When President Obama was preparing for the inaugural festivities after the 2008 election, he was clear — he would take no donations from corporations to pay for the activities, even though he was legally allowed to do so. But after four years of Washington politics, Obama is not even bothering with such ethical dilemmas. The Presidential Inauguration Committee has released the names of inauguration donors, showing corporations ranging from Microsoft and AT&T to biotechnology company Genentech and Medicaid administration company Centene Corp.
The committee did not release donation amounts, but there were fewer than a dozen corporate donors. Four years ago, the inauguration committee raised a record $53 million, without corporate donations and the capping of maximum donations at $50,000. This time the committee has encouraged gifts of $250,000 from individuals. The names of 300 individual benefactors are listed on the inauguration committee website.
“The Presidential Inaugural Committee is continuing its pledge of transparency for the American people and is taking extra steps to provide the public with ongoing updates about who is donating to the inaugural,” said Addie Whisenant, a spokeswoman for the committee. “In keeping with FEC requirements, we will also make public the final list of donors and the amounts they contributed to the [committee] 90 days after the presidential inauguration.”
According to the Washington Post, donors get access to special briefings and inaugural balls and tickets to the swearing-in ceremony and parade.
“It’s not worth indebting yourself to corporate interests just to have a big party,” Craig Holman, an advocate for tighter restrictions on money in politics at the Public Citizen watchdog group, told the Washington Post. “It’s very unfortunate and quite a reversal of what this president stood for.”
In 2009, the Obama inauguration festivities were must-have tickets for Democrats across the country. In the African-American community, the inauguration was one of those once-in-a-lifetime events that people flocked to, even without tickets to the balls, braving the freezing cold to be a witness to the swearing-in of the first black president. The event attracted a record 1.8 million visitors. But while that event had 10 inaugural balls, this time there will be two official balls.
