holding, a Roseville company that manufactures truck parts. Among his political beneficiaries this election cycle: Sen. Norm Coleman ($2,300), North Carolina Sen. Elizabeth Dole ($1,000) and the maximum allowed for John McCain ($4,600). Fredric Corrigan is a retired Cargill executive, who also served as president of The Mosaic Company, a fertilizer production business. In his final year at the helm of Mosaic in 2007, Corrigan earned $2.7 million, making him the 28th highest compensated executive of a publicly traded company in the state, according to the Star Tribune. The Minneapolis resident is currently a director with Xcel Energy.

Here’s the complete list of donors occupying slots 41 through 50:

41. Tom and Marlene Kayser, St. Paul, Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi, $38,680

42. Michael Wigley, Plymouth, Great Plains Companies, $37,800

43. Shayna Berkowitz, Minneapolis, philanthropist, $37,300

44. Hugh Schilling, St. Paul, Horton Holding, $36,500

45. Robert and Rebecca Pohlad, Edina, PepsiAmericas, $36,200

46. Irving Weiser, Minneapolis, retired, $35,100

*47. Ann Hoffman, Waconia, retired, $33,900

(Ann Hoffman is the wife of Norman Hoffman, who also appears on this list. When taken together, their contributions to federal candidates this election cycle actually total $94,100, which would place them 11th on this list of the state’s biggest donors.)

48. Fredric Corrigan, Minneapolis, retired, $33,800

(tie) Al and Franni Franken, Minneapolis, Alan Franken Inc., $33,800

50. Tina Smith, Minneapolis, City of Minneapolis, $32,750

The Crunch will be back on Wednesday for a look at donors 31 through 40 on the list of Minnesota’s 100 top political givers.

Previously in The Crunch:

Minnesota’s top 100 political givers: 51 to 75

Minnesota’s Top 100 political givers: 76 to 100

These wealthy families have given a total of $4.1 million to campaigns so far during the 2008 election cycle. That works out to an average of roughly $41,000 each. Republican bigwigs have spread slightly more cash around ($2.3 million) than their Democratic counterparts ($1.8 million). Contributors of all ideological stripes tend to be exceedingly partisan in their political philanthropy. Republican candidates were solely supported by 44 households on the list, while Democrats earned the monogamous backing of 35 big-time donors. Nine of the state’s biggest givers are attorneys; 19 are retired. Minneapolis is home to 32 of the state’s major political donors, while another 14 live in Wayzata.

The roster of bigwigs contains many familiar Minnesota political families. DFL rainmakers Sam and Sylvia Kaplan, GOP telemarketing dynamo Jeff Larson, and former Democratic Sen. Mark Dayton all make the cut. At the top of the heap: Stanley and Karen Hubbard. The owners of local media powerhouse Hubbard Broadcasting have doled out $163,500 to political candidates and causes so far this election cycle. Their benevolence has primarily benefited Republicans, with $130,200 of that sum landing in GOP coffers, including $6,900 for presidential aspirant John McCain.

But the list also contains a few names that at first glance raise eyebrows. Why would Cleo Cafesjian, a retired resident of Naples, Fla., for instance, cut checks for $102,700 to Minnesota political candidates and causes, splitting her benevolence equally between Democrats and Republicans?

In the weeks leading up to the November election, MnIndy will be periodically scrutinizing this list of Minnesota’s most generous political patrons. This first installment looks at the bottom quarter of the list. This series will also inaugurate a new department at the site that we’re calling "The Crunch." It will be devoted to digging into campaign-finance and public-records databases to ferret out compelling Minnesota stories.

Sitting at the bottom of the top 100 is Kathleen Flynn Peterson, an attorney with Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi specializing in medical malpractice cases. The Edina resident has given $23,471 so far this election cycle exclusively to Democrats, including $2,300 to Barack Obama. In 2004 Peterson raised at least $100,000 in bundled contributions for John Kerry’s presidential campaign. She’s a past president of the American Association for Justice (formerly known as the Association of Trial Lawyers of America).

Car sales king Paul Walser clocks in at 95th place. The chief executive officer of Walser Automotive Group has written checks totaling $24,700 to Republican candidates so far this election cycle. Rep. Michele Bachmann and congressional challenger Erik Paulsen have each received maximum $4,600 contributions from Walser.

