Just Seven Companies Offer to Finance Obama’s Inauguration

NewsMax: Only seven companies have offered corporate cash to help fund President Barack Obama’s upcoming inaugural festivities.

In 2009, Obama banned corporate donors from paying for his inauguration, but he was still able to raise $53 million from private donors.
However, this month’s inauguration is being held after the most expensive presidential campaign in history, and even with the corporate donations will be a scaled-down event. This year, fewer people are expected to attend the inauguration and there are only two official balls planned.

There are a few reasons this year’s celebration has been scaled back.

Organizers say the ceremonies reflect the nation is facing tough economic times, and fewer ceremonies will mean less of a burden on Washington’s law enforcement and residents, along with other security personnel.

According to the Inauguration Committee’s website, more than 400 people have donated toward the events. So far, though, the only corporate donors are AT&T, Microsoft, Centene, Financial Innovations, Genentech, Stream Line Circle, and Whittier Trust Co.

While some of the companies aren’t as well-known as AT&T and Microsoft, they’re still powerful in their own right. Genentech is a biotechnology company owned by Swiss drugmaker Roche, while Stream Line Circle is owned by billionaire Obama backer and gay-rights activist Jon Stryker, and Centene is a Medicaid administration company that is profiting highly through Obamacare, reports the Washington Post.

Financial Innovations, meanwhile, earned $1.8 million in business through making promotional products used in Obama’s 2012 campaign, the Post reports.

AT&T’s donation for the inauguration is kind of a turnaround a company whose PAC contributed $5,000 to Mitt Romney’s campaign against Obama in September. In addition, AT&T Chairman Randall Stephenson contributed $30,800 to the Republican National Committee last February, reports Bloomberg, marking his largest political contribution in at least 20 years.

However, Microsoft’s donation isn’t so surprising. The Redmond, Wash.-based company’s employees donated a total of $815,435 to the Obama campaign, more money than any other company, says the Center for Responsive Politics, a Washington-based research group.

The Inauguration Committee hasn’t said how much each donor has given toward the inauguration ceremonies, but each person on the list has donated at least $200. However, while donations were capped off at $50,000 in 2009, this year’s committee is encouraging individual gifts of up to $250,000. Donations from lobbyists, political action committees or foreign donors are not being accepted.

And some of the private donors are people who donated heavily through an independent super PAC that spent millions to get Obama re-elected. For example, Irwin Jacobs, founder of telecommunications giant Qualcomm, gave more than $2 million to the Priorities USA PAC during the election, and New York gardening book author Amy Goldman gave $1 million to the group.

In exchange for donating, contributors for the inauguration get special access behind the scenes. They hear special briefings and get tickets for the inaugural balls and swearing-in ceremony.

Obama’s second term begins, by Constitutional law, at noon on Jan. 20. However, since that falls on a Sunday, he’ll be sworn in privately at the White House on Jan. 20 and then celebrate his inauguration ceremonies on Jan. 21.

Remember… your purse strings count. If you are unhappy with a politician, a company or measures they support… stop buying their products which support what you are against. Example: One of President Obama’s greatest supporters is the owner of Progressive Insurance. Progressive Chairman Peter Lewis is a huge contributor to Progressive causes in general, the ACLU, President Obama and campaigns like the War on Christmas.

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About Ask Marion

I am a babyboomer and empty nester who savors every moment of my past and believes that it is the responsibility of each of us in my generation and Americans in general to make sure that America is as good or even a better place for future generations as it was for us. So far... we haven't done very well!! Favorite Quotes: "The first 50 years are to build and acquire; the second 50 are to leave your legacy"; "Do something that scares you every day!"; "The journey in between what you once were and who you are becoming is where the dance of life really takes place". At age 62 I find myself fighting inoperable uterine Cancer and thanks to the man upstairs and the prayers from so many people including many of my readers from AskMarion and JustOneMorePet... I'm beating it. After losing our business because of the economy and factors related to the re-election of President Obama in 2012 followed by 16-mos of job hunting, my architect-trained husband is working as a trucker and has only been home approximately 5-days a month since I was diagnosed, which has made everything more difficult and often lonely... plus funds are tight. Our family medical deductible is 12K per year for two of us; thank you ObamaCare. But thanks to donations from so many of you, we are making ends meet as I go through treatment while taking care of my father-in-law who is suffering from late stage Alzheimer's and my mother-in-law who suffers from RA and onset dementia as well as hearing loss, for which there are no caretaker funds, as I continue the fight here online to inform and help restore our amazing country. And finally I need to thank a core group of family, friends, and readers... all at a distance, who check in with me regularly. Plus, I must thank my furkids who have not left my side through this fight. You can see them at JustOneMorePet.

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