Here is another piece, this one appearing in American Spectator, comparing the personal charity of liberals versus conservatives. Several examples given by Peter Schweizer:
- Andrew Cuomo, current New York Attorney General, made no charitable contributions between 1996 and 1999. In 2004 and 2005, he grossed $1.5 million in income but gave only $2,000 to charity.
- Al Gore, former vice president, gave $353 to charity in 1998.
- Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts gave zero to charity in 1995 but bought a half stake in a 17th century painting for $500,000.
- Going back a few decades, FDR had an average income of $93,000 ($1.3 million in today’s dollars) but gave away about three percent
In contrast to these examples, Schweizer gives some instances of conservative generosity:
President Ronald Reagan … was often called heartless and callous by liberals. Unlike Roosevelt or JFK, Reagan was not a wealthy man when he became president. He had no family trust or investment portfolio to fall back on.
And yet, according to his tax returns, Reagan donated more than four times more to charity — both in terms of actual money and on a percentage basis — than Senator Ted Kennedy. And he gave more to charities with less income than FDR did. In 1985, for example, he gave away 6 percent of his income.
George W. Bush and Dick Cheney have continued this Reagan record. During the early 1990s, George W. Bush regularly gave away more than 10 percent of his income. In 2005, Vice President Dick Cheney gave away 77 percent of his income to charity. He was actually criticized by some liberal bloggers for this, who claimed he was getting too much of a tax deduction.
