Owners of Patriots and Giants share political bond
The New England Patriots and New York Giants were fierce rivals in yesterday’s Super Bowl. Politically, the teams aren’t too far apart.
The Center for Responsive Politics published a study examining political donations by Patriots and Giants players, executives, and coaches. For both teams, donations came almost entirely from the team owners. And in both cases, the money went almost entirely to Democrats.
The biggest single donor was Patriots owner Robert Kraft, who has a long history in business and philanthropy in the Boston area and nationally. The center found that Kraft made $38,600 in political donations between 2009 and 2011, with 88 percent benefitting Democrats.
Kraft gave $5,000, the maximum legal donation, to President Obama’s reelection campaign. Kraft donated to Democratic New York Senator Charles Schumer and Rhode Island Senator Sheldon Whitehouse. He also gave to Illinois Republican Representative Mark Kirk (now a senator).
Kraft’s counterpart Steve Tisch, who co-owns the Giants, gave $12,200 during the same period, all to Democrats.
The players gave no donations, the center said.
Presumably, Kraft is hoping his chosen presidential candidate does better than his team.
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