Photo Ops: Olan Mills II (#84)

Olan Mills II: 65, Chattanooga, Tenn. $127,750. Party: D

By Rachel Burstein

Olan Mills II (known as "O.M. Two") and his brother, Charles George Mills ("C.G."), took over their father's door-to-door baby photo business in 1972 and built it into a chain boasting more than 1,000 studios across the country. Even President Clinton remembers posing for a picture at an Olan Mills portrait studio as a kid--a fact he passed along to O.M. Two when they met at a White House dinner in April 1995.

O.M. Two is a newcomer to the Democratic political scene, but his newfound political clout may have already come in handy. The success of Olan Mills Photography is the direct result of heavy telemarketing pitches, which O.M. Two says account for more than 90 percent of the company's sales. Since 1991, both the FTC and the FCC have implemented regulations to address consumer complaints about telemarketing.

Last April 16, O.M. Two received the opportunity to testify at an FTC meeting evaluating new regulations that, among other things, would have outlawed collecting money from phone sales via messengers or by debiting customers' checking accounts based on their verbal, rahter than written, consent. Says O.M. Two, "That would have cut in half our ability to operate."

O.M. Two claims he helped persuade the FTC to change the law. The day after he testified, the FTC resubmitted the regulations without the restrictions.