This celebrity tops among donors to Super PACs

Extremely rich Republicans are slightly less charitable with their money than extremely rich Democrats and more inclined to contribute to political causes. Research on ultrahigh-net-worth donors by consultant 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% of their net worth on average to philanthropic causes and less than one-half of 1% to political ones. Topping the list of Republicans contributing to super political action committees as measured by percentage of their wealth is Bobby Jack Perry, owner of Texas homebuilder Perry Homes Inc... Mr. Perry contributed 2.2% of his $520 million net worth to political causes last year. Bill Maher, host of the "Real Time" political talk show on HBO, was tops among wealthy Democrats who give to Super PACs. Mr. Maher donated 2.5% of his $40 million in wealth to political causes. “While no one disputes that large amounts of money have gone into the 2012 campaign season, when the donations are compared to the net worth of ultrahigh-net-worth investors, they are minor,” Wealth-X president David Friedman said in a press release. The other top four Republican contributors ranked on political contributions as a percentage of net worth are: > 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, formerly head of Friess Associates LLC and a major contributor to the Rick Santorum campaign. $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% The other top 4 Democrats are: > 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, CEO of Newseb Corp. $500 million; 0.6%