Food Workers Give Va. Democrats $100,000

The United Food and Commercial Workers Union donated $100,000 to the Virginia Democratic Party last week, the largest contribution it has received from an individual, business or union in a decade, according to the State Board of Elections and the Virginia Public Access Project.

The $100,000 donation was credited to the party's state account, meaning it cannot be used to influence this year's presidential or congressional races. But the donation allows the state party to pay its operating costs so it can focus additional resources on raising money for its federal account, which can be used to support Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill) and congressional candidates.

"We are happy to have their support and we appreciate a shared interest in working families' conditions in Virginia," said Jared Leopold, a spokesman for the Virginia Democratic Party.

The United Food and Commercial Workers now become one of the biggest financial backers of the state Democratic Party, excluding contributions from candidate and national party committees, according to VPAP. The union, however, fell just short of giving the largest single contribution ever collected by the party in modern times. In 1997, the AFL-CIO gave the state party a $110,000 contribution.

But the food worker's donation will certainly become fodder for Virginia Republicans, who have long argued that state Democrats are too closely aligned with organized labor.

Virginia Democrats appear to be in the midst of a fundraising drive for their state account.

The party also collected $10,000 on Friday from Al Dwoskin, founder and CEO of a Fairfax-based real estate corporation. A day earlier, the party recorded a $25,000 donation from Hassan Nemazee, an Iranian-born investment banker from New York, according to the state board of elections.

Nemazee, a major Democratic donor, served as co-chair of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's (D-NY.) fundraising effort during her presidential campaign.