Alfred Lerner (with Norma)
March 5, 2001 Alfred Lerner is worth at least $4.6 billion, according to the most recent Forbes 400, which ranks him as the 51st richest American. MBNA, the credit-card lending company he runs as chairman and CEO, was the single largest corporate contributor to George W. Bush during the last election cycle. Lerner also spent a good deal of his own time and money to elect Bush, giving the Republicans $250,000 from his own checkbook and holding a Bush fundraiser in his Ohio home last year that netted $1.7 million for the GOP. Lerner keeps a high profile in Cleveland, where he paid $530 million for a new Browns football franchise in 1999. But his business activities have come under fire from the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who has targeted MBNA for discriminatory hiring practices. Jackson met with Lerner last year to discuss "tangible and meaningful efforts to include women and minorities" at MBNA. Lerner defended his record on affirmative action, telling the Cleveland Plain Dealer that his company had appointed an African American to its board in June. In addition, Lerner noted, a woman had been nominated for a seat on the board. -- Suzanne Boothby | | |
