Mary Lee Dayton

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. In this our fourth installment, we look at donors 31 through 40, a list that includes the pro-union pizza roll magnate Jeno Paulucci and former U.S. Bancorp chair John Grunhofer.