Obama includes Dem donors at CEO gathering

Introduction

President Barack Obama met with nine business leaders from around the country today at the White House, one of whom is a major Democratic donor.

Sunil Puri, the founder of the Illinois-based real estate company First Rockford Group, bundled between $50,000 and $100,000 for Obama’s re-election campaign, according to federal data compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics.

Puri also contributed $32,500 to a number of Democratic candidates and political action committees last election cycle — all hailing from Illinois.

He additionally gave $20,000 to the Democratic National Committee and more than $32,000 to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

Puri’s activity was similar during the 2008 campaign, when he donated more than $80,000 to Democrats, federal records show.

Steve Case, the CEO of the invest firm Revolution LLC, was another big political donor present at the meeting, but he did not contribute to Obama during the 2012 election cycle.

Rather, Case directed most of his $76,500 in campaign cash to influential members of Congress from both parties, including House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio; House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.; Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

Yonja Media Group CEO Dilawar Syed also split $1,000 between two different Democratic congressional campaigns in 2012.

Today’s White House meeting focused on immigration reform.