Political giving by the rich

Extremely rich Republicans are less charitable than extremely rich Democrats but slightly more inclined to contribute to political causes. Research on ultrahigh-net-worth donors by consulting firm Wealth-X Pte Ltd. shows that wealthy Republicans so far this year contributed an average 4% of their net worth to philanthropic causes and less than 1% to political causes. Wealthy Democrats, on the other hand, gave more than 5% to philanthropic causes and less than one-half of 1% to political ones. Heading the list of Republicans contributing to super political action committees as measured by the percentage of their wealth is Bobby Jack Perry, owner of homebuilder Perry Homes Inc. He contributed 2.2% of his $520 million net worth to political causes. Bill Maher, host of “Real Time,” a political talk show on HBO, leads the list of wealthy Democrats donating to super PACs. He gave 2.5% of his $40 million net worth. Other top Democrats: • Stephen Silberstein, founder of software firm Innovative Interfaces Inc. $35 million; 1.4% • Morgan Freeman, film actor, director, narrator. $95 million; 1.1% • Barbara Stiefel, retiree and Democratic fundraiser. $120 million; 0.9% • Frederick Eychaner, chief executive of Newsweb Corp. $500 million; 0.6%. Other top GOP contributors: • Rocco Ortenzio, co-founder of Select Medical Holdings Corp. Net worth $88 million; political donations 1.1% • Harlan Rogers Crow, head of Crow Holdings LLC. $310 million; 1.0% • Foster Friess, former head of Friess Associates LLC. $520 million; 0.5% • Jon Huntsman Sr., founder of Huntsman Corp. and father of Republican presidential primary candidate Jon Huntsman Jr. $700 million; 0.3%