Clinton Brings Lobbyists in From the Cold
Apr 17, 2015 9:37 AM EDT
By Jeanne Cummings
"I'm in," said lobbyist Heather Podesta in an email blast to friends and associates urging them to contribute to Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign.
Podesta won't be alone. Lobbyists Steve Elmendorf, an adviser to Clinton's 2008 campaign, and Scott Pastrick, a veteran of President Bill Clinton's 1992 victory, are also back in action after the Clinton campaign sent word this week that it's abandoning President Barack Obama's policy of refusing campaign checks from lobbyists.
The creation of largely unregulated nonprofit political groups and super-PACs, along with Obama's unprecedented success with small donors, enabled him to bypass a previously vital source of funds -- the bundling of campaign contributions by lobbyists. Some lobbyists were able to make their presence felt in other ways -- via donations to the campaign from family members, for example. But lobbyist ranks include many former Democratic White House and Capitol Hill aides, for whom the president's ban chafed. Excluding lobbyists from peak fundraising also meant shutting them out of valuable perks that top bundlers received, such as private briefings from senior campaign aides or a prestigious ambassadorship.
Clinton campaign bundlers are being asked to raise no more than $27,000 each in the next month. That effectively means collecting just 10 checks of $2,700 (the federal maximum for a campaign per election) to achieve the status of a "Hillstarter." The campaign hasn't indicated whether it will set higher targets or designate additional classes of bundlers later in the election -- though both seem likely.
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http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-04-17/clinton-brings-lobbyists-in-from-the-cold
