Even though the last election cycle is long over, the country’s biggest political contributors — profiled in the Mother Jones 400 — are still making headlines.
WINNERS
- Clinton nominated meatpacking heir James Hormel (#84; $186,200) as alternate representative to the United Nations (Hormel’s 1992 candidacy for Fiji’s ambassadorship flopped when his gay activism and the country’s sodomy laws didn’t mix).
- Felix Rohatyn (#4; $471,250) was nominated as ambassador to France, beating out Mary Raiser (#270; $108,000), the White House chief of protocol.
- Walter Shorenstein (#11; $334,350) and love interest Tippi Hedren shared an April dinner with Hillary Clinton in New York.
SINNERS
- Matt Fong, California’s state treasurer, returned a possibly illegal $100,000 donation that Jessica Elnitiarta (#329; $100,000) and her father, Ted Sioeng, gave to Fong’s campaign.
For more on Elnitiarta’s returned contribution, see “Beijing 90210“. - Protesting the “total corruption” of political fundraising in the U.S., the Hollywood Women’s Political Committee dissolved. Thirteen MoJo 400 luminaries had given the group nearly $50,000.
SPINNER
- Lillian Vernon’s (#197; $124,060) son and publicist, David Hochberg, called Mother Jones to say how happy they were with the issue, adding, “If there’s anything else we can help you with, let us know.”