The 1998 Mother Jones 400

MOTHER JONES’ third annual survey and searchable database of the country’s top 400 political donors.

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


In this, our third annual Mother Jones 400, you’ll see how the wealthy enjoy more than their fair share of access to politicians because of the money they spend, and how that access appears to help their businesses. You’ll also see how the occasional big contributor, such as No. 4 Carl Lindner, gives so much money that his largesse transcends ideology and he wields equal power in both parties.

But what’s truly surprising is how the die-hard deep pockets manage to drag others into the political circus.

Our No. 1, Amway power couple Richard M. and Helen DeVos, head a politically active family that boasts openly about its quid pro quo giving. More interesting than their blunt $1 million gift is the thousands of dollars trickling into congressional campaigns from the Amway salespeople. They give, according to one woman we spoke with, because “[Amway leaders] really encourage us with the money we make through the business to use it to support the things we believe in.” And while No. 3 Bernard L. Schwartz (of aerospace giant Loral) certainly deserves scrutiny for the more than $1 million he’s given to Democrats this decade, a MOTHER JONES investigation, which we will release shortly, shows that thousands of former Pentagon officials have left the government for cushy jobs in the defense industry, making a fast and profitable transformation from public servant to political special interest.

State
# of
donors
$ given
% of
total
New York 66 6,322,504 17.62
California 65 5,250,977 14.63
Texas 36 2,830,559 7.89
Massachusetts 26 2,679,862 7.47
Florida 25 2,279,795 6.36
New Jersey 17 1,831,356 5.11
Michigan 12 1,765,825 4.92
Ohio 15 1,572,380 4.38
Pennsylvania 11 1,446,012 4.03
Washington, D.C. 21 1,359,808 3.79
Illinois 15 1,317,228 3.67
Maryland 9 808,088 2.25
Missouri 9 712,213 1.99
Virginia 7 682,550 1.90
Connecticut 10 608,120 1.70
Indiana 3 476,325 1.33
Colorado 5 391,400 1.09
Tennessee 5 384,000 1.07
Nevada 4 309,000 0.86
Arkansas 3 290,900 0.81
Georgia 5 234,525 0.65
Utah 1 232,500 0.65
Kansas 1 224,250 0.63
North Carolina 3 208,700 0.58
Washington 4 177,950 0.50
Arizona 4 172,109 0.48
Wyoming 2 171,000 0.48
Louisiana 3 163,100 0.45
Puerto Rico 2 150,000 0.42
Alabama 2 149,750 0.42
Mississippi 3 117,250 0.33
Oklahoma 1 104,250 0.29
New Hampshire 1 104,000 0.29
Nebraska 2 99,000 0.28
Iowa 1 57,639 0.16
Wisconsin 1 55,000 0.15
New Mexico 1 53,000 0.15
Delaware 1 41,890 0.12
Oregon 1 36,290 0.10
Total   35,871,105  

The most unlikely politico we found is probably Edward Tamez, who works at the Outback Steakhouse in Campbell, California, and gives $5.75 every other week to his company’s political action committee — all deducted from his paycheck after he was asked to do so by his manager. Outback, with the largest company PAC in the restaurant industry, relies heavily on employee gifts so it can push an agenda that’s not necessarily in the best interest of restaurant employees, such as a cap on the minimum wage and opposition to a national health care plan. For some Outback employees, the contributions are their only political involvement, made to make the boss happy: “I’ve never voted in my life,” says Devin Nelson, who contributed more than $300 during his two years as an Outback kitchen manager.

It might be the perfect metaphor: While the audience for the political circus continues to dwindle, more people than ever before are becoming its unwilling participants.

List compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics
Reported by Jennifer Liberto, Aaron Rothenburger, John Zebrowski, and Jenna Ziman.

The MoJo 400 reflects contributions made from January 1, 1997, through June 30, 1998, and reported to the FEC as of September 1, 1998. The list contains only contributions made by individuals. It includes both hard and soft money contributions.

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate