The Wall Street supporters of Republican candidate Mitt Romney are making a last fund-raising push as the election heads into its final three weeks.
DealBook has obtained an invitation for a cocktail and photo reception at the Hilton New York on Monday afternoon with Representative Paul D. Ryan, the vice presidential candidate. The price of entry is $1,000 per person and $5,000 for a photo, presumably with Mr. Ryan.
On Monday morning, one prominent hedge fund manager serving as an event co-chair e-mailed a blast solicitation to his contacts. He pointed them toward an article on Politifact about Mr. Romney helping a colleague of his at Bain Capital help locate his teenage daughter. The article, wrote the hedge fund manger, helps “demonstrates the kind of leader Mitt Romney is.â€
He went on to write: “If you believe in capitalism over socialism and that our country's fiscal debt crisis is the most important issue facing us today, I ask that you strongl y consider donating to his campaign and asking your friends to do so as well. Don't hesitate, the time is NOW! Don't donate for me, do it for your kids, your grandkids and our country.â€
The nearly 200 co-chairs include some of the more public supporters of Mr. Romney, including the New York Jets owner Woody Johnson and the hedge fund executives Dan Loeb and Anthony Scaramucci.
But a batch of hedge fund and private equity bigwigs show up on the list, underscoring the broad and deep backing that Mr. Romney is receiving from the upper echelons of Wall Street.
Among the hedge fund notables co-chairing Monday's reception: David Tepper of Appaloosa Management; John Paulson of Paulson & Company; and John Griffin of Blue Ridge Capital. On the private equity side, there is Josh Harris and Marc Rowan, the co-founders of Apollo Global Management; Blackstone Group executives Michael Chae and Prakash Melwani; Alex Navab from Kohlberg Kravis Roberts; and Barry Volpert of Crestview Partners.
A number of prominent former Wall Street executives show up on the list, including John Mack, the former chief executive of Morgan Stanley, and John Whitehead, who ran Goldman Sachs in the 1970s and 1980s.
The Ryan event is happening alongside a number of Republican fund-raising confabs in New York, including a retreat at the Waldorf Astoria - a hotel owned by Blackstone - for the campaign's top donors.
Invitation to Romney Fundraiser (PDF)
Invitation to Romney Fundraiser (Text)
