Inaugural Committee Releases Donors

By: Brian Montopoli
Topics: White House

In what it is billing as a move to bring "unprecedented standards of transparency in the public reporting of donors," the Presidential Inaugural Committee has released a "searchable, sortable, virtually real-time database" of its donors on the Internet.

(UNIVERSAL PICTURES)

You can view it by clicking here. (A quick search of the site reveals that one "Jamie Foxx" of Los Angeles, California – who is billed as "self employed" – donated $50,000. Actress Halle Berry, TV producer Marcy Carsey, record mogul Berry Gordy, Laurence and Wendy Rockefeller, five members of the Soros family, and director Robert Zemeckis also gave $50,000 each.)

"Any citizen will be able to search for and sort donors who give more than $200 by name, employer, or hometown (city, state and zip code)," the PIC said in a release. "Information on donors and donations will be updated regularly, with information on each new donation over $200 appearing online within 48 hours of its receipt."

"The PIC website will also include, for the first time, information on donors who bundle contributions for the inaugural committee, including the amount they have bundled, which will be capped at $300,000 for individual bundlers," continues the release.

On December 1st, the presidential transition team released the names of its donors, promising the names would be released on a monthly basis.

As the PIC release notes, the committee is not accepting donations from corporations, PACs, labor unions, lobbyists, or non-U.S. citizens. It is also capping individual contributions at $50,000.