Major Democratic and Republican donors were indicted Tuesday in a college admissions scandal which led to the arrests of CEOs and famous actresses in a wide-ranging federal investigation. There is no evidence that those who were indicted Tuesday used their access to elected officials to help their children gain admission to top universities.
It’s not uncommon, however, for elected officials to write letters of recommendation to universities and colleges at the behest of constituents, but the question is whether campaign donors and bundlers (donors who raise money for campaigns on a voluntary basis) were able to obtain letters of recommendation from elected officials based on no qualifying factors other than campaign funds.
HuffPost has asked all of the candidates and committees who were beneficiaries of campaign contributions from the people indicted Tuesday whether they plan to donate or return the campaign contributions and whether the elected officials ever aided the donors with their children’s college admissions by writing a letter or contacting the secondary education institutions in any way to support or influence their admission decisions. California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Tuesday afternoon that he would contribute $30,000 donated by vintner Agustin Huneeus to the Hispanic Scholarship Fund. Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) said he would return $5,400 contributed by Crown Realty CEO Robert Flaxman. Other politicians and organizations had not responded by Tuesday evening.
The contributions were made to both Democratic and Republican candidates and committees. HuffPost did not include contributions made by unindicted spouses.
The contributions included:
At least $135,525 to the Democratic National Committee
At least $131,800 to committees benefiting or controlled by then-presidential candidate and current U.S. Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah)
At least $73,600 to the Republican National Committee
At least $30,000 to committees benefiting Gavin Newsom
At least $25,000 to the Kamala Harris Senate Committee and the committee for her California attorney general candidacy
At least $16,900 to committees benefiting or controlled by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.)
$8,350 to the National Republican Campaign Committee
$8,350 to the National Republican Senatorial Committee
The indicted contributors included:
Agustin Huneeus, vintner
$30,000 in contributions to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s campaign committees. (Disclosure: This reporter worked for Newsom in several capacities over a six-year period.)
Robert Flaxman, CEO of Crown Realty & Development
Total federal contributions: $143,065.80
$5,400 to Rep. Ro Khanna’s congressional campaign committee in 2015
$50,000 to Romney Victory Fund in 2012
$2,300 to Romney presidential campaign in 2007
$2,700 to Chris Van Hollen’s Senate account (all contributions were disbursed through a joint committee on Sept. 30, 2016)
$33,400 to the Democratic National Committee
$8,350 to the National Republican Senatorial Committee
$10,000 to the California Republican Party Federal Account
$35,800 to the Republican National Committee
$8,350 to the National Republican Congressional Committee
Gordon Caplan, attorney
Caplan has contributed $86,750 to federal candidates and committees.
$7,000 to the Republican National Committee
$12,000 to Romney 2012 committees
$22,300 to the Democratic National Committee in 2016
$2,600 to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.)
$1,000 to Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand
$1,250 to Kyrsten Sinema’s Senate campaign
$15,200 to Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.)
Jane Buckingham, marketing consultant
Buckingham has donated $71,600 to federal candidates and committees.
A total of $14,700 to Kirsten Gillibrand’s Senate campaign
$1,250 to Gillibrand’s political action committee
$5,700 to committees controlled by Sen. Kamala Harris
$30,800 to the DNC through the Obama Victory Fund in 2012
$7,350 to Harris’ California attorney general campaign committees
Robert Zangrillo, CEO, Dragon Global
$50,000 to Romney Victory Fund in 2012
$30,800 to the Republican National Committee 2012 (distributed through the Romney Victory Fund)
Abdelaziz Gamal, former casino executive
$40,196 in total contributions to federal candidates and committees
$33,096 in contributions to the MGM Resorts International PAC
Douglas Hodge, former Pimco CEO
$29,000 in total contributions to federal campaign funds
$5,000 to the Investment Company Institute PAC
$10,000 to Securities Association PAC
Manuel Henriquez, chairman and CEO of Hercules Technology Growth Capital
$19,530 in total federal contributions
$16,450 to the Democratic National Committee
Mossimo Giannulli, fashion designer, and Lori Loughlin, actress
$12,800 in total contributions to federal candidates and committees
$2,700 to the Marco Rubio senate campaign (via Mossimo Giannulli)
$5,000 to Romney Victory in 2012 (via Mossimo Giannulli)
Felicity Huffman, actress
$10,719.17 in total federal contributions
$1,537.50 of which was to the Kamala Harris Senate campaign committee
Bruce Isackson, president of WP Investments, and Davina Isackson
$2,500 to the Romney presidential campaign (via Bruce Isackson)
$3,500 to the Congressional Leadership Fund, a Republican super PAC, in 2017 (via Bruce Isackson)
Michelle Janavs, former executive of a food manufacturer
$5,000 to the Romney Victory Fund in 2012
Marci Palatella, owner of Preservation Distillery
$3,200 to Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.)
John B. Wilson, president and CEO of Hyannis Port Capital
$1,000 to Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.)
$500 to the NRCC in August 2018
CORRECTION: In an earlier version of this article, donations were listed from Agustin Huneeus to the Democratic National Committee and Reps. Mike Thompson and Nancy Pelosi. Those donations have not been confirmed. Also, due to an error on the Federal Election Commission website, a previous version of this article said Robert Flaxman gave $8,100 to Sen. Chris Van Hollen. He gave $2,700.
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