AT&T, Bank of America Corp., Boeing, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Burlington Northern & Santa Fe Corp., ChevronTexaco and Exxon Mobil Corp. and FedEx Corp.

Ford Motor Co., Home Depot, Lockheed-Martin Corp., Marriott International, Marriott Vacation Club International, Microsoft and Northrup Grumman.

Occidental Petroleum Co., Oracle, Pfizer Inc., Ritz-Carlton Hotel Co., Time Warner, United Parcel Service, United Technologies and Wachovia Corp.

What do all these major corporations have in common?

Two things:

First, they are some of the firms that are chipping in "contributions" of $100,000 to $250,000 to cover the cost of President Bush's second inaugural party.

Second, they are firms that have a special interest in being on the good side of the Bush administration.

Many are the largest players in heavily regulated industries that are defined by government decisions and, in the case of pharmaceutical companies such as Pfizer and Bristol-Myers Squibb, have benefited tremendously from the laxness of the Bush administration's approach. Others, such as defense contractors Boeing and Lockheed-Martin, would be shadows of themselves without lucrative government contracts. Still others, such as energy firms ChevronTexaco, Exxon Mobil and Occidental Petroleum, are aching to get a piece of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

And they may get it.

After all, with their hefty checks, they have bought a piece of Bush.

While these corporations are prevented under campaign finance laws from contributing to candidates during the election campaign, they are not prevented from giving huge amounts to pay for the inaugural festivities.

Mercer Reynolds, the Bush campaign fund raiser who has been hustling bucks to cover the cost of today's party, says collecting cash for the inaugural is "a separate kind of sale."

Perhaps that is true. But the same product is still for sale: the policies, programs and federal contracts that the Bush administration so obviously peddles in return for campaign and inaugural party bribes, er, contributions.

© 2005 Capital Times