McCain Institute Refuses to Disclose Big Donors

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McCain Institute for International Leadership executives refuse to disclose how much money big donors have contributed to the nonprofit that’s named after Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain, The Daily Caller News Foundation Investigative Group has learned.

McCain was the architect of the landmark Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 — more popularly known as “McCain-Feingold” — that required public disclosure of all contributions of at least $250 in federal elections. Former Wisconsin Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold co-sponsored the measure with McCain.

But the McCain Institute — created in 2012 with an $8.7 million donation of funds remaining from McCain’s unsuccessful 2008 presidential campaign — refused Monday to disclose the amounts it received from its biggest donors who gave $100,000 or more.

Spokesmen for the McCain Institute and for the Arizona State University (ASU) Foundation — where the nonprofit’s finances are held — refused to divulge any dollar amounts from big ticket donors despite repeated requests by TheDCNF.

A McCain Institute executive referred TheDCNF’s donor request to the ASU Foundation. An ASU Foundation spokesman side-stepped the issue of disclosure, replying to TheDCNF by issuing a statement — “in the spirit of transparency, the McCain Institute for International Leadership elects to provide a list of donors on its website.”

However, the McCain Institute declined to spell out exactly how much money each big donor contributed. The web site only lists donors who have given “$100,000 and above,” which can be misleading.