April 5, 2004

Profile: Stephen Distler and Roxanne Kendall

Managing Director, Warburg Pincus <br>Princeton, New Jersey

Photo: Getty Images

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Stephen Distler, a managing director and treasurer of the global equity firm Warburg Pincus, is also the chairman of the Republican Leadership Council, the centrist GOP group that has long fretted about the influence of conservative Christians on the party. Still, in partisan terms, Distler is unflaggingly loyal.

Like some prominent campaign givers, Distler has also flirted with becoming a candidate himself. Four years ago, Distler told some GOP leaders in New Jersey that he was giving strong consideration to running against embattled Sen. Robert Torricelli. Instead, Distler became an outspoken supporter of Republican candidate Bob Franks, who lost.

Distler is also a longtime confidant and backer of Dick Zimmer, the former GOP congressman from New Jersey who abandoned his seat in 1998 to stage an unsuccessful senate bid.

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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