The News Journal in Wilmington, Del., discovered a sudden upsurge in campaign spending by MBNA, one of the nation's largest issuers of credit cards. MBNA executives were the single largest identifiable group of contributors to then-candidate George W. Bush's presidential campaign, giving more than $250,000. MBNA ended up as the most generous campaign contributor among finance/credit companies in 2000, giving more than $3.5 million.
The News Journal uncovered memos that showed how top MBNA executives were influencing employees to contribute to candidates the company favored. Campaign-finance reform advocates said it was more than coincidental that the company's interest in national politics came at a time when an important piece of bankruptcy reform legislation was pending in Congress. The project involved compiling data from several campaign finance sources, including raw FEC data and paper filings.