ASHINGTON - Texas Governor George W. Bush is sucking Massachusetts dry of Republican campaign funds, leaving his rivals far behind in the race for money in the state.
Bush has swept all sectors of the Republican fund-raising community on his way to raising close to $1 million in Massachusetts, according to campaign finance records filed yesterday with the Federal Election Commission.
From high-tech magnates to downtown bankers to venture capitalists and leading Republican lobbyists and political officials, the Texas governor has - for the moment - locked up GOP money in the state.
Bush supporters were exultant as the campaign filed the details of its more than 79,000 contributors and $37 million in donations nationwide. Massachusetts was the ninth-ranking state in the nation in its financial support for Bush, with donors contributing $816,000 in the last quarter, and more than $900,000 overall.
''I think there might be four or five'' GOP contributors ''that we didn't get,'' said Ron Kaufman, a GOP national committee member from Massachusetts and a Bush supporter. ''The party has decided he's the guy.''
Bush's feat is all the more impressive because, like all presidential candidates, contributions by law are limited to a maximum of $1,000 per person.
Though not all the Republican campaign reports were available yesterday, the breadth of Bush's success in the state could be gauged by comparing his report to the one filed by rival Elizabeth Dole. Bush had some 900 donors who gave $500 or more to his campaign in Massachusetts in the last quarter; Dole had fewer than two dozen.
Among Bush's rivals, only publisher Steve Forbes is in the Texas governor's league. Forbes spent $37 million of his own money in the 1996 campaign and may be counted on to do the same or better next year. He has spent $8.2 million this year.
On the national fund-raising scene, Senator John McCain of Arizona raised $4.2 million in the first six months of 1999. Dole raised $3.5 million. Former vice president Dan Quayle and Gary Bauer raised about $3.4 million each and Lamar Alexander raised $2 million.
The Bush bandwagon in Massachusetts was flush with famous names, many of whom are connected through previous or current service with Governor Paul Cellucci's administration and campaigns. Former governor William F. Weld, Massachusetts Highway Commissioner Matt Amorello, Massport Executive Director Peter Blute, and state Board of Higher Education chairman Stephen Tocco led the political figures on the list of $1,000 contributors. GOP political operatives Alexander Tennant, Raymond Howell, and Peter Berlandi were also included, as were former state senators David Locke and John Brennan.
The officers and employees of several local firms bundled their contributions into significantly bulky donations. Employees of the EMC Corp., the Hopkinton data storage giant whose chairman Richard Egan hosted one of two successful fund-raisers for Bush last spring, gave more than $15,000.
Lawyers with the firm of Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo contributed $10,000 to Bush. Executives associated with the investment firm of Bain Capital Inc. gave $8,000, as did members of The Parthenon Group, another business consulting firm.
A group of Boston Capital officials and their family members, led by Herbert Collins, contributed $10,000 to Bush. John Childs led a group affiliated with his JW Childs Associates that gave $6,000. John, Jeffrey, and Virgina Kaneb, from the Catamount Companies, gave $3,000. Thomas Stemberg, the CEO of Staples Inc. led a group of that firm's officers and managers that gave $5,000 to Bush.
Other heads of commerce and industry on the $1,000 list included Patrick Lyons of the Lyons Group; Ned Johnson of Fidelity Investments; Edmund Kelly of Liberty Mutual Insurance; Ronald Skates of Data General; David Mugar of Mugar Enterprises; James Vincent of Biogen; Thomas May of Boston Edison; Robert Beal of The Beal Company; Jay Cashman of Cashman Construction; John Connors of Hill, Holliday, Connors, Cosmopulous; James and Anne Davis of New Balance; John Davis of American Saw; William van Faasen of Blue Cross; Paul Fireman of Reebok; Paul Gudonis of GTE; Roger Marino of Golf Technologies, and Thomas Kershaw of the Hampshire House Corp.
Also among the $1,000 contributors were restaurateurs Aaron Spencer and Charles Sarkis, and Harvard University's Richard Hunt, William Sahlman, and Michael Porter.
