James V. Kimsey
March 5, 2001 James Kimsey, a co-founder of America Online, began making political donations in earnest in 1996, when he helped Clinton's re-election campaign, as well as several GOP candidates. That same year, he also hired George Dunlop, a former aide to Senator Jesse Helms (R-N.C.), to lobby for him on Capitol Hill. Kimsey, a former Vietnam vet, wanted to be chosen as the first post-war ambassador to Vietnam. Helms opposed sending a permanent envoy to our former enemy, and others considered it bad form to lobby outright for an ambassadorship. In the end, the post went to former Democratic congressman and Vietnam prisoner-of-war Pete Peterson. It wasn't Kimsey's first appearance on the Hill. In 1995, he testified before a House subcommittee to denounce what he called "frivolous shareholder lawsuits." The high-tech industry has been particularly hard hit by such court claims, which offer protection to shareholders who have been deceived by companies that conceal negative information about their stock. Kimsey, whose fortune is estimated at $2 billion, called the lawsuits "extortion" and "a blight on the industry." Although Kimsey tends to favor Republicans, during the last election cycle he spread his wealth among a diverse group: Christie Todd Whitman, the Congressional Black Caucus, the New Republican Majority Fund, Bill Bradley, Elizabeth Dole, Hillary Clinton and her opponent Rick Lazio, Orrin Hatch, and John McCain. Last year, Kimsey was appointed by President Clinton as a trustee of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Following the appointment, Kimsey donated $10 million to the Center. -- Brett Coker | | |
