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Subscribe to RSSPresident Barack Obama prides himself on rejecting donations from registered lobbyists, but a newly released list of campaign fundraisers is peppered with leaders from companies and law firms that lobby the federal government.
New bundlers, whose names were released this week, include Anthony Welters, executive vice president of UnitedHealth Group, and Qualcomm co-founder and former chairman Irwin Jacobs and his wife Joan.
Each raised at least $500,000 for the Obama Victory Fund, a joint fundraising committee that includes Obama’s presidential campaign, the Democratic National Committee and party committees in several battleground states.
The exact amounts are unknown. The campaign only divulges bundlers’ fundraising activity in broad ranges, with a top category of “more than $500,000.”
Qualcomm has spent at least $6 million each year since 2007 on federally reportable lobbying efforts, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. UnitedHealth spent at least $2.5 million annually in the same period.
None of these individuals were bundlers for Obama during his 2008 presidential campaign, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. However, Welters’ wife, Beatrice, raised between $200,000 and $500,000 for Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign.
Bundlers are elite political fundraisers who turn to relatives, friends and business associates to raise large sums and deliver the funds in a “bundle” to the candidate. They are often given perks and special access — both on the campaign trail and once politicians are elected.
Beatrice Welters was one of about two dozen bundlers who were named ambassadors during the president’s first term. Welters was appointed to serve as the U.S. ambassador to the Caribbean nation of Trinidad and Tobago, a post from which she resigned last November.
There’s nothing illegal about registered lobbyists contributing to a presidential campaign, as long as those donations are reported. But Obama’s campaign went further and voluntarily rejected such contributions. Still, some of his bundlers lead or work for law firms that also provide government lobbying services, although they are not lobbyists themselves.
Other newly disclosed bundlers include:
- Andy Sandler, the chairman and executive partner at BuckleySandler, which provides legal counsel and lobbying services for the financial services industry. He bundled between $50,000 and $100,000. Records indicate that his firm’s several recent lobbying clients have included the California-based East West Bank, Virginia-based Genworth Financial and the Electronic Signature and Records Association.
- Walter White, a London-based partner at the multinational legal powerhouse McGuireWoods, who bundled between $50,000 and $100,000. White is the head of McGuireWoods’ emerging markets transactions practice, according to his official bio. McGuireWoods’ current lobbying clients in the United States include Alpha Natural Resources, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Duke Energy, Progress Energy and Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), according to federal records.
- Jim Black, a Germany-based partner at the law firm White & Case, who bundled between $100,000 and $200,000. Black specializes in equity capital markets and mergers and acquisitions, according to his official company bio. Domestically, White & Case’s several lobbying clients include the National Association of Publicly Traded Partnerships.
- Rick Mayo-Smith, the managing director of Indochina Land, who bundled between $100,000 and $200,000. Indochina Land is the real estate division of Indochina Capital Corp., one of Vietnam's leading financial services groups.
The White House directed inquiries to Katie Hogan, a spokeswoman for the Obama campaign and Obama’s new nonprofit advocacy group, Organizing for Action. Hogan did not respond to requests for comment.
Overall, the Obama campaign reaped financial riches from 769 bundlers, who collectively raised more than $186 million. Twenty-eight of these bundlers moved into higher dollar categories during the fourth quarter of 2012, the new disclosure reveals.
Another newly listed Obama campaign bundler is Imad Husain, Obama's freshman-year roommate at Occidental College, who is now a banker in Boston. Husain raised between $50,000 and $100,000, according to the campaign.
Robyn Beck / AFP - Getty Images file
Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith in 2010.
Hollywood is also represented among Obama’s newly identified top fundraisers, with super couple Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith collecting more than $500,000. While hardly a professional lobbyist, Pinkett Smith last year pressed lawmakers to take a stand against human trafficking and forced labor, testifying before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations with her husband present.
They join the ranks of previously identified bundlers such as pop star Gwen Stefani and Warner Brothers CEO and Chairman Barry Meyer.
Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign did not volunteer bundler information, releasing only the names of registered federal lobbyists who bundled, as federal law compelled it to do. Nearly six dozen lobbyists collectively raised more than $17 million for the Republican’s unsuccessful presidential bid, as the Center for Public Integrity previously reported.
While Obama is safely in the White House for another four years, his chase for cash may not be over.
These elite moneymen and women could be tapped to fundraise for Obama’s presidential library, and are already being pursued by Organizing for Action, which is promoting the president’s legislative agenda over the next four years.
Organizing for Action will host a fundraiser in Washington, D.C., next week where a minimum contribution of $50,000 is required to attend, Lynn Sweet of the Chicago Sun-Times reported Monday.
Obama’s nonprofit group will, on a quarterly basis, voluntarily disclose the names and donation amounts of contributors giving $250 or more, Organizing for America National Chairman Jim Messina wrote Thursday in an opinion piece posted on CNN.com.
