James B. Culbertson

James B. Culbertson

"Goldwater conservative James Culbertson had volunteered for North Carolina Republican campaigns before he founded Financial Computing in 1972 to develop software for community banks. Culbertson said he caught the George W. Bush fever in October 1998 and began lobbying acquaintances in the Texas Governor’s office to let him raise money before Bush even announced his presidential bid. Two years after Bush defeated North Carolina native Elizabeth Dole for the 2000 GOP nomination, Culbertson led the U.S. Senate fundraising effort that helped Dole defeat ex-Clinton Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles. Campaign-finance reformers organized a protest of an elite 1999 fundraiser that Culbertson threw for Bush. Culbertson called the protest “unmitigated nonsense” because he said the event offered a chance for anyone—not just contributors—to meet Bush. In fact, after the event was rescheduled (so Bush could rush to South Carolina to head off a McCain primary threat), the fundraiser made clear that only $10,000 donors would press Bush’s flesh. When the rabble who just contributed $1,000 got wind of it, they crashed the party. Culbertson and Pioneer Aldona Wos co-chaired Bush’s North Carolina fundraising in 2004. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and Pioneer Dan Branch attended a 2004 ceremony in which Culbertson received a Fund for American Studies award for his dedication to freedom and individual responsibility."