McCain’s Michigan fat cats

When John McCain comes to Michigan for a pair of expensive fundraisers today, he’ll be feted by some of Michigan’s wealthiest and most powerful leaders.

He has two major fundraising events planned, one at the Townsend Hotel in Birmingham and one at the Big Rock Chop House. The reception and dinner at the Townsend will set you back anywhere from $2,300 to $28,500 per person. That makes the Big Rock Chop House dinner, at a mere $500 to $10,000 per person, look like a bargain.

Perhaps more interesting is the list of people acting as co-chairs of the Townsend fundraiser, which includes some of the state’s wealthiest and most powerful business and political leaders. The list includes Jim Nicholson, CEO of PVS Chemicals, who is McCain’s finance chairman for the state of Michigan. Nicholson, who ran unsuccessfully for the Senate himself in 1996, is a longtime contributor to Republican politicians and organizations.

Nicholson and his wife, Ann, have donated the maximum amount they can donate in the last few election cycles, all to Republican candidates. They’ve also pretty much maxed out their “soft money” donations to the Republican national and state committees. Curiously, Nicholson also is credited with saving the reelection campaign of Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick in 2006. When the campaign was out of money, Nicholson announced that he would raise $1 million for Kilpatrick. He ended up falling short, but the several hundred thousand dollars he did raise allowed Kilpatrick to buy airtime for commercials and eke out a win in 2006. Observers note that in Detroit politics there are no viable Republican leaders, forcing even staunch Republicans to choose between Democrats to support. Kilpatrick has been viewed as a relatively pro-business mayor, and that probably explains Nicholson’s support for him.

Interesting side note: Nicholson was defeated in the 1996 Republican primary in his race for senator by Ronny Romney, the ex-wife of Mitt Romney’s brother. She’s also the sister of Terry Rakolta, who briefly became famous in the late ’80s for leading a crusade against the show “Married … with Children.” Terry Rakolta is the wife of John Rakolta, who is also a co-chair of the Townsend fundraiser.

Like Nicholson, Rakolta is a wealthy businessman (chairman of Walbridge Aldinger Construction) and a longtime contributor to Republican candidates and organizations. But Rakolta started out as a Romney supporter, for whom he acted as national finance co-chairman. Both John and Terry Rakolta have donated tens of thousands of dollars to Republican candidates and groups over the last few years. They also were the primary contributors to a political action committee called Voice the Vote, which in 2006 took out a newspaper ad comparing Gov. Jennifer Granholm and five former Democratic presidents to Adolf Hitler.

Another co-chair for the event is C. Michael Kojaian, a real estate developer and investor. Kojaian, a Bush Pioneer, and his wife have donated a staggering $57,000 to the McCain Victory Committee (a joint fundraising operation for McCain and the Republican National Committee) along with the maximum allowed by law to the McCain campaign. He has also donated large sums of money to prominent Republicans around the country, including Elizabeth Dole, Mike DeWine and John Sununu.

Robert Schostak, co-president of the Schostak Brothers real estate investment firm, is also a co-chair of the event. Schostak has a rather unusual record of political donations. Like the others, he has donated the maximum allowed to the McCain campaign. But he has also donated money to a number of prominent Democrats, including Sen. Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey, Sen. Mark Udall of Utah and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. To the last two of those he gave the highly unusual amount of $666. Like Rakolta, Schostak was also an early supporter of Mitt Romney, who is now on board the McCain bus.

Those wealthy businessmen are joined as co-chairs by Ambassador Ron Weiser and Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox. The events will raise funds for several different groups, not just for the McCain campaign. Those groups include the McCain Victory 2008 PAC, the Republican National Committee and four state Republican Committees.