New Balance loves Mitt Romney. (I mean they really, really, really love Romney.)
President Barack Obama has got some Nike supporters.
Ron Paul (New Balance) and Herman Cain (Nike) have also received donations from employees of some notable running shoe companies, according to the third quarter presidential campaign finance reports filed with the Federal Election Commission . (The 500k donation to Romney actually came during the second quarter.)
To see which apparel company executive gives to what candidate, you can go the FEC’s website, or I can just save you the time and tell you in this space.
To wit: If Romney ever decides to take up marathon running, he’ll no doubt be in a pair of New Balance. On June 15, 2011, New Balance chairman of the board James Davis donated more than $500,000 to Restore Our Future, Inc., which is a pro-Romney SuperPAC (A PAC is a political action committee.)
When news of Davis’ donation hit the media in August, the company suffered some backlash because of Romney’s stance against same-sex marriages. The company’s president and CEO, Robe DeMartini, quickly published a letter on the New Balance Facebook page , distancing himself and the company from Romney’s views:
Mr. Romney’s position on this issue is not reflective of Jim Davis’, my or New Balance’s position and support of the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered community. As a company, New Balance embraces the differences in all people and we work tirelessly to create and sustain an environment where everyone – our associates, consumers, customers and guests – are treated with dignity and respect.
Judging from the comments to DeMartini’s letter, it looks like New Balance may have lost a lot of business. One dissatisfied New Balance customer wrote this:
Ultimately, the $500,000 donation by NB’s CEO to an anti-gay candidate for President came out of the pockets of New Balance customers. I won’t be one of those in the future.
Eeesh!
No other presidential candidate has received as much as $10,000 from the athletic shoe companies. In fact, outside of Davis’ large contribution to Romney, a grand total of $12,400 has come from the running shoe companies to the presidential candidates this election season.
Notable is the $5,000 donation from Nike Foundation President and CEO Maria Eitel to Obama. But the rest of the donors, for the most part, are ordinary run of the mill citizens: a New Balance warehouse supervisor in Missouri gave $100 to Paul; a Reebok sports marketing employee from Boston gave Romney $1,000.
So, I decided to expand my search of interesting donors from the sports world outside of running (but staying inside my home state of Texas). A few interesting gems popped up, such as:
Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones gave $2,500 to Romney’s campaign on May 24, then on Sept. 29, he gave $2,500 to Rick Perry’s campaign. Of course, Jerry’s donation to Romney was before Perry announced his intentions to run for the GOP nomination. By the way, Jones’ daughter, Charlotte Jones Anderson (she is also the club’s executive VP of brand management), also donated $2,500 to Perry on Sept. 29.
Staying in Dallas, Mavericks president and CEO Terdema Ussery gave $2,500 to Tim Pawlenty’s failed presidential campaign on July 25. And one of my childhood heroes, former Cowboys quarterback Roger Staubach, gave $2,500 to Perry’s campaign on Aug. 24.
Traveling down I-45 to Houston, we found that two executives for the Houston Rockets combined to give $1,250 to Romney’s campaign; And like his Cowboys counterpart, Texans owner Robert McNair has love for two presidential candidates: He gave $2,500 to Cain on May 24, and $2,500 to Perry on Sept. 21.
In San Antonio, Spurs owner Peter Holt is also a Perry supporter, having gave $2,500 to the Texas governor on Aug. 19.
Other notable donors included:
This desperate house wife wants Obama in the White House
*Actors Danny Devito ($2,500) and Omar Epps ($1,500) gave to Obama’s campaign on Sept .27 and Sept. 29 respectively.
*Actress Eva Longoria ($2,500) gave to Obama on Sept. 27. Actor Christian Slater gave $500 to Obama on Aug. 4.
*(Michael Douglas, Tom Hanks and George Clooney were among the movie stars who gave to Obama in the second quarter.)
