Barack Obama’s in Philadelphia Today
Photograph by Jeff Fusco
POTUS is rolling through town for a fundraiser aiming to raise one million bucks for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. Guess whose house he’ll be at? David L. Cohen’s.
Attendees of Thursday’s event who contribute $32,400 — the maximum amount an individual may contribute to the DSCC — are entitled to a VIP Chair’s reception, photo opportunity, dinner Q&A session with the president, and guest. Those that contribute $10,000 are entitled to the photo-op and dinner event, but must come stag.
Venture capitalist and FringeArts President Richard Vague will co-host the event. Cohen, of course, also hosted a fundraiser for Tom Corbett back in February. The political agnosticism has more to do with his job–VP at Comcast–than any deeply entrenched political beliefs. (If he has any, that is.) Indeed, as the Inquirer noted in a recent piece on our friends at Kabletown, the company’s ability to court access to and curry favor with the Obama administration has been one of its greatest strengths in cultivating a widespread influence that some would call monopolistic.
The Huffington Post, which broke the news of the fundraiser, cites Financial Times columnist Henry Ed Luce on the White House’s relationship with the company: “If Dwight Eisenhower had General Motors and George W. Bush had Halliburton, Barack Obama arguably has Comcast.” That criticism aside, if the Obama administration lets Comcast get away with uncompetitive practices, but gets Cohen to help raise millions of bucks in return, that’s a tradeoff some Dems would probably take. Especially one local guy who might just run for Senate come 2016.
Bob Casey will also be at Cohen’s Mount Airy pad, where D.L.C. hosted Barack back in 2011.
[HuffPo]
