Political irony: That's probably the best definition for what happened Monday when when Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., probably the only GOP lawmaker to express interest in the Disclose Act, rallied Michigan on behalf of GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, who has turned his back on requests to be more open with his campaign finance. 
McCain is the father of modern campaign finance reform. He was the coauthor of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002, popularly known as the McCain-Feingold Act. And he hasn't been shy about criticizing this year's conduits for big money, even if it ...
Continue readingHundreds of DC insiders descend on pricey Romney policy talks, reception
For a candidate who says he hasn’t spent a lot of time in Washington, Mitt Romney seems comfortable around D.C. insiders -- at least judging by the droves he drew to fundraisers and exclusive huddles in the nation's capital on Thursday.
Hundreds of deep-pocketed Romney supporters, who paid thousands of dollars apiece, flocked to the J.W. Marriott Hotel, just blocks from the White House the GOP presidential candidate hopes to occupy. At least some may have been hoping that the price of admission would include a ticket to join Romney there.
The event attracted influential lobbyists, businesspeople ...
Continue readingTransparency in the State of the Union
Tonight’s State of the Union Address raised even less transparency issues than we expected. (See the text at the end... View Article
Continue readingInfluence Explored: Obama’s Bundler List
Earlier today the Obama campaign released a list of 244 fundraisers who have bundled thousands of dollars in donations to the president's victory fund.
Continue readingMatching bundlers to fundraisers
Here at the Reporting Group, we’ve always wanted to tie the fundraising invitations in our Party Time database to actual donations reported to the Federal Election Commission by a politician or a political action committee--to be able to show a donor gave money to a politician at a certain event.
It’s nearly impossible, and there's a number of reasons we can't--not least of which is that dates in FEC records don't necessarily correspond to the day a contribution was given. (See here for an explanation.) Even when there's a disclosure intended to shed light ...
Barney Frank deals a bill, internet poker lobby antes up
Via the Real Time Ticker, the Federal Election Commission has posted the latest form 3-L -- or bundling report -- from Rep. Barney Frank's campaign. The disclosure lists the names of lobbyists who have raised at least $16,000 from donors to give to Frank's campaign committee. Page two of the latest filing from the Frank campaign shows that John Pappas, a lobbyist for the Poker Players Alliance, bundled $51,200 for the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, who also happens to be the sponsor of the Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection and Enforcement Act. The Poker Players ...
Continue readingTexas politico rapidly rises to No. 1 overall donor, now No. 1 bundler
What does the single largest donor in federal politics do when the maximum allowed by law just isn't enough? He collects contributions from others, becoming the single biggest bundler. What won't surprise you is that the person in question is a lobbyist. But what might surprise you is that he's based in Texas, and chances are good you've never heard of him.
Democratic supporter Ben Barnes, who is from faraway Austin, Texas, has quietly and rather suddenly become the premier political financier in America. He appeared on the Center for Responsive Politics' list of top 100 ...
Continue readingShining a Bright New Light on an Old Game
Hidden ‘Bundles’ of Lobbyist Giving Show Full Court Press by Health Care Donors
Sunlight and the Center for Responsive Politics have teamed up on a collaborative investigative project that shows never-before-seen “contribution clusters”... View Article
Continue readingAfter FEC Eviscerates Bundling Disclosure Law, Only One Bundler Discloses
According to The Hill, only one political action committee (PAC) reported bundling campaign contributions for a political candidate during the... View Article
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