Democrats Reap $91,000 From Charter Schools Advocate And His Family
- Comments
There may be no better illustration of state Democrats' massive fundraising efforts in Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's re-election year than the political donations of Jonathan Sackler and his extended family.
A total of $91,000 in donations has rolled into Connecticut Democratic Party coffers in 2013 and 2014 from four people: Sackler, a Greenwich businessman, investment executive and charter schools advocate; his wife; mother and father.
That unusually high amount was made possible by the Democrat-controlled legislature's passage of a law last year — with Malloy's support — that doubled the annual limit for individual persons' contributions to state party organizations, from $5,000 to a new high of $10,000.
Here's the rundown on contributions to the party from those four family members during 2013 and 2014, according to campaign financing records:
•$55,000 to the account of the Connecticut Democratic Party's state-regulated committee. Sackler and his wife, Mary Corson, each gave a maximum $10,000 donation to the Democratic Party's state account in 2013 and already have given the same amount in 2014, for a total of $40,000 between them. Also, Sackler's mother and father, Raymond and Beverly Sackler, have given $15,000 — $10,000 and $5,000, respectively — to that same party account this year.
•$36,000 to the Connecticut Democratic Party's federally regulated account. Jonathan Sackler and Mary Corson each have given $10,000 to that account in 2014, and each gave $8,000 in 2013. The federal account is regulated by the Federal Election Commission and is intended under law to be used to help elect Democrats to federal office in Congress. But the account also can be legally used to fund salaries of state party staff members, and for other purposes that would benefit Malloy this year.
Jonathan Sackler and his wife live a stone's throw from his mother and father — in large homes on Field Point Circle, one of affluent Greenwich's most exclusive addresses with spectacular waterfront views of Long Island Sound.
The couple is in an elite group of political donors tapped by state Democrats who might be called "double-uppers" — individuals who gave the maximum $10,000 to a Democratic Party committee in 2013 and quickly doubled up on it with another maximum contribution this year; or couples who each gave the maximum $10,000 for one year.
But the Sacklers stand out.
In addition to making individual donations, Jonathan Sackler and Mary Corson opened their Greenwich home for an event on May 30, 2012 that raised $40,000 for a political action committee run by a Malloy pal. The PAC, Prosperity For Connecticut, organized by longtime Democratic activist and lawyer James Wade, has handed out $42,000 to state and local Democratic committees since 2012.
Malloy attended and spoke at the Sackler fundraiser that drew many donations from people involved with charter schools, in and out of Connecticut, or their relatives. For example, one, who gave $250 in connection with that event was Dmitri Mehlhorn of Virginia, who co-founded and served for a time as COO of StudentsFirst, a national education reform group involved with charter schools.
Jonathan Sackler is a leading proponent of charter schools in Connecticut, the region and the nation. He is a trustee for Achievement First, operator of about 20 charter schools in New York and Connecticut with thousands of students. He was the founding chairman and still a director of ConnCAN, the Connecticut Coalition for Achievement Now, and serves as director of other education groups such as 50CAN and Students for Education Reform.
Firm Gave $106,050
Also, a privately held pharmaceutical company in Stamford with which Sackler family members have long been associated — Purdue Pharma — contributed $56,050 in 2013 and $50,000 to the Democratic Governors Association, a national group that spends its money to help elect Democratic governors across the country.
Jonathan Sackler is a director at Purdue Pharma — which is listed as his employer in the space where that information is required to be listed on campaign finance disclosure forms. But, according to a Democrats Reap $91,000 From Charter Schools Advocate And His Family - Courant.com: