Certainly the benefits of donating seem clear. A report by the group revealed
\nthat, out of 630 elite donors from 2000 and 2004, almost one quarter were given an appointment
\nfrom the administration — including 24 ambassadorships and two cabinet positions. In 2002 more
\nthan $3.5 billion of federal contracts were given to 101 companies that between them boasted 123
\nPioneers and Rangers [contributors who gave, respectively, $100,000 and
\n$200,000].<\/BLOCKQUOTE>
\nThe contributors are part of an “extremely ‘clubby’ and close-knit” network representing elite
\nwealth with “four main families … at its centre”: Seven members of the Bush clan itself, who have
\ngiven at least $100,000 each; “Massachusetts millionaire” Richard Egan and two of his sons; and
\nthree members each of the Fox family, owners of the Harbour Group finance firm with major
\ninvestments in China, and the Reynolds family of land developers.<\/P>
\n
But while the contributors represent elite wealth, the current occupant of the White
\nHouse is not picky about ethical or moral pedigree. Harris reports that “146 of the donors
\nhave been involved in corporate scandals or helped to run companies that have.”<\/P><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Remember what Kevin Phillips said about the Bush family? “Over four generations they have honed a pattern of loyalty to [America’s] wealthiest 0.01 percent … How you do that over four generations and not take that loyalty to the White House is not credible.” If anyone doubts his words, they should have a look at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-694","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-main","7":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pbvgEs-bc","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/694","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=694"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/694\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=694"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=694"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=694"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}