Richard J. Egan (with Maureen)
March 5, 2001 Richard Egan knows the value of a political dollar. Last year, the founder of data-storage giant EMC Corp. not only donated more than $500,000 to the Republican National Committee, but also put his salesmanship to work as a top fundraiser in Massachusetts for George W. Bush. The candidate, in turn, showed his appreciation by appointing Egan to his Technology Advisory Council, along with high-tech titans Michael Dell (No. 104, $325,500) of Dell Computers and John Chambers (No. 31, $582,933) of Cisco Systems. Egan was also reportedly in the running for an ambassadorship to Ireland. Buying political influence is nothing new for Egan. According to the Boston Herald, Egan's financial support of Massachusetts Governor William Weld helped land his company $1.3 million in state contracts between 1993 and 1999. State Highway Commissioner Mathew Amorello got in trouble with federal elections officials for accepting contributions over the legal limit for his failed congressional campaign from Egan and his family, but the $14,000 in donations was a good investment: Last year, Amorello led the approval of a $1.9 million highway project that will enable EMC to expand its headquarters. Egan is founder and chairman emeritus of EMC, the largest developer of hardware and software for mainframe computer memory. The company has posted 25 percent increases in annual earnings for the past five years and ranks among the nation's fastest-growing firms. Egan's wife, Maureen, recently resigned from EMC's board of directors. According to SEC documents, she intends to sell over 550,000 shares in the company over the next three months -- nearly $25 million at current prices. When Mother Jones contacted Egan for comment on his political donations, he had an assistant read the following statement: "We are in favor of campaign finance reform, but only if the trial lawyers and labor unions can also be made to conform." -- Brett Coker | | |
