At Penn, support for Bill Bradley runs high

University employees have given more to the Democrat's campaign than they have to any other presidential hopeful. If former New Jersey senator and presidential candidate Bill Bradley defeats Vice President Al Gore in the Democratic primaries, he would be remiss to leave his loyal friends at the University of Pennsylvania out of his thank-you speech. The former New York Knicks star and three-term U.S. senator has received from Penn employees far more in donations to his campaign than any other presidential candidate -- including both Gore and Texas Gov. George W. Bush, the Republican frontrunner -- according to Federal Election Commissions records obtained from the Center for Responsive Politics, a Washington, D.C.-based research group that tracks campaign finance activities. Bradley has received more than $8,500 -- including seven $1,000 donations -- from at least 10 different donors at Penn. There are currently 14 Penn administrators, professors and physicians named in the records. Bush is listed as having received two $500 donations and Gore has been given a total of $1,250 as of the latest campaign filings, according to the records. The list of donors includes high-ranking Penn administrators like Executive President John Fry, well-known faculty members -- including Psychology Professor Martin Seligman, Undergraduate History Chairperson Bruce Kuklick and History Professor Mary Frances Berry -- and several physicians affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania Health System. Several staff members who donated to Bradley's campaign said they believe the upstart candidate would provide a much-needed ethical presence in the White House. Bradley and Gore are currently running neck-and-neck in New Hampshire, the site of the nation's first primary in early February. Gore is still far ahead nationally. Both trail Bush in national polls. Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Professor Michael Warhol, a former classmate of Bradley's at Princeton University, donated $1,000 -- the maximum individual contribution permitted during the primaries -- to Bradley's campaign early last March. He stressed the "need to bring morality back to government." "I know Bill Bradley," Warhol said. "I can vouch for his personal integrity." Others said they gave to Bradley because they believe he espouses more traditional Democratic values. "Bill Bradley was a thoughtful and productive senator," said Wade Berrettini, a professor of Psychiatry and Genetics in the Medical School who donated $1,000 to Bradley this summer. Berrettini said he tended to be "against a number of Republican programs." Political Science Professor Jack Nagel, who was not one of the donors listed, said he did not want to "overexplain" the significance of the seemingly overwhelming support that Bradley has received by Penn affiliates. Nationwide, Nagel said faculty members who work in the humanities generally support Democratic causes, while those who work in business schools often align themselves with Republican candidates. Fry, who gave $500 to Bush's campaign in the summer, said he believed that his only other donation to a politician had been to a local Democrat. He declined to comment further. Bradley's showing at Penn is somewhat surprising considering the fact that Bush has raised an unprecedented $60 million so far, nearly three times what Gore or Bradley have taken in. Still, Gore does have his supporters at Penn, including Berry, who gave $250 to the vice president's campaign at the end of the summer. Neurology Professor Matthew Stern, who donated $1,000 to Gore in June, said he has made several donations to Democratic candidates in the past. This donation, in particular, was intended to show his support for Democratic state senator Allyson Schwartz as much as it was for Gore. The records also said that both Kuklick and his wife, Elizabeth Block, each donated $1,000 to Bradley last spring. And Seligman also kicked in $1,000 to Bradley. Both Kuklick and Seligman declined to comment, saying that their politics were their own business.

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