Campaign finance spotlight: Top 5 donor lists for 2008 DFL and Republican House caucuses

As a companion to our forthcoming Capitol Report story on the biggest Minnesota political donations of last year (I’ll post a link when it’s available), here’s a quick snapshot of some of 2008’s top donors to Republican and DFL party units in the Minnesota House. (Since there were no Senate races in 2008, the $$ action there was comparatively meager.) The top-line totals here are rounded to the nearest thousand.

 

TOTAL 2008 RECEIPTS

House DFL Caucus: $2.594 million

House Republican Campaign Committee (HRCC): $1.153 million

TOP 5 DONORS: PACs

DFL

Total from political committees: $1,803,000

1. Education Minnesota PAC, $155,700
2. Laborers District Council of Minnesota and North Dakota Pol Fund, $153,000
3. Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux, $135,000
4. North Central States Carpenters PAC, $125,500
5. International Union of Operating Engineers, $103,000

HRCC

Total from political committees: $375,000

1. Freedom Club State PAC, $50,000
2. Faegre & Benson LLP, $25,000
3. Minnesota Realtors PAC, $25,000
4. Jobs Political Fund, $16,050
5. Multi-Housing PAC, $16,000

 

TOP 5 DONORS: INDIVIDUALS

DFL

Total from individuals: $400,000

1. Vance Opperman, Key Investment, $56,500
2. Alida Messinger, Philanthropist $50,000
3. Jeffrey Anderson, Attorney, $25,000
4. Syd Ghermezian, Triple Five Inc, $12,500
5. Robert Haselow, Physician, $11,000

HRCC

Total from individuals: $663,000

1. Robert Cummins, Primera Technology, $275,000
2. Glen Taylor, Taylor Company, $25,000
3. Robert Ulrich, retired Target CEO, $25,000
4. Harold Hamilton, Micro Control Co, $21,000
5. Justin Haselow, retired, $10,900

 

TOP 5 DONORS: LOBBYISTS

DFL

Total from lobbyists: $65,000

1. Lawrence Redmond, Redmond Associates, $11,000
2. Timothy Flaherty, Coalition of Greater Minnesota Cities, $5,450
3. Ronald Dicklich, lobbyist, $3,100
4. Richard Ginsberg, lobbyist, $2,750
5. Shepard Harris, Fredrikson & Byron, $1,750

HRCC

Total from lobbyists: $30,000

1. Bradley Rixmann, lobbyist, $7,500
2. Kevin Goodno, Fredrikson & Byron, $4,100
3. Robyn Rowen, lobbyist, $1,650
4. Peter Coyle, Larkin Hoffman Daly & Lindgren, $1,300
5. Jennifer W. Breitinger, JWB Associates, $1,100