#9 Beginning with a $500 contribution in 1993 to support Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., in his bid for re-election, Bing contributed more than $10.7 million at the federal level to the Democratic Party and its candidates, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
The biggest checks were written in 2002 when he gave a total of $8.2 million to the Democratic National Committee. But he also gave to specific candidates, including Al Gore, Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, Nancy Pelosi and Dianne Feinstein.
Bing was reported to have given at least $49.5 million during the 2006 election cycle in support of Proposition 87, a California initiative which sought to raise $4 billion in oil production taxes to help develop alternative fuels.[4] Bing also supported several key races in other parts of the country as Democrats fought to win back control of Congress. They included Democratic challenger Bob Casey, Jr. in Pennsylvania, who unseated conservative GOP incumbent Sen. Rick Santorum, and future United States senator Tammy Duckworth in Illinois, then a Democratic Congressional hopeful and an Army National Guard major who lost her legs in Iraq, who went on to lose to State Sen. Peter Roskam in that race.
Excluding Prop. 87 contributions, in California Bing donated $7.8 million worth from 2000 on, according to the California secretary of state. He spent $4.25 million in 2005 in a successful effort to defeat Prop. 77, a redistricting initiative sponsored by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Other beneficiaries of his political largesse included; the California Democratic Party ($640,172); Gov. Gray Davis ($675,000); and San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, whose campaign received $750 in 2004.[citation needed]
In October 2008, Bing pledged to match donations made to the NO on Proposition 8 campaign from October 17–19.
On December 18, 2008, the William J. Clinton Foundation released a list of all contributors. It included Stephen L. Bing, who gave between US$10–25 million.[5]
On August 5, 2009, a 737 private aircraft owned by Stephen Bing and based out of hangar 25 at the Burbank airport in Southern California, was utilized in the return of American reporters Laura Ling and Euna Lee who had spent 5 months of a 12-year sentence in North Korea.[6] Former President Bill Clinton was instrumental in their return, and accompanied the reporters back to the U.S. Bing reportedly covered the cost of the entire flight, estimated to be around $200,000.[7] |
[Twitter] Steve Bing Dies: Film Financier, Philanthropist & MAJOR CLINTON FOUNDATION DONOR, Jumped From Century City Building in Hollywood to his death. Why would this man with everything one could want commit suicide so suddenly?