*James Taylor – $5,000 to Obama (If you are younger than 35, you probabaly don’t know who Taylor is. Ask your parents, or, better yet, Google these lyrics, “I’ve seen fire and I’ve seen rain.)
New Balance loves Mitt Romney. (I mean they really, really, really love Romney.)
President Barack Obama has got some Nike supporters.
Ron Paul (New Balance) and Herman Cain (Nike) have also received donations from employees of some notable running shoe companies, according to the third quarter presidential campaign finance reports filed with the Federal Election Commission . (The 500k donation to Romney actually came during the second quarter.)
To see which apparel company executive gives to what candidate, you can go the FEC’s website, or I can just save you the time and tell you in this space.
To wit: If Romney ever decides to take up marathon running, he’ll no doubt be in a pair of New Balance. On June 15, 2011, New Balance chairman of the board James Davis donated more than $500,000 to Restore Our Future, Inc., which is a pro-Romney SuperPAC (A PAC is a political action committee.)
When news of Davis’ donation hit the media in August, the company suffered some backlash because of Romney’s stance against same-sex marriages. The company’s president and CEO, Robe DeMartini, quickly published a letter on the New Balance Facebook page , distancing himself and the company from Romney’s views:
Judging from the comments to DeMartini’s letter, it looks like New Balance may have lost a lot of business. One dissatisfied New Balance customer wrote this:
Eeesh!
No other presidential candidate has received as much as $10,000 from the athletic shoe companies. In fact, outside of Davis’ large contribution to Romney, a grand total of $12,400 has come from the running shoe companies to the presidential candidates this election season.
Notable is the $5,000 donation from Nike Foundation President and CEO Maria Eitel to Obama. But the rest of the donors, for the most part, are ordinary run of the mill citizens: a New Balance warehouse supervisor in Missouri gave $100 to Paul; a Reebok sports marketing employee from Boston gave Romney $1,000.
So, I decided to expand my search of interesting donors from the sports world outside of running (but staying inside my home state of Texas). A few interesting gems popped up, such as:
Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones gave $2,500 to Romney’s campaign on May 24, then on Sept. 29, he gave $2,500 to Rick Perry’s campaign. Of course, Jerry’s donation to Romney was before Perry announced his intentions to run for the GOP nomination. By the way, Jones’ daughter, Charlotte Jones Anderson (she is also the club’s executive VP of brand management), also donated $2,500 to Perry on Sept. 29.
Staying in Dallas, Mavericks president and CEO Terdema Ussery gave $2,500 to Tim Pawlenty’s failed presidential campaign on July 25. And one of my childhood heroes, former Cowboys quarterback Roger Staubach, gave $2,500 to Perry’s campaign on Aug. 24.
Traveling down I-45 to Houston, we found that two executives for the Houston Rockets combined to give $1,250 to Romney’s campaign; And like his Cowboys counterpart, Texans owner Robert McNair has love for two presidential candidates: He gave $2,500 to Cain on May 24, and $2,500 to Perry on Sept. 21.
In San Antonio, Spurs owner Peter Holt is also a Perry supporter, having gave $2,500 to the Texas governor on Aug. 19.
Other notable donors included:
This desperate house wife wants Obama in the White House
*Actors Danny Devito ($2,500) and Omar Epps ($1,500) gave to Obama’s campaign on Sept .27 and Sept. 29 respectively.
*Actress Eva Longoria ($2,500) gave to Obama on Sept. 27. Actor Christian Slater gave $500 to Obama on Aug. 4.
*(Michael Douglas, Tom Hanks and George Clooney were among the movie stars who gave to Obama in the second quarter.)
*Quincy Jones – $1,000 to Obama
*Vanessa Williams – $1,500 to Obama
*James Taylor – $5,000 to Obama (If you are younger than 35, you probabaly don’t know who Taylor is. Ask your parents, or, better yet, Google these lyrics, “I’ve seen fire and I’ve seen rain.)
*John Legend – $5,000 to Obama