exactly
>Fred Eychaner
Wealthy donors are putting millions of dollars behind Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump in the race for the White House. Bloomberg's Zachary Mider and Bill Allison detail who their biggest donors so far…
[HRC]
Fred Eychaner: $5 million
Fred Eychaner has made his fortune with his company Newsweb, which publishes alternative and ethnic newspapers and owns television and radio stations in Illinois and Indiana. Newsweb has never registered to lobby in Washington, but Eychaner has given $42.8 million since 2003 to party committees, candidates and outside spending groups. Eychaner is a major supporter of marriage equality, LGBT rights and AIDS prevention and awareness, and supports them through hisAlphawood Foundation.The Clinton Foundation is among the charitable organizations he supports. He's given it more than $25 million.
Source: Bloomberg
https://web.archive.org/web/20160729012041/https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-07-28/trump-vs-clinton-how-big-donors-stack
Alphawood Foundation is a Chicago-based, grant-making private foundation working for an equitable, just, and humane society. Each year we award grants to organizations, primarily in the areas of advocacy, architecture and preservation, the arts and arts education, promotion and protection of the rights of LGBTQ persons and people living withHIV/AIDS,and other human and civil rights.
http://www.alphawoodfoundation.org/
>Fred Eychaner
Who Is Fred Eychaner, the Left’s Most Reclusive Mega-Donor?
While Democrats attack the rich across the country to gin up votes as part of their 2014 election strategy, one self-described “progressive” Democrat donor is so secretive with his wealth that Forbes magazine isn’t sure if he is even a billionaire.
Meet Fred Eychaner (pronounced Eye-can-er), a gay-rights activist and possible billionaire from Chicago who has given $4 million to Harry Reid’s Super PAC attacking shadowy billionaires. Eychaner gave so much money directly to federal candidates thathe violated the legal maximum for 2012,according to Public Integrity. He donated $14.1 million in total to super PACs last cycle and has given a total of $5.8 million so far this cycle — more than any donor who supports Republicans.
Eychaner routinely ranks as one of the top three largest donors in America, after only fellow liberals Michael Bloomberg and Tom Steyer. But while Steyer and Bloomberg are if not household names then well-known in the political class, Eychaner has eluded scrutiny. National Journal tracked Eychaner down in May, but he has remained out of the spotlight for nine years.
Just how much money does Eychaner have? Even Forbes Magazine isn’t quite sure.
Pete Newcomb, senior editor for Forbes, was asked, “do you have some individuals that you suspect should be on the [Forbes billionaire] list but who won’t confirm it?”
Newcomb’s reply:
Yes, we profiled someone in the current issue named Fred Eychaner, a media mogul from Chicago. My hunch is that he’s got a lot more than $500 million we attributed to him. He has a lot of investments in various media properties. He’s given away well over $100 million (over the past couple years). People who give away that kind of money tend to have a lot more.
Eychaner has been involved in progressive causes for much of the last twenty years. In addition to the Reid SuperPAC money, Eychaner also gave the leftist House Majority PAC $1 million in early May. He hasvisited the Obama White House at least seven times,and he gave at least $500,000 to a SuperPAC supporting Obama’s reelection. Obama keynoted a $35,800-per-couple dinner at Eychaner’s Lakeview home.
In 2000 Bill Clinton thanked Eychaner and his live-in partner Ken Lee “for opening their beautiful home”; Eychaner gave $25 million to the Clinton Foundation and $100,000 to Clinton buddyTerry McAuliffein his bid for Virginia governorship.
The largest donor to the AIDS Foundation of Chicago, Eychaner, who founded Newsweb Corp. in the 1970s, got his start publishing alternative media, likethe Chicago Reader newspaper that launched President Barack Obama’s political career with a 4,400 word feature in 1995.[4,400??]
