Following today’s testimony by Roger Clemens and Brian McNamee before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, the notion that members of Congress split along party lines during their questioning was prevalent. The idea that Democrats were tough on Clemens and more apt to find McNamee credible, while Republicans drilled McNamee and were soft on Clemens has some legs.
That got me thinking a little bit – is Roger Clemens a donor to any specific politicians or political groups. It’s well known that Clemens, a Texan, has a relationship with the Bush family, but when it comes to writing checks to politicos Clemens is about as revealing as his today’s testimony.
In other words, there is nothing there.
According to the report on federal campaign contributions filed as of Feb. 11, Clemens has never donated more than $200 to any politician or political special interest group since 1978. The same goes for Brian McNamee.
In fact, amongst active team-sport athletes the political contributions aren’t overwhelming. Shane Battier, Lance Berkman, Peyton Manning, Dikembe Mutombo and Alex Rodriguez are the most notable donors.
Locally, all of the team owners and chairman have made political contributions, with Bill Giles of the Phillies and Jeffrey Lurie of the Eagles giving away the most. According to the filings, Lurie wrote a check for $10,000 to Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee last November and dished out a pair of $2,300 checks to Hillary Clinton for President on Sept. 18, 2007.
But like Giles, who has donated to both Republicans and Democrats, Lurie’s money has no party alliegience.
Meanwhile, Eagles coach Andy Reid recently donated $2,300 to Mitt Romney’s campaign for President.
Anyway, if the reason why Republicans were softer on Clemens than McNamee today and Democrats grilled the pitcher, but were sympathetic to the ex-trainer, it isn’t because of political contributions.
Meanwhile, there are a lot of folks who have wondered why Congress is digging into baseball’s drug problem instead of more pressure issues.
“Don’t they have anything better to do?” people have asked.
No. No they don’t.
For more on who gives money to whom, click here.