Challenging the Media’s Narrative on Big Donors and State Board Appointments

Thomas Jefferson wanted listed only three accomplishments on his tombstone at Monticello: “Author of the Declaration of American Independence, of the Statute of Virginia for religious freedom; and Father of the University of Virginia.”

On the 249th anniversary of his first accomplishment, the newspaper that covers life at his third accomplishment published a piece titled “A dive into the Board of Visitors’ political donations.” The Cavalier Daily listed each of the 17 members of the University of Virginia’s board and their contributions to the person who appointed them to their posts, Gov. Glenn Youngkin.

If one read this report, it might leave one with the impression that governors appointing their donors to state boards was a new phenomenon. As a point of reference, I asked the artificial intelligence program ChatGPT about this “phenomenon,” and it told me, “This is a recent development in the governance of the university.”

Of course, my experience as a political commentator in Virginia is much older than ChatGPT’s own existence, and I was pretty sure that information might be a bit misleading. Perhaps that’s because it was scanning fairly recent articles from the legacy media that promoted that narrative.

So, doing my own research instead of relying on artificial intelligence, I went to the Virginia Public Access Project’s easily searchable website with a list of all the folks that former Democrat Gov. Terry McAuliffe appointed to UVA’s Board of Visitors during his time in office from 2014 to 2018.

Here are his appointees and the amounts they donated to his campaign or political action committee:

• Barbara Fried, real estate developer – A lifetime contributor of $1.9 million overall to Democrat candidates and party organizations, with $335,000 specifically going to either McAuliffe’s campaign or his political action committee, Common Good VA.
• Robert Hardie, investment banker – Lifetime $1.28 million overall Democrats, $422,000 to McAuliffe’s campaign or PAC.
• Thomas DePasquale, software developer – $814,000 overall to Democrats, $335,000 to McAuliffe’s campaign or PAC.
• James Murray Jr., investment banker – $530,000 overall to Democrats, $120,000 to McAuliffe’s campaign or PAC.
• Frank “Rusty” Conner, lobbyist for MGM Resorts – $406,000 overall to Democrats, $114,000 to McAuliffe’s campaign or PAC.
• Babur Lateef, physician – $281,000 to the Democratic Party.
• Robert Blue, president of Dominion Power – $144,000 to the Democratic Party.
• Jeffrey Walker, private equity investor – $119,000 overall to Democrats, $35,000 to McAuliffe’s campaign or PAC.
• Tammy Snyder Murphy, owner of the Gotham FC soccer team and first lady of New Jersey – $82,500 overall to Democrats, $25,000 to McAuliffe’s campaign or PAC.
• Elizabeth Cranwell, wife of former Del. Dick Cranwell – $23,000 (plus $158,000 from Dick Cranwell) overall to Democrats, $12,500 to McAuliffe’s campaign or PAC.
• Mark Bowles, lobbyist – $57,000 overall to Democrats, $16,750 to McAuliffe’s campaign or PAC.

Certainly, all we are doing here is providing perspective to the prevailing media narrative and demonstrating that this is not a new phenomenon. All it took was a little research, which used to be something that the media once prided itself on.

The post Challenging the Media’s Narrative on Big Donors and State Board Appointments appeared first on The Daily Signal.