Clear Channel’s Directors Give Big to Romney, Who Won’t Criticize Limbaugh

[kpete]

Clear Channel’s Directors Give Big to Romney, Who Won’t Criticize Limbaugh
Mar 6, 2012 7:37 PM EST
The directors of Clear Channel, which hosts Rush Limbaugh’s show, have been big donors to Mitt Romney’s campaigns, which might help explain why Romney has been so reluctant to criticize Rush.

Fourteen directors of Clear Channel, the company that hosts the Rush Limbaugh show, have contributed $726,400 to Mitt Romney since 1994, most of it in the current presidential campaign. Romney has come under attack for refusing to criticize Limbaugh’s comments about Georgetown University law student Sandra Fluke, other than to say that calling her a “slut” and a “prostitute” was “not the language I would have used.”

The timing and size of these donations demonstrate Romney’s continuing close ties to those at the helm of this media giant, which has so far taken a hands-off policy about Limbaugh.

Clear Channel director Steven D. Barnes and his wife, Deborah, have given $346,200 to Romney, also starting in 1994. John Connaughton, also a Bain partner on the Clear Channel board, and wife Stephanie have contributed $296,300 since 2002, when Romney was elected governor in Massachusetts. Other directors with Bain ties who donated to Romney include Ian Loring (with Isabelle, $10,600), Edward Han ($4,800), and Blair Hendrix ($4,800). In addition to Sperling, THL partners on the Clear Channel board include Charles Brizius (with Kathleen, $8,200) and Kent Weldon ($2,600).

The three Mays directors and their families that gave were Lester Lowry Mays, the founder, and Mark and Randall, all of whom combined for $18,800. The other directors that gave were David Abrams of Abrams Capital ($4,500), Jonathan Jacobson of Highfields Capital ($2,500), and Thomas Shepherd of T.S.G. Equity Partners, who is only a director of Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, the advertising affiliate of the company. Like so many others on the Clear Channel board, Abrams and Shepherd began giving to Romney in the 1990s.

MORE:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/03/06/clear-channel-s-directors-give-big-to-romney-who-won-t-criticize-limbaugh.html