LOD: Mystery Donors At Work

Almost out of nowhere, a Wilmington couple jumped to the top of the list – just below Art Pope and his family – as the largest campaign donors in North Carolina’s 2010 legislative elections. Democracy North Carolina compiled the list of their $242,500 in donations to state political parties and 17 Republican legislative candidates in districts from the coast to mountains. (Many donations are still not in the State Board of Elections’s database because of staff shortages there.) The Wilmington Star News profiled Neil Carmichael (Mike) Bender and his wife Bridgett, and their business partner Jeff Petro, who kicked in another $37,000. They run several businesses, own airplanes, enjoy political access, hate taxes, and they’re ready to contribute heavily in next year’s election. But Mike doesn’t want his picture taken by the Star News. Hmmm. Meanwhile, the secret donor behind a $1 million gift funneled through a shell corporation to a super PAC promoting Mitt Romney’s presidency has been exposed: he’s Edward A. Conard, a financial wheeler-dealer in the firm where Romney once worked. Conard? Bender? Maybe they’re clues to solve the canard of who’s bending our political culture to the breaking point.