Bradford Freeman is an old friend of President Bush and one of a handful described as a member of his inner circle. Freeman is also Bush's California fundraising leader, and he loves to tell the story of how the president-elect called him with what Freeman hoped would be a prestigious appointment as an ambassador or maybe a secret agent.
The kind of reward that, in the realpolitik of campaign finance, a rainmaker like Freeman might realistically anticipate.
Bush said, " 'I'm going to ask you to do something important,' " Freeman deadpans. "I was so excited. I was standing up at my desk. Buttons were flying off my shirt. The office was lined up outside the doorway. I put my hand over the phone and told my secretary, 'I think it's the CIA.' I said, 'I'm ready to serve my country.' "
Instead, Bush asked, " 'Do you remember that night in Texas the girls brought in that wild cat, Ernie? Well, Ernie wasn't de-clawed.'
"I thought, 'Why's he talking about Ernie for?' " Said Bush: " 'Well, Ernie can't go to the White House.'
"That was it. Someone else got England and France. And I got Ernie," Freeman says. "I had to go to a psychiatrist. I had to tell myself, 'Yes, you are a good person.' It's a funny story. Unfortunately, it's true."
He's kidding, though he did get the cat and a minor presidential appointment, while his brother, Russell Freeman, got a cushy post as U.S. ambassador to Belize. Self-deprecating humor is elemental to this self-styled Brentwood Brahmin of the Republican Raj, whose California party had, until the election of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, languished for years in post-Pete Wilson irrelevance.
Freeman, a youthful 62, did get a personal visit at his home from Bush, who "put his arm around me and said, 'Bradley' -- the president calls me Bradley -- 'I've got ideas people. Just raise money,' " Freeman recalls with mock chagrin -- and perhaps a touch of disingenuousness.
That's because membership in this elite fundraising fraternity opens the doors to an exclusive world of influence, perks and business connections that can be far more beneficial than many federal appointments.
Freeman's pride in his fundraising prowess was evident on a recent evening at his Brentwood digs, which -- like his British Post-Impressionist paintings and private Falcon 2000 jet -- are the trappings of Freeman, Spogli & Co., the $2-billion-plus venture capital firm he manages with Ron Spogli, Bush's classmate at Harvard Business School. His $10-million mansion is immaculately appointed, its beamed ceilings and orchid displays set off by manly hunting-lodge touches: antique fish lithographs, a mounted blow-up of Freeman and Bush at the president's Texas ranch.