The group, to date, has not revealed any donors.
The Center for Public Integrity is a non-profit, independent, investigative news outlet. For more of its stories go to publicintegrity.org.
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Stop all campaign contributions,it's getting to be like a lottery,let the Government give each canidate equal time one night a week to spread thier lies and dump the electorial college Quit filling the pockets of terrorists with our tax dollars,start protecting the constitution, keep the useless United nations out of our bussiness Right now the biggest sink hole is in Washinton DC
See what people WITH money do? Basically, they're saying "to hell with those the Statue of Liberty greets".
Freddy...the harsh realities is that the GOP honestly believes the taxes individual Americans pay belong to Big Businesses. This is an empirical attitude of supremacy that infuses the 1% wealthiest Americans with unlimited growth of wealth and continues a constant flow of your tax dollars to businesses who use this funding to pay their bills. Then, when the profits roll in, it's pure pork to bloat CEO salaries. Why else would so many CEOs in the US become billionaires in less than a decade?
The idea that only CEO salaries have a right to annual increases is BS. Not if these pigs want consumers to continue to afford to buy their products and services. This is the CEO blindness. They can't see beyond the billions they earn every year to the real facts of reality. A bankrupt middle class stops buying. All that's left is a struggling middle class with salaries stagnated to 1971 levels who can barely afford necessities and have no hope of ever getting ahead.
"the harsh realities is that the GOP honestly believes the taxes individual Americans pay belong to Big Businesses"
That is about the most ignorant statement I have read in quite awhile.
This article inspires me to ask the question...What if NO lobbyists were allowed to donate in bundles? I believe that the wheeler dealers most likely to influence government vote Republican...not Democrat. Democrats seem to be a favorite of Hollywood celebrities and lesser known businesses.
There's an army of HMOs who consistently stuff millions into McConnell's campaign war chest. Which is why the KY Bourbon Boi wants no part of anything that would cut the profits to HMOs. Then, you get the big military industrialists in VA...all who vote for Republicans in order to keep the flow of tax dollars to that state for their businesses.
Ask yourselves how much precisely do you tax dollars fund businesses who now rely too heavily on taxpayers to pay their business debts all while they stuff their salaries with annual salary increases they refuse to pass on to their employees most of whom they love to unemploy.
You have a short memory. When clinton was prez, he targeted and threaten various big businesses with
threats of antitrust suits. And then everyone else fell in line to donate $100k to his campaign, If bill was italian, you would call that racketeering and extortion. Remember, barry learned chicago thug politics from the chicago streets while he was "an organizer".
Should we be surprised by this article? The only new info is a little name dropping. The article should have tied in with Obama's recent pay-to-play access to the White House. that is where the story is...the names of people who are peddling influence. And you guessed it, Pres. Obama is the biggest offender!!!
lowcount...So only Obama has bundlers? Try again. That Blame it All on Obama game is a little long in the tooth.
He said "Pres. Obama is the biggest offender!" So, that would imply that lowcount believes others do it, but that "Pres. Obama is the biggest offender"..Not the ONLY offender
..Sheeze, really?
Obama is just like any other slick politician. No wonder he pushed so hard for Obamacare--he is in the pocket of the insurance company's. What a joke
While this upsets me, and I believe it represents a problem of our gov't -- this i will say.
At least Mr. Obama's campaign has been honest of where the money came from. Compare this to the other national candidate who wanted our trust --- but then hid as much as possible from the public.
Lesser of two evils - you betcha. But since as a country that is currently my only choice - I'll take it.
Sad when we have to accept the lesser than two evils.....Evil is evil.....as with many other things, I am not so convinced he has been totally honest. Perhaps only stating only what they want us to know.
Im just tired of the crap......Eather you are straight up or you are not......
Warren Buffett, in a recent interview with CNBC, offers one of the best quotes about the debt ceiling:
"I could end the deficit in 5 minutes," he told CNBC. "You just pass a law that says that anytime there is a deficit of more than 3% of GDP, all sitting members of Congress are ineligible for re-election.
The 26th amendment (granting the right to vote for 18 year-olds) took only 3 months & 8 days to be ratified! Why? Simple! The people demanded it. That was in 1971 - before computers, e-mail, cell phones, etc.
Of the 27 amendments to the Constitution, seven (7) took one (1) year or less to become the law of the land - all because of public pressure.
Warren Buffet is asking each addressee to SHARE this on Facebook or forward this email to a minimum of twenty people on their address list; in turn ask each of those to do likewise.
In three days, most people in The United States of America will have the message. This is one idea that really should be passed around.
Congressional Reform Act of 2012
1. No Tenure / No Pension.
A Congressman/woman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they're out of office.
2. Congress (past, present & future) participates in Social
Security.
