A dozen Triangle residents, including venture capitalists, a scientist and an artist, have donated nearly $230,000 to President Barack Obama’s inaugural committee, according to the committee’s public database.
However, the committee, like the economy, is financially troubled, having raised just $27 million, little more than half of what was budgeted for the inauguration and the transition.
The committee has capped contributions at $50,000 per donor (not including bundles), far less than the former $250,000 limit. Corporations, political action committees, current federally registered lobbyists, non-U.S. citizens and registered foreign agents are also prohibited from contributing. The money pays for nearly everything but the swearing-in ceremony, such as the parade, balls and giant video screens on the National Mall.
Select JPG or PDF above to see the donors’ names, the amount contributed to the inaugural committee and to the Obama presidential campaign. Several big names ponied up for the committee: Wendell McCain is co-founder of Parish Capital Advisers in Chapel Hill, an investor for the state’s pension system. Raleigh businessman and Democratic activist John Crumpler of Hatteras Venture Partners, escorted James Taylor to several Obama fundraisers. Crumpler is on the board of the Clean Water Management Trust Fund and served on the N.C. Economic Development Board. Former Gov. Mike Easley also appointed him to a group to study the impacts of the Navy’s controversial Outlying Landing Field, proposed for one of several sites along the coast.
Investor Steve Lerner of FGI Marketing Research in Chapel Hill hosted a $1,000-a-head Obama fundraiser in 2007 and accompanied campaign manager David Plouffe on a swing through North Carolina last year.