The Democratic Party’s top super PAC disclosed more than $9.2 million in September contributions on Monday, listing a who’s who of wealthy liberal donors, many associated with the secretive Democracy Alliance donor network.
New York City businessman Ian Cumming—who "was awarded the largest bonus for any CEO of a publicly traded company in New York" in 2012, according to Crain’s—and a company called HFNWA LLC donated $1 million each.
It is not entirely clear what that company does, but it appears to be affiliated with Franklin Haney, a Democratic mega-donor who was accused of campaign finance violations in the 1990s.
DreamWorks CEO and 3D advocate Jeffrey Katzenberg and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull director Steven Spielberg each gave $250,000 to the Super PAC last month.
Big-name Democratic donors also chipped in: billionaire financier George Soros and real estate mogul Herb Sandler, who pioneered an investment model dubbed the "the Typhoid Mary of the mortgage industry," gave $500,000 each.
Senate Majority PAC is one of 180 groups supported by the Democracy Alliance, and DA partners came through in a big way last month.
Contributions from those partners included $500,000 from Amy Goldman Fowler, $100,000 from Wayne Jordan, $95,000 from David Bonderman, and $12,500 from Lisa Blue Baron.
The super PAC also reported a $750,000 contribution from venture capitalist John Doerr, who has financed the campaigns of numerous Democrats and sat on federal panels advising the disbursement of green energy subsidies, some of which supported companies in which his venture capital firm had invested.
Senate Majority PAC also received millions of dollars from labor unions, including those representing food and commercial workers, government workers, teachers, painters, and letter carriers.
The American Association for Justice, the trial lawyers lobby formerly known as the Association of Trial Lawyers of America, gave the group $375,000, bringing its total contributions for the cycle to $825,000.
Already the left’s biggest outside spender of the 2014 election cycle, September’s haul will contribute to a last-minute effort by Senate Majority PAC to keep Congress’ upper chamber in the hands of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.), who has deep ties to the group.