Shrub’s Money Tree

The media has widely reported that George W. Bush has put together a startlingly successful money-raising machine. At last report, Bush had pulled in more than $40 million. Much of the money has been raised through a network of Bush allies called the Pioneers. Each Pioneer pledged to recruit at least $100,000 for the Texas governor’s presidential campaign. Campaign finance laws require candidates to disclose the names of individual contributors, but not the names of the Pioneers, who promised to bring in at least 100 checks for $1,000 each. On July 19, Texans for Public Justice, a fiesty watchdog group in Austin, wrote Bush demanding that his campaign release the names of the Pioneers. Two days later Bush complied. Here’s the list of names.

Joe Allen
Houston TX
Attorney, Vinson & Elkins LLP

Alfred Austin, Tampa FL
President, The Austin Companies

Joe Barton
Ennis TX
Congressman, U.S. House of Representatives

Lee M. Bass, Fort Worth TX
President, Lee M. Bass, Inc.

George Bayoud
Dallas TX
former Secretary of State for Texas

Louis A. Beecherl
investor, Texas Oil & Gas; Beecherl Investments

Dennis R. Berman
Dallas TX
president, Denitech

Wayne L. Berman, Washington DC
Lobbyist, Berman Enterprises Inc

Roland Betts,
NY, NY
Executive, Chelsea Piers Mgmt
former parnter with Bush in the Texas Rangers

Teel Bivins
Austin TX
State Senator, State of Texas

James Blosser
Ft. Lauderdale FL
Government Relations, Poole & McKinley

Michael Boone, Dallas TX
Attorney, Haynes & Boone LLP

Rudy Boschwitz,
Plymouth MN
Chairman, Home Value

Katherine Boyd
Burlingame CA
owner, Katherine Boyd Interior Decoration

Dan Branch
Dallas TX
Attorney, Langley & Branch

Stephen Brauer
Bridgeton MO
Executive, Hunter Engineering Co

Nancy Brinker
Dallas, TX
housewife, Brinker International

William Brisben, OH
Home Builder, W. O. Brisben Companies

Christopher Burnham, CT
Asset Mgmt, Columbus Circle Investors

Jonathan Bush,
Killingworth CT
Chairman, J Bush & Co Inc/Riggs Bank
George W. Bush’s uncle

William H. T. Bush
St. Louis MO
Chairman, Bush, O’Donnell & Co.

Joe Canizaro
New Orleans LA
CEO, Joseph Canizaro Inc

A. R. “Pete” Carpenter
Jacksonville FL
CEO, CSX Transportation

Claiborne Carrington
San Antonio TX

Bill Ceverha
Dallas TX
State Lobbyist

James Click, AZ
Executive, Jim Click Automotive

Herb Collins,
Boston MA
Chair, Boston Capital Partners

Peter Coneway
Houston TX
Investment Banker, Goldman Sachs & Co.

Jim Culbertson,
Winston-Salem NC
Executive, Financial Computing Inc

Robert Dedman Jr.
Dallas TX
CEO, ClubCorp International
on National Center for Policy Analysis’s Board

Bob Devlin
Houston TX
CEO, American General Financial

Bill DeWitt
Cincinnati OH
Private Investor, Reynolds, DeWitt Securities Company

Jennifer Dunn,
Seattle, WA
US Representative, Congress

Patrick Durkin
Greenwich CT
Managing Director, Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette

Dick Egan
Hopkinton MA
EMC Corporation
Contributions to Bush’s Gov. Races: $0

Gov. John Engler,
Lansing, MI
Governor, State of Michigan

Marty Fiorentino
Jacksonville FL
VP of Communications, CSX Transportation

Tom Foley
Greenwich CT
Executive, The NTC Group

Sam Fox
St. Louis MO
CEO, Harbour Group

Jim Francis
Dallas TX
President, Francis Enterprises

Bradford (Brad) Freeman
Los Angeles CA
General Partner, Freeman, Spogli & Co.

David Girard-diCarlo
Philidelphia PA
Attorney/ CEO, Blank, Rome, Comisky, & McCauley LLP

D. Stephen Goddard
Houston Tx
Managing Partner, Arthur Andersen LLP

Hank Greenberg
NY, NY
CEO, American International Group

Adele Hall
Shawnee Mission KS
Hallmark Cards

Tim Hammonds
Washington DC
president/lobbyist, Food Marketing Institute

Dick Heath
Dallas TX
CEO, BeautiControl Cosmetics

R. Steven Hicks
Austin/Dallas TX
CEO, Capstar Broadcasting Co.

Roger Hirl
Dallas TX
Pres & CEO, Occidental Chemical Co.

Alfred Hoffman
Ft. Myers FL
CEO, Watermark Communities, Inc.

Bob B. Holland III
Dallas TX
Senior VP, General Counsel, Triton Energy

R.D. Hubbard
Palm Desert CA
CEO, Hollywood Park, Inc.

James Huffines
Austin TX
Investor, Morgan Keegan; Bank of Dallas

Gaylord Hughey Jr.
Tyler TX
Attorney, Hughey Oil Company; Potter & Gunn Atty.

Robert Woods Johnson
New York NY
CEO, Johnson & Johnson, Inc.

