Obama transition releases donor list
« Thread Started on Dec 1, 2008, 11:30am »

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Obama transition releases donor list
Posted: 01:23 PM ET
WASHINGTON (CNN) — President-elect Barack Obama’s transition team
released its donor list Monday as part of a pledge “to run the most open and
transparent transition in history,” according to a written statement from the
transition.

According to the statement, almost $1.2 million had been raised from
1,776 donors as of November 15. While Congress has appropriated $5.2 million
for the transition, Obama’s team anticipates overall transition costs of
roughly $12 million. The estimated $6.8 million funding gap will be closed by
private donations - a task complicated by Obama’s strict limitations on both
sources and the amount that can be given by any individual.

“The Obama-Biden Transition project only accepts contributions from
individuals’ personal funds - we refuse all donations from corporations, labor
unions, and PACs,” the statement noted. “Individuals may not donate more than
$5,000. We also refuse all contributions from registered federal lobbyists and
registered foreign agents.”

Last week, on Tuesday, the newly-named co-chairs of Obama’s inaugural
committee - former Commerce Secretary William Daley, Obama campaign finance
chair Penny Pritzker, national finance director Julianna Smoot, businessman
John W. Rogers, and Republican Patrick Ryan - released a joint statement that
the transition effort would not accept individual donations higher than
$50,000.

For the past 20 years, federal funding requirements have called for
transition teams to release a list of donors. That disclosure is not required
until 30 days after the inauguration, but Obama has pledged to release those
names on a monthly basis.