Obama’s Private Equity Donor: Double-Standard?
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Medioimages/Photodisc/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) — A website run by President Obama’s re-election campaign on Friday singled out for criticism a donor to Mitt Romney who is a partner at the Blackstone Group, the nation’s largest private equity firm.
Obama’s “Truth Team” accuses Paul “Chip” Schorr of “betting against America” and being “less-than-reputable” for his role in a 2007 deal that resulted in outsourcing work at U.S. firms overseas. They also claim he “arranged a buyout” of a Colorado company in 2006 that resulted in mass layoffs but billions of dollars of recouped investment for Blackstone.
Unmentioned by Team Obama, however, is that the president and chief operating office of Blackstone – Hamilton E. James – is a major Obama supporter and donor, who has presumably participated in and benefitted from many of the same investment practices for which Schorr is criticized.
James donated $35,800 — the legal maximum to Obama’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee – in November 2011, according to Federal Election Commission filings.
He will also reportedly host a fundraiser for the president in mid-May that’s expected to draw other Democratic donors from the private equity sector, sources told the New York Times.
James was also a guest of the Obamas’ at the most recent White House state dinner in honor of British Prime Minister David Cameron. He joined more than three dozen of Obama’s campaign bundlers who also attended.
An Obama campaign spokesman did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
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