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Boozman donors dot guest list for lunch with president Wednesday, Oct 17, 2007 By Aaron Sadler Stephens Washington Bureau WASHINGTON - Many of the Arkansas business leaders who dined Monday with President Bush and Rep. John Boozman have shared more with the congressman than just a barbecue lunch. According to federal election finance records, they've shared plenty of campaign cash with Boozman. Nine of the 13 people who had lunch with Bush and Boozman, R-Rogers, at Bentonville's Whole Hog Cafe have either donated money themselves or have employers or family members who contributed to Boozman's campaign. The owners of Stribling Packaging and Display, which Bush toured on his swing through northwest Arkansas, are also contributors to the three-term congressman. Members of the Stribling family gave $1,500 to Boozman during his first campaign in 2001. Boozman chief of staff Matt Sagely stressed that the monetary connections are merely coincidental, or at most a sign that Boozman and northwest Arkansas business leaders align philosophically. Political experts said donors typically dot guest lists for VIP events, so it would be normal to see them in this instance. Sagely said Boozman's office, in conjunction with the Rogers-Lowell Chamber of Commerce, put together for the White House a list of possible participants in the lunch and an invitation-only speaking event that followed. Names for the lunch list were chosen from among successful business leaders in Boozman's district, regardless of their political affiliation, said Raymond Burns, chamber president. "I suspect that in my membership there are a lot of contributors to Congressman Boozman, but I don't know who those people are," Burns said. Among guests for Monday's lunch were executives with Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., Tyson Foods, Inc., and Arvest Bank. Political action committees for all three companies have contributed to Boozman. "Large corporations, like the people who run them, tend to put more faith in Republicans to serve their interests," said Janine Parry, a political science professor at the University of Arkansas. "So while you didn't have to be a Republican donor to sit at the table with the president, it shouldn't surprise anyone that many attendees were." Those who attended and had fundraising links to Boozman since his first race in 2001 were: *Susan Barrett, president of Mercy Health System of Northwest Arkansas, Inc. Barrett has given $1,250. *Richard "Dick" Bond, Tyson Foods president and CEO. Bond personally has donated $500. Tyson's political action committee contributed $17,500. *John Menzer, vice chairman of Wal-Mart. The retail giant has given $50,500. *Bill Schwyhart, a partner in The Pinnacle Group, who with his wife, Carolyn, have donated $8,000. *Mark Simmons, chairman of Simmons Foods, Inc. He donated $1,000. *Sylvester Smith, the state director of the National Federation of Independent Businesses. The NFIB contributed $5,000 to Boozman. *John Tyson, a Tyson executive who represented the Northwest Arkansas Council at the lunch. He has personally contributed $4,000. *Jim Walton, chairman of Arvest Bank and member of Wal-Mart's board of directors. He has donated $8,100 to Boozman and Arvest's PAC gave $27,000. Rogers Mayor Steve Womack was at the lunch. His father, Kermit, has contributed $1,000 to Boozman. Others attending included UA Chancellor John White and Dan Hendrix, the president of the Arkansas World Trade Center in Rogers. Hendrix formerly worked for a trucking company that has given to Boozman. The two other guests, both from Fort Smith, have ties to Democrats. George McGill, an insurance company owner, has donated money to Sens. Mark Pryor and Blanche Lincoln, both D-Ark. Along with McGill, Tonya Jackson, founder of Innovative Markets, Inc., of Fort Smith, organized a campaign event for Gov. Mike Beebe, D-Ark., last year. Boozman's office and the chamber submitted a list of 25 names that the White House whittled down for the lunch, Sagely said. "We've had a lot of people just here on the ground ask 'Why wasn't I included in the lunch' or 'Why were these certain people?'" Sagely said, adding the reason was that planners looked for a diverse group whose businesses have benefited from the president's economic policies. "The politics of it all didn't really play any part in any of this," he added. "There wasn't any sort of political discussion." Robert Willoughby, a professor at the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith, said it has been hard to take the politics out of any presidential event. "Where do you cross the line between whether it's an official visit or he's out there glad-handing to help somebody raise money," Willoughby said, adding, "To say that the list of 13 was not completely made up of Republican contributors or donors would not have surprised me in the least, because that's the way American politics work." Bruce Oppenheimer, a political scientist at Vanderbilt University, said Boozman's selections were part of "the spoils of politics." "Now, it's a different thing if in fact the day before they got invited they made contributions to Boozman's campaign, but I suspect this is more of a 'round up the usual suspects,'" he said. "It's hardly surprising that, when it comes to things like this, you invite your friends." |
