The Chris Moeller Archives

Thank you, Freedom of Information Act

My bro forwarded me this interesting list, the compilation of all political contributions by notable sports figures since 1978. There are some obvious trends beyond the basic "white guys are Republicans, black guys, Democrats," although I did detect a positive correlationship between race and party affiliation.

A number of items caused me to speculate-- first of all, I think it's safe to assume that many basketball players whose total contributions round off to one or two thousand dollars were contributing to the Bill Bradley presidential campaign in 2000. Two, HBO sports commentators, not surprising to any of us that subscribe to their work, are more liberal than the average sports fan. Their entire boxing team-- Jim Lampley, Larry Merchant, and George Foreman contributed to Democrats, and let's throw in Oscar de la Hoya while we're at it. Third, I suspect you can throw out many of the team ownership contributions. Those are payoffs to local politicians rather than philosophical rewards. (George Steinbrenner's contributions to Nixon sent him to prison, there's no way he's a Democrat.) Fourth, it seems that, nationally, football coaches are a good electoral balance to basketball coaches, and that quarterbacks are canceling out the lesbian tennis players. (Click on the individual names on the link for specific contribution information.)

The following Republican contributors surprised me-- Muhammad Ali, the Buss basketball family, Donald Fehr (shame on you, Fehr!) former Iowa Hawkeye basketball coach Lute Olson (a staggering sum,) and Vin Scully, a poetic, elderly gentleman often seen wearing an ascot.
The number of sports team owners that contributed to Democrats was surprising (Jerry Jones?), along with the left-affirming gifts of broadcasters Lee Corso and Jon Miller, Alex Karras, and Joe Theismann. I'd like to send a particular on-line thank you, on behalf of liberal sports fans everywhere, to Andre Agassi, Dean Smith, David Stern, Bud Selig(?!), the Rooneys in Pittsburgh, and my main man in the Nader coalition, John McEnroe.

Check out the other tabs on the link to see additional celebrity contributions. I found myself particularly intrigued by how many media personalities shy away from the public appearance of partiality, while their bosses drop Benjamins like the Treasury is located in their basement. My favorite line belongs to magazine publisher Steve Forbes, who dropped about $7 mil on his own futile presidential bids. I'm not sure what he ever got for his money, other than a chance to host Saturday Night Live.

posted by CM @ 9:57 PM