WASHINGTON (DC)
National
By Joe Feuerherd
It was hardly a gathering of the American Catholic left. No, the March 14 press conference at which the newly formedAbuse Tracker Leadership Roundtable on Church Management was launched reeked "Establishment" -- with a capital E.
Publicity for theAbuse Tracker Press Club kick-off was handled by Porter Novelli, the multi-national image maker. A luncheon spread greeted the press -- the p.r. types know that reporters on empty stomachs can get feisty. On the dais: two bishops, an archdiocesan personnel director, three businessmen, a representative of Catholic philanthropic foundations and a former college president.
Not a bomb-thrower among the group.
Kicking off the event was Geoffrey T. Boisi, member of the Papal Foundation, product of Chaminade (Long Island's straight-laced all-boys Marianist-run high school), Boston College and the Wharton School of Business. Formerly a partner at Goldman, Sachs & Co., Boisi now is vice chair of JPMorgan Chase.
Among his varied interests and pursuits, the soft-spoken Boisi is a Republican Party fundraising machine. Public records ( www.opensecrets.org) indicate that the Locust Valley, N.Y., resident and his wife contributed well over $100,000 in the last election cycle to Republican causes: $50,000 to the RepublicanAbuse Tracker Committee, $5,000 to John Thune (R-SD), the conservative Christian who defeated Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, and $2,000 each to incumbent Republican senators Kit Bond (MO), Jim Bunning (KY), Lisa Murkowski (AL) and Arlen Specter (PA). The Boisi's provided $6,000 to George W. Bush's campaign, $10,000 to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist's "Volunteer Political Action Committee," and additional thousands to nine state Republican parties.
Posted by kshaw at March 17, 2005 05:47 PM