Mortgage giant Freddie Mac donated $250,000 to the RNC, according to newly released financial filings. One week after the convention, taxpayers essentially took over the firm, in order to prevent a financial calamity.
A number of U.S. financial institutions that were RNC donors are now receiving capital injections from the U.S. Treasury. Among them: Goldman Sachs (which donated $250,000) and Morgan Stanley (which donated $100,000).
There are also RNC donors among the nine institutions included in this week's Treasury rescue plan: JPMorgan Chase (which donated $100,000), and Wells Fargo (which donated at least $187,000).
The donations, which are being publicly released today, were all made to the Minneapolis-St. Paul 2008 Host Committee, the group responsible for raising money to hold the Republican National Convention. The convention was held in St. Paul on Sept. 2-4, and nominated Sen. John McCain and his running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.
Unlike many other types of political giving, donors to convention host committees can make gifts in any amount, including money directly from corporations.
The RNC host committee had raised $51.2 million by Sept. 30, and spent $45.5 million.
Virtually every major corporation based in Minnesota made significant contributions, as did many corporations from outside the state.
The gifts from troubled financial firms were made some time before they required taxpayer aid. JPMorgan Chase made its donation on July 10, 2007, Goldman Sachs on Aug. 15, 2007, AIG on Oct. 1, 2007, Freddie Mac on Dec. 5, 2007, Wells Fargo on Jan. 25, 2008 and Morgan Stanley on March 19, 2008.
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