Cantor Fitzgerald’s Howard Lutnick has fund-raised for both Clinton, McCain

Howard W. Lutnick, the chief executive of Cantor Fitzgerald, is famously loyal to friends.

Lutnick lost 658 employees in the 911 terror attacks and agreed to provide each of their families with $100,000, or 25 percent of the firm’s profits over the next five years, whichever was greater.

Apparently, he is no less mindful of political friends. This year, Lutnick gave the maximum individual donation to the presidential campaigns of New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, a Democrat, and Arizona Sen. John McCain, the GOP nominee.

Beyond that, he has raised lots of money for each – collecting at least $100,000 for Clinton’s presidential effort and, more recently, between $50,000 and $100,000 for McCain after McCain clinched his party’s nomination, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. The campaigns release ranges, rather than specific dollars, for the amounts collected by fund-raisers.

All told, Lutnick, along with members of his immediate family, and his employees, donated $213,000 to federal candidates, parties, and political action committees this year, the watchdog group also reported.

Apparently, it’s all about networks.

Lutnick’s spokesman Robert Hubbell said that Lutnick has known Clinton and McCain for decades through his work on philanthropic boards. Hubbell said that Lutnick befriended Clinton even before her husband’s election as governor of Arkansas through his involvement with the Arkansas Arts Foundation, the state’s premier art museum where he served as a director.

Later, that friendship deepened after Clinton’s support of Cantor Fitzgerald, among others, after the terror attacks, he said.

As for McCain, Hubbell said that Lutnick and he became friends through the Intrepid Sea Air & Space Museum, where both are longtime trustees.

Hubbell said he did not know the timing of Lutnick’s fund-raising for McCain’s campaign, but records show his individual contributions to McCain date to May 31, after it was clear that Clinton had lost her bid for her party’s presidential nomination

“In Howard’s view, they are each fine public servants,” Hubbell said.

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