Democratic National Committee

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The Democratic National Committee (DNC) is the principal campaign and fund-raising organization affiliated with the United States Democratic Party. The DNC was established at the 1848 Democratic National Convention. Its Republican counterpart is the Republican National Committee and its Green counterpart is the Green National Committee.

1 Current DNC Leadership
2 DNC fundraising
- 2.1 1996 campaign fund-raising controversy
3 DNC Chairpersons
4 References
5 External link

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Current DNC Leadership

Chairman: Howard Dean, former Governor of Vermont
Vice Chairpersons:
- Mike Honda, U.S. Representative from California
- Linda Chavez-Thompson, Executive Vice President of the AFL-CIO
- Susan Turnbull, Maryland Democratic Party
- Lottie Shackelford, former Mayor of Little Rock, Arkansas
- Mark Brewer, Michigan Democratic Party Chairman and President of the Association of State Democratic Chairs
Treasurer: Andrew Tobias, businessman, author, and financial self-help guru
Secretary: Alice Travis Germond
National Finance Chairwoman: Maureen White, U.S. representative to UNICEF, Chairwoman of the Leadership Council on Children Affected by Armed Conflict, and board member of Human Rights Watch and the International Rescue Committee

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DNC fundraising

In the 2001-2002 election cycle the DNC raised a total of US$162,062,084, 42% of which was hard money. The largest contributor, with US$10,300,000 was the Saban Capital Group, founded in 2001 by Haim Saban, who also founded Fox Family group. The second largest contributor was Shangri-La Entertainment, which gave US$5,175,000. Newsweb Corp, owned by Fred Eychaner, gave the third highest amount of money to the DNC, US$4,755,000.

In the 2005-2006 election cycle, the DNC raised a total of US$61,141,823, all of it hard money. The three largest contributors were Hill Wallack (a law firm), Jonathan Rose & Co. (developers), and Bain Capital (an investment firm). Hill Wallack gave US$100,000 and the other two each gave US$53,400.

Sources within the Democratic Party estimate that contributions from Jews make up 50 percent of the donations the party receives from individuals each election cycle. The party does not admit publicly that it tracks donations via religion or ethnicity.[1]

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1996 campaign fund-raising controversy

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In late September 1996, questions arose regarding the Democratic Party's fund-raising practices. In February of the following year, the People's Republic of China's alleged role in the controversy first gained public attention after the Washington Post published a story stating that a U.S. Department of Justice investigation had discovered evidence that agents of China sought to direct contributions from foreign sources to the DNC before the 1996 presidential campaign. The paper wrote that intelligence information had showed the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C. was used for coordinating contributions to the DNC<ref name=embassy>Woodward, Bob and Duffy, Brian, "Chinese Embassy Role In Contributions Probed", Washington Post, Feb. 13, 1997 </ref> in violation of U.S. law forbidding non-American citizens from giving monetary donations to U.S. politicians and political parties. Seventeen people, including DNC fund-raisers John Huang, Charlie Trie, James Riady, and Johnny Chung, were convicted for fraud or for funneling Asian funds into the U.S. elections.

In 2002, the Federal Election Commission fined the Democratic National Committee $115,000 for its part in illegal fund-raising during the 1996 U.S. election campaigns. The FEC's general counsel recommended more severe penalties, but the three Democratic election commissioners on the committee blocked the recommendation on a 3-3 tie vote.<ref name=fecfines>"DNC fined for illegal 1996 fund raising", CNN.com, Sept. 23, 2002</ref>

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