Mayors group sought corporate sponsors

ryanteaguebeckwith — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 21:50:11 -0400

A mayors group led by Pat McCrory sought out corporate sponsors.

The Republican Mayors and Local Officials 527 advocacy group, which the Republican gubernatorial candidate led from 2000 to 2005, advertised for corporate sponsors on its Web site.

"Wanted: Corporate sponsors," read one page.

"The RMLO hallmark of promoting local governance and partnering with other elected officials at all levels is also extended to those who share RMLO's ideals, including Corporate Sponsors," McCrory wrote in a welcome message on the group's Web site.

Annual sponsorships cost $5,000.

Based on tax forms filed with the Internal Revenue Service, the following groups contributed in 2003: the American Trucking Association and the International Council of Shopping Centers each gave $5,000 and the Bond Market Association contributed $10,000.

In 2005, the shopping centers council, the American Petroleum Institute and the Edison Electric Institute each gave $5,000 and the National Cable and Telecommunications Association gave $10,000.

Other corporate sponsors listed on the group's Web site in 2003 include: the American Chemistry Association, AT&T, Anheuser-Busch, DaimlerChrysler, Fannie Mae, Goldman Sachs, the National Rifle Association and Waste Management.

That and other pages are no longer available online, as the group appears to have let its Web site registration expire in September of 2003. The address was then briefly used by an outside company to advertise Internet porn (NSFW) and is now defunct.

They can be viewed on the Wayback Machine, an Internet archive.