By Paul Merrion
August 06, 2012
Scores of Chicago executives who previously backed President
Barack Obama are keeping their wallets closed or opening them only for
Mitt Romney this time around.
August 06, 2012
Despite their usual Republican leanings, a lot of business execs jumped on the Obama bandwagon in 2008, especially in Chicago, where many had a firsthand connection with him or his closest supporters. For investors such as Sam Zell, John Canning Jr. or David Herro, their $2,300 contributions were a token gesture compared with tens of thousands of dollars they gave to his rival. So it's no surprise to see these men go all in on Mitt Romney this time around.
But others such as Northern Trust Co. CEO Frederick Waddell, investment banker Byron Trott and Global Hyatt Corp. CEO Thomas Pritzker (whose cousin Penny was finance chairman of the 2008 Obama campaign) put most of their chips on Mr. Obama, sending essentially pocket change to Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona. And some big Obama backers, such as Crate & Barrel founders Gordon and Carole Segal, real estate developer Avy Stein and philanthropist Lawrence Field, didn't hedge their bets at all.
Crain's photo illustration with Thinkstock, Getty Images and Newscom photosNow their only wagers are on Mr. Obama's archrival, the former Massachusetts governor.
“For everyone who sent money the first time to Obama and now switched, their sentiment from the get-go was: I really want him to be successful,” says executive recruiter Peter Crist, chairman of Crist Kolder Associates in Hinsdale. “Now they're ready for change.” He and his wife also contributed to the McCain campaign in 2008.
CHANGE IN THE AIR
While these individual contributions add up to a fraction of either candidate's total support, which tends to come from die-hard partisans, the shift is like a weather vane for the Obama administration's relations with many executives, even in the president's hometown.
Some nationally prominent corporate Obama backers in 2008 also have switched sides, notably Ronald Perelman, chairman of Revlon Inc., a bipartisan donor whose only contributions in the last presidential election went to the Obama campaign. Earlier this month, he reportedly held a $25,000-per-person fundraiser that brought Mr. Romney to the billionaire investor's home in New York's Hamptons.
Last time, the financial sector put $42 million into the Obama campaign, $11 million more than Mr. McCain raised. This time, Mr. Romney is outdoing him $25.2 million to $10.9 million, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
A BUNDLE FOR ROMNEY
At Kirkland & Ellis LLP, a national fundraising powerhouse, the 2008 Obama campaign pulled in nearly $187,000 while Mr. McCain got $25,300; thus far, the Chicago-based law firm has raised $134,665 for Mr. Romney and $43,977 for the president's campaign.
“From my point of view, it's wonderful,” says Lisa Wagner, a professional fundraising consultant for the Romney campaign in Illinois. “Some joke how they've never had more access to the White House and they can't get anybody to listen to them.”
Clearly, the president still has strong support from many in Illinois. “Obama has done a lot, really—I don't know why people don't see it,” says Vicky Linko, CEO of Funk Linko Inc., a maker of rail-car undercarriages in Chicago Heights that was about to go under in 2009 until it obtained $6 million in stimulus-funded grants.
An Obama campaign spokes- man declines to comment, but Brian Deese, deputy director of the White House National Economic Council, says: “This is a president who came into office and had a consistent vision for how to restore shared economic growth. He's shown toughness in restoring the credit markets and saving the American auto industry. He kept our economy from going into a great depression. He has a very aggressive, specific and balanced plan to support private-sector job growth, cutting small-business taxes and putting our house in fiscal order. You can't say this president doesn't have a specific plan.”
Nonetheless, from CEOs to car dealers, at least 120 large Chicago-area contributors to the 2008 Obama campaign have switched support to his opponent, including many who gave to both candidates four years ago. A much higher number of 2008 Obama contributors from Illinois are still sitting on the sidelines. Those numbers don't include retirees or nonemployed spouses, unless they could readily be identified.
“In 2008, I had precisely the same motivation everyone in the country felt” as Obama backers, says Susan Crown, a vice president of Chicago's Henry Crown & Co., who is a director at Northern Trust Co. and chairman of the executive committee at Illinois Tool Works Inc. “Hope and change and future and excitement. He's a very smart guy, very charismatic, articulate—the energy was great. Unfortunately, all those things turned to broken promises.”
While the rest of the Crown family still strongly supports the president—brother James is one of the campaign's biggest fundraisers—she split over two issues: the administration's tense relationship with Israel (“I wish it had been smoother”) and, more important, its relationship with business.
“He believes in big government and centralization; I believe in decentralization,” says Ms. Crown, who has hosted three Romney fundraisers totaling more than $5.5 million with her husband, William Kunkler, also an executive at the family holding company. “Businesses are holding on to cash and not investing because they're uncertain about what the future holds.”
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