Another prominent GOP donor, Bahram Akradi, comes in a few spots higher on the list. The Life Time Fitness founder and native of Iran has contributed $25,925, with about three-quarters of that money going to Republican candidates. In the current presidential campaign Akradi has cut checks for McCain, Mitt Romney, Rudolph Giuliani and Hillary Clinton.

Akradi started Life Time Fitness in 1992 with a single gym in Brooklyn Park. The company now has 74 locations across the country and amassed revenues of $656 million last year. In 2007 Akradi received a compensation package estimated at $4.6 million, down from $41.3 million two years earlier.

The business executive made headlines in 2006 for a road-rage incident that occurred in the Minnetonka High School parking lot. Prosecutors alleged that Akradi, driving a black Humvee, cut off a teenager in a BMW. The Life Time Fitness CEO proceeded to exit his vehicle and hit the BMW with his fist, leaving a dent. Akradi then allegedly demanded that the teenager get out of his car. When he refused, Akradi attempted to drag him out of the vehicle, tearing his shirt in the process. He was charged with felony damage to property, but subsequently pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of misdemeanor assault. Bakradi expressed no regrets about his actions afterwards. "I am not at all a bit feeling sorry for what I did; I’d do it again," he told the Star Tribune last year.

Other local business bigwigs dot the list as well. William Heyman, vice chairman of The Travelers Companies, has contributed $26,200 this election cycle, primarily to Democrats, while Robert Burwell, a director at TCF Financial Corporation and founder of Xerxes Corporation, doled out an equal amount to Republican candidates.

A pair of Pohlads pop up in the bottom quarter of Minnesota’s top 100 political donors. Chris Pohlad, grandson of billionaire banker and Minnesota Twins owner Carl Pohlad, has contributed $25,000 to campaigns this election cycle, primarily to Obama. He is also a major fundraiser for the presidential candidate, bundling more than $50,000 in contributions for the cause. On most donation disclosure forms Pohlad lists himself as a student at the University of Puget Sound. But his most recent contribution to the Obama campaign states that he works as an analyst for PepsiAmericas. No surprise given that his father, Robert Pohlad, is the CEO of the Minneapolis-based soft-drink distributor.

James Pohlad, an executive with the Twins, has ponied up $28,000 for political causes since the start of 2007, with the money going exclusively to Democrats. He’s provided the $4,600 maximum to Obama, Clinton, Rep. Tim Walz and senate candidate Al Franken.

Here’s the complete list:

76. Walter Barry, Wayzata, retired, $28,900

77. Clifford Olson, National Carpet Equipment, Shakopee, $28,400

78. Elizabeth Driscoll, St. Paul, retired, $28,300

79. Alfred Iversen, Wayzata, PMT Corp., $28,300

80. Rodney Burwell, Wayzata, Xerxes Corp., $28,000

81. Russel Mace, Woodbury, Johnstone Supply, $28,000

82. James Pohlad, Minneapolis, Minnesota Twins, $28,000

83. Norman Hoffman, Waconia, Technical Ordinance, $27,500

84. James Scoville, St. Paul, University of Minnesota, $27,300

85. Ruth Usem, New Sidelines, Minneapolis, $27,050

86. Teri Popp, Wayzata, attorney, $26,700

87. William Heyman, The Travelers Companies, St. Paul, $26,626

88. Vicki Cox, Minneapolis, retired, $26,250

89. Lowell Zitzloff, Wayzata, LNR Properties, $26,150

90. John Trautz, Minneapolis, Reliance Development, $26,050

91. Bahram Akradi, Eden Prairie, Life Time Fitness, $25,925

92. Phyllis Weiner, Minneapolis, Planned Parenthood, $25,600

93. Gordon Asselstine, Edina, retired, $25,575

94. Christopher Pohlad, Edina, University of Puget Sound, $25,000

95. Paul Walser, Hopkins, Walser Automotive Group, $24,700

96. Russel Cowles, Minneapolis, retired, $24,600

97. Janice Hope, Minneapolis, retired, $24,100

98. Matt Entenza, St. Paul, attorney, $23,905

99. Theodore Grindal, Minneapolis, Lockridge Grindal Nauen, $23,819

100. Kathleen Flynn Peterson, Edina, Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi, $23,471

The second installment of this series, looking at donors 51 through 75, will be posted on Friday.