Bush inauguration committee expects to raise 40 million dollars

WASHINGTON, Jan 15 (AFP) - The committee organizing US President George W. Bush's inauguration expects to raise 40 million dollars by Thursday to fund the three-day celebration.
Its official website, inaugural05.com, said Saturday that 25.5 million dollars in gifts from private citizens and businesses had been received as of January 14. Just in the past week, 27 individuals and 45 companies gave 7.7 million dollars.
Gifts ranged from 25,000 to 250,000 dollars.
Among the private donors was Marna Schnabel, who contributed 100,000 dollars. Schnabel is the wife of Rockwell Schnabel, the US ambassador to the European Union since 2001.
Also feeling generous was Richard Farmer, chief of Cintas, a US work-uniform giant. Farmer, who gave 250,000 dollars to Bush's re-election campaign, chipped in with another 100,000 dollars for the inaugural committee. The Washington Post reported that he is a main beneficiary of a recent law easing industrial laundry pollution regulations.
Among businesses delivering 250,000 dollars to the committee were banks such as Wachovia and Bank of America; oil concerns such as ChevronTexaco and ExxonMobil; pharmaceutical firms such as Pfizer; carmaker Ford; communications groups AT and T and Time Warner; and hotel chains such as Marriott and Ritz-Carlton.

01/15/2005 17:18 GMT - AFP