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 The Priorities USA Action’s haul was dwarfed by the
record-shattering $103 million raised by Republican Jeb Bush. Still,
the large sums of money given by a fairly small group of donors
stand in contrast to the small-donor image Clinton has sought to
cultivate for her campaign.
That image holds true for the campaign leg of her fundraising
efforts. The contributions page for her campaign boasts of 38,775
receipts, most in amounts of $100 or less.
The contributions page for her Super PAC, however, almost reads like
a billing for a big-budget Hollywood movie. Dreamworks Animations
CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg gave $1 million; director Steven Spielberg
donated $1 million; Saban Entertainment CEO Haim Saban and his wife,
Cheryl, each gave $1 million. Five more million-dollar donations are
also recorded on the filing.
 In fact, of the mere 42 transactions listed since the beginning of
the year, only six in the filing were for $1,000 or less.
While it is not unusual for the super wealthy to donate huge sums of
money to candidates of various party affiliations, Clinton, the
former secretary of State and Democratic frontrunner, has been a
major proponent of campaign finance reform, often warning about
corporations’ influence on the electoral process. She has also
notably pushed for a return to public financing of campaigns and
complained about the ever increasing length American election
cycles.
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Still, while Clinton has been vocal about her desire to reform the
system of campaign financing, she has been careful to avoid
specifically calling out big money itself as the issue, instead
focusing on the source of donations.
“I want to ... fix our democracy by focusing on dark unaccountable
money, which I think is corrupting our entire system,” Clinton said
last month in Iowa.
(Reporting by Alana Wise; Editing by Leslie Adler)
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