FOX HOUNDS
After cashing the $7 million check Haim Saban
wrote to the Democratic National Committee, party chairman
Terry McAuliffe should also send a thank you note
to News Corp. chairman and conservative Rupert
Murdoch. “That’s a lot of Murdoch’s money we’re getting,”
says a DNC fundraiser, laughing. Yeah, all the way to the bank.
Saban is the creator of kiddie TV shows like “Teenage Mutant
Ninja Turtles” and “Power Rangers,” hallmark shows in the early
years of the Fox Network (for more on this “cartoon baron,” click
here).
Given their popularity with the after-school crowd, Murdoch and
News Corp. have been paying Saban millions to keep his creations on
the air and away from other networks. “Murdoch made Saban. Without
him he’d be just another TV producer, and we’d be $7 million
poorer,” says the DNC moneyman.
Saban gave the DNC $7 million to help build the party’s $40
million headquarters near Capitol Hill. McAuliffe intends to raise
enough for the capital project so that he can pay for it in cash
before possible campaign finance reforms kick in on November 6,
2002.
RIGHT TO PAY
Haim Saban isn’t the only fat-walleted Democrat to pony up the
dough for the DNC’s new headquarters. Texas trial lawyer
Fred Baron and Chicago business executive
Fred Eychaner each cut McAuliffe $1 million
checks, as did two unions, the Communications Workers of America
and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal
Employees.
Despite the union donations, McAuliffe is currently considering
nonunion construction bids for his political palace. In fact, while
much of the heavy construction on the building will likely be
undertaken by union workers, many of the smaller projects will be
performed by nonunion work crews and contractors out of Virginia, a
“right to work” state. “That’s how we’ll save some money,” says
another DNC staffer.
PARTY GUY
While DNC staffers credit Terry McAuliffe for raising much of the
money for the new facility, they also say a great deal of credit
belongs to Bill Clinton. “He made the calls, made
the visits, especially with guys like Saban, who love him,” says a
DNC political staffer. “And Clinton loves working these guys
over.”
But, apparently, not without a price. A former aide to Clinton
says the ex-prez would like to see some part of the new DNC
headquarters named after him. “The William Jefferson Clinton
Auditorium has a nice ring to it,” says the former staffer. “He’s
raised hundreds of millions of dollars for the party, kept it
afloat. He deserves to have his name somewhere on that
building.”
A Clinton staffer working on the presidential library project in
Little Rock, Arkansas, says that Clinton has enough influence with
men like Saban that he could have steered some of that $7 million
to the library fund. “But he didn’t. President Clinton will always
think of the party first when it comes to things like this,” says
the aide. “Even if it means his library loses out a bit, he’s
willing to work hard for the party, not just himself.” Saban has
already donated more than $1 million to the Clinton Library.
*****
What part of the DNC building or any other important
structure would you attach Bill Clinton’s name to? Send your
suggestions to The Prowler c/o of Reader Mail, below. And please,
nothing X-rated.
