Although he's still generally supportive of Clinton, Moores says he was sorely disappointed when the newly elected president knuckled under on the rights of gays to serve openly in the military, an issue Moores feels strongly about.
"He should have done what Harry Truman would have done if Harry had been alive at this point," says Moores. "Harry would have said, 'Hey, get over it. It's done.' Gays are in the military, always have been in the military, always are going to be in the military."
Richards' defeat in 1994 particularly galled Moores, since he had spent more than a million dollars to perfect a software system he called "Rhino" that was to help the Democrats target Texas voters. But Richards' inner circle, in the person of the governor's son-in-law Kirk Adams and others, rebuffed Moores' efforts to get them to use it.
That same year, Moores was the largest contributor to the unsuccessful campaign of California gubernatorial challenger Kathleen Brown. He forked over $200,000 for her effort, largely because of his antipathy toward Proposition 187, the initiative successfully pushed by Republican Governor Pete Wilson that denies state benefits to illegal immigrants. He and Becky also paid for several expensive videos attacking the proposition and gave them to the Brown campaign. According to Moores, Brown's handlers had by then decided the proposition was going to pass, and advised their candidate to distance herself from the prickly issue Moores wanted her to grab. Once again, Moores' money went for naught.
"They absolutely wimped out," he laments. "We offered to run the ads in all their media markets. They were in the can. Kathleen personally got excited about them, but the staff came back and said, 'No, that's not going to help the situation.' " Moores reacted by taking another $100,000 he had planned to pump into the Brown campaign and giving it to groups fighting Proposition 187.
Brown, now a banking executive in Los Angeles, says the commercials were indeed "fabulous," but she won't second-guess her advisers' decision not to deploy them.
Moores' associate Rick Hosley, a Vietnam vet with conservative leanings, thinks Moores' generosity to Democrats is well-meaning but misplaced.
"His Republican friends make money for him," says Hosley acidly. "His Democrat friends take money. I think Clinton had his hand out all the time. Certainly Richards did. And there's a bunch of other ones he backed, begging for dollars all the time. There's some disillusionment with that."
Becky Moores says the family grew alarmed by the amount of money Moores was putting into his political endeavors. Unable to dissuade Moores herself, she now relies on an East Coast investment counselor, Charlie Noel, to discourage her husband's largess to candidates and political causes.
"Political investments drive Charlie crazy," says Becky. "He hates to see John give money away, to politics particularly. I love having Charlie there to nag him, too."
Moores says most of his future political contributions will be routed through organizations with a proven track record of good financial management, such as the Washington, D.C.-based Emily's List, which selectively boosts women candidates.
"I'm still enthusiastic about women in politics," he explains, "and I think we would be better off if there were more women in both the Democratic and Republican parties."
Other than an NFL franchise in Houston, what does John Moores really want? Five years ago, he thought it was a baby.mmmmmmmmmm Moores says the greatest regret of his life was not being around more when his two children were growing up, and for a short period, it looked like there might be another Moores in the family. He and his wife came very close to adopting a child.
"California has an open-adoptions policy, so we met a gal who was going to put her kid up for adoption," says Moores. He and his wife spent $50,000 to support the woman through her pregnancy but backed off at the last minute, because, as John puts it, the parents were "so loopy." The Moores agreed to allow a Houston couple to adopt the baby instead, at the Moores' expense. "We did the right thing for one of the few times in our lives," says Moores, an odd statement coming from someone who has given millions to indisputably good causes.
The episode, says Becky Moores, reflects another of her husband's tendencies.
"I know him well enough to know he'll have a fantasy about something, and the reality wouldn't be as good," she says. "The fantasy was he wanted to have another baby and be a dedicated daddy." But in retrospect, Becky Moores believes the adoption would have been a disaster. "He could say he would not live the lifestyle he has now, but I think it would be hard for him not to."
Some of John Moores' fantasies have worked out well. The life of a mega-millionaire obviously suits him, no matter how nagging his personal doubts and wants may be. Owning a baseball team is, he says, "a great joy" to himself, his wife and his family. Susan Cloer and others have watched Moores' recent media emergence, and wondered whether he isn't preparing himself to fulfill another fantasy, this one as the holder of a high public office.
