Heir adds a voice to her millions Alida Messinger is speaking out, and drawing fire, about state s direction.
By BAIRD HELGESON Star Tribune October 23, 2011 9:25am Text size Copy shortlink:
For more than 30 years, one of the most influential charitable and political donors in Minnesota has been a woman passionate about issues but guarded about her privacy.
Alida Messinger, an heir to the fabled Rockefeller fortune, has quietly given at least $10 million to candidates and causes over the past decade. Some recent gifts have been extraordinary: $500,000 to a group that last year backed her former husband, Mark Dayton, for governor. And before that, $1 million to help bankroll the ballot campaign