In a presidential debate with Al Gore in 2000, George Bush criticized President Clinton for inviting big donors to White House sleepovers. “I believe they moved the sign, ‘The buck stops here,’ from the Oval Office to the Lincoln Bedroom,” Bush said. “And that’s not good for the country.” 

Yet 26 elite Bush donors or donor spouses have since been invited by Bush to White House or Camp David sleepovers.  Six of these sleepover donors are members of Bush’s family. Bush’s corporate invitees to presidential pajama parties include Ohio financiers Mercer Reynolds and William DeWitt, Texas oil man Charles Moncrief; stock short-seller Edward “Rusty” Rose and Boston Concessions Group’s Joseph O’Donnell. 

Heavyweight political donors who slept in the inner sanctum include Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge, New York Governor George Pataki, Colorado Governor Bill Owens and former Michigan Governor John Engler.