I bet he doesn’t give him money this time
I was poking through old campaign finance reports and found out Parker Griffith, the presumptive Democrat nominee for AL-05, previously contributed multiple times to Wayne Parker, the somewhat less presumptive Republican nominee for AL-05. I’m guessing he isn’t going to be making a contribution this time.
According to OpenSecrets.org, in 1994 Griffith and his wife gave a total of $1,000 to Wayne Parker in his first bid to unseat Bud Cramer. He also gave $250 to Parker’s Republican challenger, Hugh McInnish. He did not contribute any money to Bud Cramer in that year. That totaled $1,250 in the 1994 Congressional race - all to Republican candidates.
In 1995 - a non election year - Griffith donated $500 to Cramer and $500 to Sidney McDonald, a 1996 Republican candidate for U.S. Senate.
In the 1996 primary campaign Griffith gave another $250 to McDonald and $500 to Wayne Parker in his second bit to oust Cramer. After the primary Griffith’s only contribution before the general election was $1,000 to Cramer. He gave Cramer another $1,000 after the election.
In the 1998 election season Griffith was quite equitable, giving a total of $1,000 to both Cramer and his Republican opponent, Gilbert Monroe Aust, Jr.
Ever since the 1998 election Griffith has only given to Democrats and Democrat organizations, with the sole exception of $250 to Spencer Bachus in 2004. Recipients included more conservative Democrats like Cramer, Harold Ford, Jr., Evan Bayh, and the Blue Dog PAC. It also included notably less conservative Democrats like Harry Reid and Howard Dean.
Now it is not surprising to see a businessman hedge his bets and fund both opponents in an election. It also isn’t surprising to see a member of a political party give primarily to his party. What I did find interesting is that Griffith supported only Cramer’s opposition in 1994, notably a man Griffith may face in this year’s general election. Clearly Griffith thought Wayne Parker was the best candidate for the House in 1994 - even better than the outgoing Cramer that Griffith now seems keen to emulate. I don’t think it is a long trip out on the proverbial limb to assume that he does not think Parker is the best candidate this year, though.
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May 16th, 2008 at 7:26 pm
While the amounts of the donations are rather trivial in campaign terms, perhaps Dr. Griffith was trying to help Parker defeat Cramer so Dr. Griffith would then have a chance to win the Democratic primary and defeat Parker in a subsequent election. No democrat was going to unseat Cramer in the primary as long as Cramer desired reelection.