Thomas Johnson
Austin TX
Exec. Director, AGC (Associated General Contractors) of Texas

Walter Johnson
Houston TX
President & CEO, Southwest Bank of Texas

Don Jordan
Houston TX
Exec., Reliant Energy

Shelly Kamins
Washington DC
Chairman of GOPAC; Investor, Blum Frank & Kamins

Stephen Kass
Burbank CA

Richard & Nancy Kinder, Houston TX
Chairman & CEO, Kinder Morgan, Inc.
Former CEO of Enron

Dorothy Koch, Bethesda MD
George Bush’s sister

Michael Kojaian
Southfield MI
President, Kojaian Mgmt Corp

David Laney
Dallas TX
Attorney, Jenkins & Gilchrist

James Langdon, Washington DC
Attorney, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld

Frank Lavin, Canton OH
Banker, Citibank

Kenneth Lay
Houston TX
CEO, Enron

Howard Leach
San Francisco CA
President, Cypress Farms Inc

Steve Letbetter
Houston TX
Executive, Reliant Energy

Tom Loeffler
San Antonio TX
Attorney, Arter & Hadden
ex-member, U.S. House of Representatives, Appointed by Bush to Univ. of Texas Board of Regents

John Mahaffey
Springfield MO
President, Mahaffey Enterprises

Thomas Marinis Jr.
Houston TX
Attorney, Vinson & Elkins, L.L.P.
Sits on board of dirs. at Phoenix House

Robert Martinez
Tampa FL
Managing Dir.-Gov’t Relations, Carlton Fields Law
Former Governor of Florida

Dean & Andrea McWilliams
Austin TX
Spokesman for TX Sen. Mike Galloway, State of Texas

David A. Metzner
McClean, VA
Lobbyist, American Continental Group
clients include Lockheed Martin and Gov. of India

Vance Miller
Dallas TX
CEO, Henry S. Miller Co.

David Miner
Cary NC
State Representative, State of North Carolina

Philip Montgomery III
Dallas TX
Owner, P.O.B. Montgomery & Co.

Charles Nash
Austin TX
Owner – Car Dealer, Chuck Nash Chevrolet

James Nicholson
Detroit MI
President, PVS Chemicals

Dennis Nixon
Laredo TX
Banker, International Bancshares Corp.

Alan Novak
Coatesville PA
Attorney, Conrad O’Brien Gellman & Rohn

Erle Nye
Dallas TX
CEO, Texas Utilities
Appointed by Bush to Texas A&M Board of Regents

Joseph O’Donnell
Cambridge MA
CEO, Boston Concessions Group, Inc.

Joseph O’Neill III
Midland TX
Managing Partner, O’Neill Properties

Bill Owens
Denver CO
Governor of Colorado, State of Colorado

Marshall Payne
Dallas TX
Investor, Cardinal Investment Corporation

Robert Pickens
Dallas TX
Investor, Self-employed

Don Powell
Amarillo TX
President, The First National Bank
Appointed by Bush to Texas A&M Board of Regents

Heinz Prechter
Southgate MI
Chairman & CEO, ASC, Inc.
former Chairman of Pres. Bush’s Export Committee

Mercer Reynolds
Cincinatti OH
Private Investor

Dub (A.W.) Riter Jr.
Tyler TX
Managing Partner, Pinstripe Investments
Appointed by Bush to Univ. of Texas Board of Regents

Raul Romero
Houston TX
CEO, S&B Infrastructure
Appointed by Bush to Univ. of Texas Board of Regents

Evans Rose Jr.
Pittsburgh PA
Attorney, Cohen & Grigsby

Rusty (Edward) Rose III
Dallas TX
partner, Cardinal Investments
former Bush business partner

Tony (A.R.) Sanchez Jr.
Laredo TX
CEO, Sanchez-O’Brien Oil & Gas
Oil, Land, Banking magnate. Appointed by Bush to Univ. of Texas Board of Regents

Nicholas Sarafy
Brownsville TX
Business Executive, Performance Testing Services

William Scherer
Fort Lauderdale FL
Attorney, Conrad Scherer & James

Bud (Allan) Shivers Jr.
Austin TX
consultant/investor, Waste Recovery Inc
Texans for Lawsuit Reform spokesman

James Simmons
Paradise Valley AZ
Owner, James P. Simmons & Associates

Alex Spanos
Stockton CA
Owner, San Diego Chargers

Manuel Stamatakis
Wayne PA
Founder & CEO, Capital Management Enterprises

Craig Stapleton
Greenwich CT
Executive, Marsh & McLennan Companies

Peter Terpeluk Jr.
Washington DC
Lobbyist, American Continental Group

Jack Vaughn
Dallas TX
Owner, Vaughn Petroleum

Roger Wallace
San Antonio TX
Consultant, PSI

Frederick L Webber,
Alexandria, VA
CEO/president/lobbyist, Chemical Manufacturers Association

Ron Weiser
Ann Arbor MI
CEO, McKinley Associates

Mrs. Jimmy Westcott,
Dallas TX
Westcott Communications

Robert Whilden Jr.
Houston TX
Attorney, Vinson & Elkins

George Williams
Houston TX
Investment Banker, Williams Partners Inc

Roger G. Williams

Bob Wright
Harlingen TX
President, Wright Way Construction

Charles Wyly Jr.
Dallas TX
Executive, Sterling Software

Dr. Zach Zachariah
Sea Ranch Lakes FL
Physician

Jeffrey St. Clair is editor of CounterPunch. His new book is The Big Heat: Earth on the Brink co-written with Joshua Frank. He can be reached at: sitka@comcast.net. Alexander Cockburn’s Guillotined! and A Colossal Wreck are available from CounterPunch.