Be it financing for a sword-and-sandals blockbuster or a run at the White House, it’s always hip to hit up Hollywood for money.
So we hear that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) is scheduled to return to Los Angeles next month for the first major fundraiser to be held in Southern California for her Senate reelection campaign and likely presidential bid.
The fundraiser will be held on April 21 at the Beverly Hills estate of Democratic fundraiser Ron Burkle. The event will be packed with celebrities, millionaires and others who can afford the ear of political candidates. Former President Bill Clinton is expected to attend as his wife seeks to bring in at least $40 million for her 2006 Senate race, and up to $80 million in the 18 months before the presidential election.
Burkle’s investment firm, Yucaipa Cos., counts former President Clinton and the Rev. Jesse Jackson among its board members. Burkle’s politics and deep pockets are tough to figure at times. He also has given generously to Republican governors Arnold Schwarzenegger and Pete Wilson.
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The Los Angeles chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners, known as NAWBO-LA, received a $1 million “challenge grant” last week from Patty DeDominic, chief executive of staffing firm PDQ Careers Group.
DeDominic, a former national president of NAWBO, has used a challenge grant before to spur others to donate to non-profits. NAWBO-LA and its educational non-profit have 10 years to raise $1 million from individual donors in order to receive her gift.
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Los Angeles arts patrons Gayle Garner Roski and Ed Roski pledged $23 million last week to the University of Southern California’s School of Fine Arts the single largest donation ever in the U.S. to a visual arts school.
The name of Gayle Roski, a watercolorist who is a commissioner of Cultural Affairs for the City of Los Angeles, will adorn the school’s fine arts building. She met her husband, chairman and chief executive of Majestic Realty, when they both attended USC in 1960. She was studying art, he was studying business.
Ed Roski owns stakes in the Los Angeles Lakers, Los Angeles Kings and the Staples Center.
*Staff reporter Kate Berry can be reached at (323) 549-5225, ext. 228, or
[email protected]
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