On Friday, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee announced that a hearing scheduled for Thursday, October 16 on the role of hedge funds in the current financial crisis would be postponed until after the election. The committee, chaired by Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), says the postponement is to “accommodate the schedules of witnesses.” Fine. But several of the hedge fund execs asked to testify at the hearing are big Dem donors who the party might not want to embarrass before the election. And by big Dem donors, I mean BIG Dem donors. Here are the numbers for the 2008 election cycle (excluding 527 contributions):
- John A. Paulson, President, Paulson & Co., Inc: $86,974, $43,400 of that to Democrats
- George Soros, Chairman, Soros Fund Management, LLC : $111,190, $110,150 of that to Democrats
- Philip A. Falcone, Senior Managing Director, Harbinger Capital Partners: $0
- James Simons, President, Renaissance Technologies, LLC: $117,050, $105,050 of it to Democrats (only $2,000 to Republicans—the rest went to a PAC.
- Kenneth C. Griffin, Chief Executive Officer and President, Citadel Investment Group: $70,100, $60,750 of it to Democrats
That’s $385,314 worth of 2008 election cycle donations from five witnesses (one of whom didn’t give anything). $319,350 of it, or 82.9 percent, went to Democrats.
