Arthur Lipson, owner of Western Investments, gave the most of any Utahn to federal races and Democratic-leaning causes, a total of $267,450, or about $1 of every $20 donated by all Utahns. His wife, Rochelle Kaplan was No. 7 on the list, giving $45,750.

All of the donations from Lipson and Kaplan went to Democrats or Democratic-leaning PACs, although Lipson said he has supported and voted for Republicans before, as well.

"I'm no different than any other American who loves this country," said Lipson, 65. He said he gives to candidates and causes he believes are trying to make America a better place. He does not give attempting to influence any individual candidate or to influence any government action, he said.

"I do no business with the federal government, want nothing from the federal government," he said. "This is a wonderful country. It gave the opportunity for a boy raised poor to have financial (success)."

When told he was the largest donor giving to Democratic causes from Utah, Lipson said: "I'm a low-key person. I'm not a big hitter in any sense. I'm just glad I live in this country."

The No. 2 federal donor in Utah was Bruce Bastian, co-founder of WordPerfect and an activist for gay rights. Almost all of his donations went to Democrats and PACs, although he gave $500 to moderate Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine.

Other top individual donors in Utah included: No. 3, EnergySolutions chief Steve Creamer, $75,100; No. 4, Karen Huntsman, mother of Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., $74,800; No. 5, industrialist Jon Huntsman Sr., $71,200; No. 6, mall developer and former ambassador John Price, $47,500; No. 8, former Envirocare owner Khosrow Semnani, $41,300; No. 9, banker Spencer Eccles; $33,400; and William K. Reagan, chairman of Reagan Outdoor Advertising, $31,800.

Those top 10 donors by themselves provide almost 10 percent of all donations to federal campaigns and causes provided by Utah's 2.6 million residents.

While corporations are banned by law from giving directly to federal campaigns, disclosure forms allow tracking how much their employees give and to whom, and corporations may also form PACs to raise and give money.

The corporations whose officers and employees gave the most are: Western Investment, owned by Lipson, $313,750; the Huntsman Corp., $163,115; EnergySolutions, $144,055; the University of Utah, $96,086; NuSkin, $67,551; Price Realty Group, $54,400; Zion's Bank, $49,010; S.K. Hart Management, $41,300; Xango, $38,960; and Brigham Young University, $35,390.

Disclosure forms also show which ZIP codes provide the most political donations. The most generous was 84108, on the east side of Salt Lake City, the home of such people as the Huntsmans and Eccles. It provided $565,000 — or about 6 percent of the total from all Utahns. It gave 64 percent of its money to Republicans, 19 percent to Democrats and 17 percent to PACs.

Other top ZIP codes include: 84604 (Provo), $549,144; 84103 (Avenues of Salt Lake City), $451,534; 84060 (Park City), $356,225; and 84097 (Orem), $355,771.

---

E-mail: lee@desnews.com; bbjr@desnews.com