Politics & Government
Cubs President Theo Epstein Backs Hillary Clinton With Campaign Contribution
Epstein's support comes days after team owner Joe Ricketts pledges $1M to Donald Trump's campaign.
CHICAGO, IL — The Chicago Cubs front office has agreed on a lot of things during this year's magical season. But one area where there's a difference of opinion between team executives is who should be the next president of the United States.
With the money from his recently signed $50 million five-year contract extension burning a hole in his pocket, Cubs president and baseball wunderkind wrote a personal check to the campaign of Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, who was in town last Thursday for a fundraising event, according to Michael Sneed of the Chicago Sun-Times.
The dollar amount of Epstein's contribution wasn't revealed, but maybe it was large enough to offset the financial support thrown at Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump by the Ricketts family, which owns the Cubs through a trust. Clan patriarch Joe Ricketts recently pledged $1 million of the family's money to Trump's campaign, and during a fundraiser in Bolingbrook last week, Joe's son Todd predicted the GOP candidate would win the presidential election, the Sun-Times reported.
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Founder of TD Ameritrade and the publication DNAinfo, Joe Ricketts doesn't have any direct involvement with the Cubs, but his son Tom is the team's chairman, and his three other kids — including Todd — serve on the board. The family's personal fortune is estimated to be $4.5 million.
RELATED: Ricketts Spent Millions Bashing Trump, Now Wants to Pay Donald a Million to Beat Hillary
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Interestingly, the Ricketts haven't always been all in when it comes to supporting Trump. In fact, Marlene Ricketts, Joe's wife and Mama Cub of the family to his Papa Cub, gave $3 million to the Our Principles PAC earlier this year. The PAC used that money to fund a series of scathing TV commercials ahead of the Republican primaries in Illinois, Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina.
Trump was none too happy about the ads. He threatened to damage the Ricketts' family name in attacks online in February and while talking to the Washington Post editorial board in March.
I hear the Rickets family, who own the Chicago Cubs, are secretly spending $'s against me. They better be careful, they have a lot to hide!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 22, 2016
"I'll start doing ads about their baseball team," he said to the D.C. newspaper. "That it's not properly run or that they haven't done a good job in the brokerage business lately."
RELATED: Donald Trump Threatens to Blast Chicago Cubs Owners in TV Ads
But it wasn't fear over Trump airing their dirty laundry that changed the Ricketts' political spending habits. Brian Baker, a longtime strategist for Joe Ricketts, told the Wall Street Journal that Papa Joe and the rest of the clan couldn't "sit back and watch Hillary Clinton become the next president of the United States." (Coincidentally, the commercials are no longer posted to YouTube.)
Someone forgot to get that family memo backing Trump to daughter Laura Ricketts, however. She's a Clinton supporter and attended another fundraiser for her (not the one Epstein was at) last week, according to the Sun-Times.
More via the Chicago Sun-Times
Theo Epstein and Hillary Clinton (Epstein photo by Scott Slingsby | Wikimedia Commons; Clinton photo via Patch archives)
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