Lamont’s Last-Minute Donors

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Earlier, Larry documented how Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-CT) is flush with campaign contributions as his primary battle comes to a close tomorrow. Lieberman has received contributions from numerous political action committees and political allies along with contributions from people across the country. Lieberman’s challenger, Greenwich businessman Ned Lamont, is his own biggest campaign contributor having given himself $2 million dollars over the past 15 days. Lamont has also brought in contributions from a wide variety of people including top Democratic fundraisers, liberal philanthropists, and investors.

A name that clearly stood out among these last minute donors was Maureen White, former National Finance Chair at the Democratic National Committee. White came under fire from Democrats last year when she and her husband, Steven Rattner, raised large amounts of money for Republican New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. It’s certainly interesting to see White, who is associated through her husband with Lieberman’s more conservative brand of Democratic politics, supporting Lamont.

Another notable name is actor and director Tim Robbins who gave the maximum of $2,100. Two top liberal philanthropists are also supporting Lamont. Drummond Pike, the CEO of the Tides Foundation, and Katherine Mountcastle both gave $1,000 to Lamont.

Lamont’s support also comes from the business community. Lamont has received contributions from Yale School of Management associate dean Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, NYU economics professor Janusz Ordover of NYU, and a number of high-level private equity investors and venture capitalists.

Also of note is the percentage of contributions received from Connecticut. The FEC lists Lamont as receiving a total of 71 contributions between July 21st and August 3rd. Of those 71 contributions 35 came from residents of Connecticut. That means that nearly 50% of Lamont’s last-minute donors are from within Connecticut.