David Goodman says he hit the jackpot on the stock market in 1999. Though he won't talk about where he placed his bets, he spent some of the winnings in a very public way.
"I decided that I wanted to support a party that would decrease the extent that government was involved in my business," says Goodman, who owns a family contracting firm in Huntington, Pennsylvania. During the last election cycle, Goodman wrote two $125,000 checks to the Republican National Committee. He was later invited to the Republican National Convention to dine with other elite donors, was introduced to talk show host Chris Matthews, and chatted with former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.
"I needed to do something that would be an investment in the future of my company and the country," Goodman explained to Mother Jones. "There is a real success penalty in this country right now."
Goodman says the reason for his generosity can be found in the past: His family's construction business, DC Goodman & Sons, almost went under during the Carter administration. "We seriously discussed closing the business," Goodman says. He credits Ronald Reagan's tax cuts and lower interest rates with saving the business and allowing it to prosper.
Two decades later, similar fiscal issues -- lower income taxes, abolition of the estate tax, an end to the marriage penalty, and less government regulation of small business -- led Goodman to support the Republican ticket. He also owns 45 handguns, and says he resents Democratic efforts at gun control "making me feel like a criminal."
Despite his support of the GOP, Goodman says he isn't thrilled by some of the party's other policy positions. He doesn't want the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade -- and he is tired of paying so much for politics. "I'm totally for campaign finance reform," he says.
-- Michael Scherer