All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the Social Security system immediately. All future funds flow into the Social Security system, and Congress participates with the American people. It may not be used for any other purpose.
3. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all Americans do.
4. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise.
Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.
5. Congress loses their current health care system and
participates in the same health care system as the American people.
6. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American people.
7. All contracts with past and present Congressmen/women are void effective 12/1/12. The American people did not make this contract with Congressmen/women.
Congress made all these contracts for themselves. Serving in
Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers
envisioned citizen legislators, so ours should serve their
term(s), then go home and back to work.
If each person SHARES this on Facebook or contacts a minimum of twenty people then it will only take three days for most people (in the U.S. ) to receive the message. Don't you think it's time?
THIS IS HOW YOU FIX CONGRESS!
Very good!! I'm not one to clutter peoples email with junk. But this I will absolutly send to 50 of my address book.
One of the best ideas I've heard. Thanks for sharing.
This has been going around for a long time. Do you really think that our elected officials will be willing to change anything that will affect them?
Now can we see the names of those who stuffed Rip Van Romney's campaign coffers? McConnell's? Boehner's? Ryan's? Cantor's? My special favorite would be Cornyn's bundlers...that's bound to be a best seller for Big Oil influence. And how about Prissy Pant Graham and his SC corporation bundlers? Gotta be as interesting for sure.
And in other news, our politicians are still for sale....
Actually, now? The entire government is for sale. It's called Corporate Conversion. You take a government of the people, for the people, by the people and convert it to a for profit corporation. That makes individual taxpayers employees of the newly created Corporate USA.
ewent, You live alone, my guess.
The entire government IS for sale: from the local level to the federal level. Why else would anyone make politics a life long career? Follow the money trail.
You've never read a newspaper article about a politician getting caught with his/her hand in the cookie jar or their other appendage in the honey pot? What Utopian universe do you live on EWENT?
Almost every President has had his certain rich people back him. And each of those backers, some for the D's and some for the R's all have one thing in common. GHW Bush mentioned it when he was President, "ONE WORLD ORDER."
And that is why the average taxpayer is getting the shaft, including the low informed lap dogs of the Republican Party. And those lap dogs, in their limited thinking, just know the top 2% is going to elevate them up to that rich income level.
Sorry MUTTS, those 2%'s will make sure you also become one of the serf's. They are playing you like a broken violin, and with your hate of that 'uppity' POTUS, you can't see the truth.
But thats OK, just don't whine and bark when you become a serf like the rest of us. arf arf
No, all Presidents have rich people backing them.. The Lap Dogs are the ones who excuse the "D" and only care and complain about the "R"...
And that is why the average taxpayer is getting the shaft, including the low informed lap dogs of the Democrat Party.. Like you.. ARF ARF
How are average taxpayers getting the shaft?
SallyAnn explained the whole thing. Gee, you're sharp as a marble today.
But you seemed to contradict her in your post so I was asking you how,unless you agree with her.
I think all the self-righteous indignation I've heard from the Demo-Socialists about the Republicans being in the pocket of big corporations is incredibly hypocritical given this information.
Not that it wasn't already evident to those of us who have a thinking brain.
I did not contradict her, I stated "all presidents" as opposed to "Almost every President.
..Really? You seem to be having a hard time today.
I stated "all presidents" as opposed to "Almost every President.
Isn't that a contradiction? Doesn't "opposed" imply contradiction.
No, contradicting would be the opposite.. as would the statement: Almost every President have not had certain rich people back them.
I was agreeing with the premise of her statement "..President has had his certain rich people back him" though I disagreed on the number. But, perhaps I should amend my own statement and say that all modern day Presidents, which is who I was thinking of.
There, does that help?
An almost critical article of Obama on MSNBC?
Wonders never cease.
Are you people really that stupid, all of them get money from lobbiest. You'll be saying the same thing after he is gone about the next prez, wake up children.
This article isn't about the fact that he was being funded by lobbyists like everyone else. It is about the fact that he claims that he will not take money from lobbyists and that he has rejected money from lobbyists.
Nice he's funded by insurance companies and were being forced to buy insurance.
Go figure.
Like I've always said ... if you want to know what any elected official stands for or what they will do, just look at who is giving them money. They are the one pulling the strings.
At least Obama released his. Where's Mitt's and the other elected officials?
Nice to know who’s really in charge, Big business and monopolies! The labor unions better look for a third party before they become extinct, either that or break away from the ACLU, that is if they can? They might be more of a slave then they want to admit! The Demarcates are doing to the unions that the republicans only dream about doing! Maybe all these organizations need to become extinct maybe this socialism thing might be the way to go? Who needs the republicans, Americans are such patsies, do they really think they have a say in their government!