The lion’s share of the fortune of the man who refuses to be called the “progressive Koch brother” comes from Rupert Murdoch, who bought Newsweb’s WPWR-TV station in 2003. Eychaner was listed as the “reclusive” owner of Air America’s Chicago outlet and routinely comes up among the top 20 Democratic donors. He is listed on the boards of the Joffrey Ballet and the Art Institute of Chicago.
Eychaner has also been strategic about who he has hired for his Alphawood Foundation. In 2012, he hired Sun-Times Media general counselJames McDonoughin a move to avoid media scrutiny. When the Chicago media writes about him at all, it’s usually praise for some gift he has given or for his support of same-sex marriage in Illinois.
Eychaner gave an $11 million gift to honor Franklin Delano Roosevelt in Manhattan — and then sued to make sure a plaque with his own name would be on the monument. He reportedly gave money to ACORN, according to former employee Anita MonCrief.
In 2005, the Chicago Tribune reported that “Eychanerranks fifth nationally as a lifetime donor to the Democratic National Committee and related committeesbetween 1978 and January 2004.” But the Tribune noted that Eychaner “refused repeated requests to allow a reporter inside his home or office.
Eychaner alsorefuses to be photographed.
Who is the left’s shadowy mega-donor, and what does he want?
Maybe if the media weren’t so obsessed with the Kochs, we would know the answer.
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2014/09/16/who-is-the-lefts-shadowy-probable-billionaire-2/
THOMAS, J., dissenting
SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES
FRED J. EYCHANER v. CITY OF CHICAGO,
ILLINOIS
ON PETITION FOR WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE APPELLATE COURT OF ILLINOIS, FIRST DISTRICT
No. 20–1214. Decided July 2, 2021
The petition for a writ of certiorari is denied. JUSTICE KAVANAUGH would grant the petition for a writ of certiorari.
JUSTICE THOMAS, with whom JUSTICE GORSUCH joins, dissenting from denial of certiorari.
Fred Eychaner owned a tract of land in Chicago’s River West neighborhood. Two blocks south stood a factory, owned and operated by the Blommer Chocolate Company. The company wanted Eychaner’s land to create a buffer with nearby residential areas, so it offered to purchase the property for $824,980. Eychaner declined.
Eychaner’s refusal to sell, however, did not end the matter. Two months later, the city of Chicago notified Eychaner that it was considering whether to take his property.
As formalized later, the city planned to invoke its eminent domain power to transfer Eychaner’s property to the company.
moar at
https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/20pdf/20-1214_7lh8.pdf
Jewish donors prominent in presidential campaign contributions
20 October 2012,4:40 am
Sheldon Adelson is biggest giver of all; Obama’s top two donors also Jewish
Here are the top five Obama donors:
No. 3 (tie): Fred Eychaner, founder of Chicago-based alternative-newspaper publisher Newsweb Corp.
Total: $2.066 million
Eychaner has given $1.5 million to the Priorities USA Action super PAC. He’s also given more than $60,000 to the president’s re-election committees, and he’s listed as a major “bundler” for Obama, having raised at least $500,000 for the president. Eychaner, a gay-rights activist, also has donated millions to other nonprofit groups, including more than $1 million to the progressive EMILY’s List organization.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/jewish-donors-prominent-in-presidential-campaign-contributions/
New Jewish PAC Aims to Burnish Hillary’s pro-Israel Credentials
…
Indeed, Jews top the list of donors to the second largest pro-Clinton PAC, Priorities USA. It has raised over $100 million, and its list of donors includes Soros, who has donated $7 million of the overall $25 million he has committed to donating to Clinton.Soros’ son Alex,who started his own Jewish PAC focused on domestic issues, gave Priorities USA $1 million. Hollywood fixture and longtime Clinton supporters Haim Saban and his wife, Cheryl, have donated $10 million. Chicago media magnateFred Eychanercontributed $5 million. And SlimFast founder S. Daniel Abraham has kicked in $3 million.
https://www.haaretz.com/world-news/.premium-new-jewish-pac-aims-to-burnish-hillarys-pro-israel-credentials-1.5417747