Tag: Jerry Reinsdorf

New filings show a spread of wealthy, out-of-state donors contributed the millions of dollars that organizations linked to both national political parties used to tilt the West Virginia Senate Republican primary. Throughout the race, Duty and Country PAC, which traces back to a political arm of the Democratic party, and Mountain Families PAC, which was funded entirely by a PAC linked to Senate leadership, dumped just shy of a combined $3.2 million in advertising into the race. The filings, publicized Sunday by the Federal Election Commission, show not one penny from either organization came from a West Virginian’s pocket. Blankenship and McConnell engaged in a public, racially-tinged feud while Mountain Families PAC pounded Blankenship with ads attacking his misdemeanor conviction for conspiring to violate mine health and safety standards and a $40 million legal settlement his company paid for water pollution issues due to mine activity. Duty and Country used more of a shoe-leather fundraising strategy, soliciting five- and six-figure donations from a host of executives from different industries. Its top donors include James Simons, president of Euclidean Capital, who kicked in $400,000; Robert Hale, CEO of Granite Telecommunications, who gave $250,000; Jeffrey Gural, from GFP Real Estate, who gave $150,000; and Jerry Reinsdorf, owner of the Chicago White Sox Major League Baseball team, who gave $100,000. Duty and Country allocated only a small percentage of its spending targeting state Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, who won the primary, training most its firepower on Jenkins. The filings essentially vindicate what both targeted candidates said about them; McConnell targeted Blankenship and the national Democratic party targeted Jenkins. Duty and Country also drew some attention when its first filings revealed former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of West Virginia Booth Goodwin served as its treasurer. Goodwin led the prosecution that landed Blankenship in jail for a year.