All politicians are paid for and bought by the super rich people. What, you thought Obama actually got voted into office? LOL!!!!!! Even if the votes are counted, they are trumped by the "super" sponsors... big banks, corporations, Matt Damon and Friends, etc.
Exactly how are the votes trumped by the super sponsors?
Have you ever seen a poor man run for president in the last few decades? It takes big money to throw up the signs, TV commercials, bumperstickers. Super sponsors spend millions in TV advertisements for their runner. The game is rigged from the start. The voters only have two choices because of the ridiculous amounts of money the sponsors pay to keep it a two party game.
Seriously, Lincoln would not have been able to run for President much less win if he was around today.
Okay all you "I hate rich people" Progressive/Liberals are you listening? Yes your exalted leader who swore he would eliminate lobbying from the government and would not have any lobbyist in his administration has done exactly that. How do you like him now? I am sure you will defend him and say its okay because its Obama, and you only hate rich Republicans. That's okay because we always knew you Democrats were spineless.
Why do you think Progressive/Liberals hate rich people? Which lobbyists does he have in his administration?
and we'll never hear anything from those dinks shultz and odonnel and that maddow gy on mess-nbc
It's damn hilarious that none of this matters to the dim/libs when there's a "D" after the name.
You get someone like ewent and you realize their not drinking the kool aid their swallowing the C**
This is how the game is really played. And if you think for one minute Obama really gives a damn about the little guy, you are being naive. It's about power to him.
If Obama doesn't care about the little guy, why did he keep the tax cuts for those earning under $450K?
Good question...He wanted to keep it only for individuals earning under $200K.. But, the Republicans wanted to keep the tax cuts for those earning under $450K. Matter of fact, I think it was because of their insistence and Obama capitulated... Obama called those earning over $200K "the rich" not the little guy..
Actually the Republicans wanted to keep all of the tax cuts.
Perhaps...not sure about "all".. But, that doesn't explain why Obama didn't really want to keep the tax cuts for the "little guy" earning over $200K.
Transparent? I could always see through him. That is why I did not vote for him.
Another "Do as I say Not as I Do"
So much for those who profess to be holier than thou.
Obama is of low moral character. He associated with a racist minister that he called his "spiritual adviser" and a known domestic terrorist. Obama takes expensive tax payer vacations while many Americans struggle financially.
More of that Obama hope and for another four years.
God I wish you Republicans could come up with something new.
You can wish all you want... GOP is a record that won't stop skipping...
Check the post above by HeHateMe, Warren Buffetts idea to fix congress. Something Reps and Dems should be able to agree on...
Wish the Democrats would explain why Obama has been good for the country in the last 4 1/2 years. Still hearing the same old, same old. Republicans don't like him because he is black. So ignorant!!!
cintra
he is only 1/2 black
The republicans don't like him because he is woefully underqualified and what little experience he has came from the most corrupt political machine in America.
Since this was 2012 donors I am quite disappointed that we are not seeing a list of Romney donors. I think there would be a few additional brackets if we did.
Don't hold you breath on that one.... LOL...
Ah, that would make it all OK, right 8ball? Sad though if you really think about it. This clown was the best that money could buy???
Makes me think Hillary couldn't be bought--so she had to go.
8ball. And you do what loyal libs always do; deflect the blame because somebody else did it. That does'nt address the issue. Maobama is in bed with big money, and loving it.
Here you go: http://www.opensecrets.org/pres12/bundlers.php?id=N00000286
Romney's Bundlers were out there and referenced all over the place before the election...Note: Before the election. You know, because he was a republican.
FYI, Obama's List: http://www.opensecrets.org/pres12/bundlers.php
Glad we didn't hold our breath waiting for this latest Obama's list, huh? LOL
Campaign Reform. .25 cents of every donated campaign dollar goes directly to the reduction of the deficit, .05ents of every dollar goes to the state in which the politician represents, .05 cents of every dollar is divided between the municipalities in the state in which the politician represents, .05 cents of every dollar is put into a federal infrastructure account, .05 cents of every dollar goes to social programs, .05 cents of every dollar goes to education programs. The politician only gets .50 cents out of every dollar. The government is always looking for pools of money to suck dry. I have no problem with them tapping into this pool of money.
Does anyone else wonder how a virtual unknown in the political arena such as Obama was when he ran against Hillary, could get the financial support that he did? Could it be that he made promises? Did he appear to be someone whose conscience could be bought?
What are the attributes that an unknown politician must display in order to receive massive funding from big contributors? More importantly, how do those attributes affect the leadership that the citizens of this country deserve?
When you see how much money politicians receive from special interest groups, can you really believe that it was you who elected them? I'll bet that if one of the bundlers walked up to the President, reached for his hand and slapped him on the back. Obama would reciprocate. If one of his loyal backers on this web page did that, they'd be tasered and on the ground in cuffs before they got within twenty feet of the man. Kinda makes you wonder whose president he is.